750 
FOREST AND STREAM 
The Normal Fishing Position With 
a Single-Handed Trout Rod 
American and English 
Fly Casting Methods 
: : Contrasted : : 
Review of One of the Latest British 
Authorities — By One of the 
Best Known American 
Angler-Writers 
By CHARLES ZIBEON SOUTHARD 
Position at the end of Backward Switch 
with a Single-Handed Trout Rod 
Notice the Left Hand 
A MERICAN fly fishing anglers have a great 
treat in store for them in the most read¬ 
able and interesting book from the pen 
of Fred. G. Shaw, F. G. S., entitled “The Com¬ 
plete Science of Fly Fishing and Spinning.”* 
The author is an Englishman whose previous 
works on fly fishing, for both salmon and trout, 
are better known at home than abroad. It is 
unfortunate for American anglers that hereto¬ 
fore such has been the case because everything 
he writes about “the gentle art of angling” is 
always worthy of careful consideration and it is 
also decidedly instructive. This new book of 
his is by far the best and most complete that 
he has written along the lines of angling litera¬ 
ture. It deals with the subject, which its title 
•discloses, in a masterly manner; and for the 
angler, young or old, who really desires to know 
•it is full of valuable informa¬ 
tion, suggestions and good ad¬ 
vice from cover to cover. 
As fly fishing is far from an 
exact science, owing to its na¬ 
ture, it is not strange that dif¬ 
ferences of opinion should ex¬ 
ist between the lesser as well 
as the greater exponents of the 
art; and it will hardly do, in 
most cases, for any one angler 
to say arbitrarily, “that this is 
right or that is wrong.” 
In the case of this new and 
splendid book the reader must, 
in all fairness, remember that 
conditions on English trouting 
waters are vastly different from 
our own and that the angler 
fishes them for an entirely dif¬ 
ferent species of trout. Indeed 
the differences between the 
conditions (as well as the spe¬ 
cies of trout) found in Eng¬ 
land and those in this country 
are so marked that one can say 
♦The Complete Science of Fly Fishing and Spin¬ 
ning by Fred G. Shaw, F. G. S., London---The Mac¬ 
millan Company. Over one hundred illustrations 
and cuts. (See Forest and Stream announcement 
son another page.) 
in very truth that there are two distinct schools 
of angling; one English, the other American. In 
England the native trout is the brown trout 
( Salmo-fario ) while we in America have the 
brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis ) ; they both be¬ 
long to the Salmonidae family but each belongs 
to a different genus; therefore, their traits and 
habits are unlike in many ways and the methods 
used to capture the different species necessarily 
must vary. 
Mr. Shaw probably voices the English angler’s 
point of view when he says, “Play your fish from 
the reel if possible;” while in this country the 
successful and experienced angler would say, 
“Play your fish with a hand-held line in prefer¬ 
ence to the reel.” Again, the English way of 
placing the reel on a single-handed rod with the 
handle to the left is diametrically opposite to 
the American way, which is to place the handle 
to the right; and this is because, here, anglers 
generally fish with the hand-held line. Which is 
the better method to pursue can hardly be called 
a vital question because after all the conditions 
govern, or should govern, both the practice and 
actions of the angler at all times if he would be 
successful. I can fully appreciate Mr. Shaw’s 
contention as to the use of the reel and the way 
of handling the line so far as English waters 
or like waters are concerned, where weeds and 
water grasses are plentiful and one is fishing 
for the brown trout; but I do not believe such 
methods are the best or are well adapted for 
our American waters. 
A considerable portion of the book is devoted 
to the different methods of casting for salmon 
and trout and there are no less than twenty-four 
finely executed plates illustrat¬ 
ing these methods. Mr. Shaw 
is generally conceded to be the 
“pioneer of the stiff wrist the¬ 
ory” and he certainly has de¬ 
veloped it to a nicety in all of 
its different phases. There is, 
however, even among English 
expert anglers themselves, some 
difference of opinion as to this 
method of rod control and no 
less an authority than Frederic 
M. Halford, says, “I venture to 
suggest the best performers do 
practically all of their work 
with the wrist.” The author, 
on the other hand, is evidently 
fully convinced that his method 
of controlling the rod when 
casting is the right one; and he 
thoroughly believes in the rigid 
non-flexible wrist when casting 
with either a single-handed or 
double-handed rod. Without 
any doubt Mr. Shaw is a past- 
master of the art of casting 
with the rigidly controlled wrist 
and this can be plainly seen by 
