FOREST AND STREAM 
June, 1918 
WHY’S AND HOW’S OF DRY FLY FISHING 
PART THREE ADVANCES THE CAREFUL STUDENT OF THE ART OF CASTING 
THE DRY FLY TO REAL PROFICIENCY WITH THE ROD AT THE STREAMSIDE 
A S the pupil finds he can cast a longer 
line he should increase the length of 
’ line as explained last month in the 
second paper of this series, but do not try 
to cast too often or too far until the mus¬ 
cles become used to the new exercise they 
are put to. If, after lengthening the line, 
the cast is not a success, shorten it at once 
by reeling up a few feet and trying with the 
shorter line again. 
The line should extend itself and absorb 
all the energy of the cast or throw, while it 
is still in the air, and not on the lawn. 
Fig. 9 shows the right method, b„ b,, the 
wrong method is illustrated at a x , a 2 . 
When the pupil has arrived at a stage 
where he can extend 50 feet of line with¬ 
out any trouble, not once in two or three 
attempts, but every time he must learn 
how to dry his fly. He should shorten his 
line to at least 10 feet less than the distance 
he can cast with ease. He then goes 
through the motions of casting, but he 
checks or stops his rod at a rather higher 
point than “d,” Fig. 7. (See May issue of 
Forest and Stream.) The line straightens 
out as shown in Fig 10, “a,” and before 
the line can fall on to the lawn he moves 
the rod back to position “b,” Fig. 10, which 
is practically the same as “c,” Fig. 7. He 
now makes the forward motion again and 
checks, moves back and repeats these “false 
casts’’ a couple of times, and the last time 
lets the rod come to position “d” (Fig. 7), 
and the line falls on the lawn. 
D RYING the flv, i. e. making three or 
four false casts in the air is the most 
difficult part to learn. But if the be¬ 
ginner will only not try to be too quick and 
not try to handle too long a line at first, 
the seemingly difficult feat will become 
very easy in time. When making the false 
casts the time taken for the line to straight¬ 
en out in front should be noticed; this will 
give a very good gauge of the length of 
time for the pause at “c” in Fig. 7. 
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This pause is the most important thing 
about casting. If the rod is slanted for¬ 
ward too soon the fly is liable to be popped 
off, and if too much time is allowed for the 
pause, the line will fall down and touch the 
ground behind and spoil the action of the 
forward cast. 
By R. L. M. (CALIFORNIA) 
D L. M. (California), the author 
f ' • of this article, is one of the 
best known authorities on dry fly 
fishing in the United States. He has 
been a devotee of the art for over 
thirty years and has either person¬ 
ally met or been in correspondence 
with most of the acknowledged lead¬ 
ers of the British school of dry fly 
men, although the greater part of his 
fishing has been done in this coun¬ 
try. He is therefore well able to 
instruct both the novice and those of 
some experience in the art of cast¬ 
ing the dry fly. The April Forest 
and Stream contained the first paper 
of the series, zvhich will be continued 
through several issues. [Editors.] 
In all the diagrams of fly casting the 
pupil is facing toward the left of the illus¬ 
trations. 
I do not know if the foregoing instruc¬ 
tions will enable an absolute novice to be¬ 
come. proficient, but I learnt to cast a fly 
from a much briefer explanation of the art. 
I used to practice on a lawn at the back 
of the house, where I was safe from rude 
remarks of the passersby, and when we 
moved to the city and lived in an apartment 
I used to lean out of a window in the 
light well and keep up the good work. 
Even today after over 30 years of fly 
fishing, I make a business of keeping my 
hand in by often practicing on the lawn. 
I took one lesson from a past master of 
the art, a year or so ago, but the imme¬ 
diate effect of that lesson was to tempo¬ 
rarily thoroughly spoil my casting; but I 
realized that the things I had learnt from 
him were fundamentally correct and by 
grafting his teachings into my untaught but 
effective style, I improved my casting to a 
very considerable extent. The unfortunate 
part about it was that while my casting was 
in a state of eclipse I had an invitation to 
fish on a very celebrated dry fly stream, viz., 
The Test in Hampshire, England, and to 
my dying day I shall always blush when I 
think of the horrible exhibition I made of 
myself before the keeper who accompanied 
me and was ready to use the landing net, 
but did not. 
When the pupil can cast a long line and 
has no trouble in drying his fly, he should 
continue to practice so as to become accu¬ 
rate. In dry fly fishing accuracy is of 
great importance; provided there is not a 
gusty, variable wind blowing one should 
be able to cast the fly within 3 inches of 
the spot aimed at, when casting up to So 
feet; at 70 feet, 6 inches one way or the 
other, is good work. 
Casting with a gentle wind at one’s back 
is easiest; if the wind is a high one, then 
having it at one’s back is a disadvantage. 
In casting against a strong head wind, it 
is necessary to continue the forward down¬ 
ward action, until the tip of the rod is 
nearly on the surface of the water. If a 
strong wind is blowing from one side or 
the other it will be necessary to use a hori¬ 
zontal method of casting instead of the 
overhead method. 
In making the horizontal cast the action 
of the rod is practically the same as in 
Fig. 7; but imagine you are looking down 
on the fisherman who wields his rod in a 
horizontal, instead of a vertical plane. 
The overhead cast does not “cock a fly,” 
i. e., make it float with wings erect, as 
easily as a horizontal cast, because unless 
every bit of energy is absorbed and the fly 
and line fall of their own weight on the 
water, some of the remaining energy will 
tend to drive the fly on to the water and 
upset it. 
Now the horizontal cast uses up the en¬ 
ergy before the fly strikes the water; con¬ 
sequently the fly, falling of its own weight 
on the water, settles down and will in all 
probability be floating with wings erect in 
a most rational manner. 
When fishing with a long line it is advis¬ 
able to gather up considerable slack be¬ 
fore lifting the line and drying the fly. 
Now if it is desirable to return the fly to 
about the same distance as the previous 
cast, let a little of the slack out while mak¬ 
ing the false casts, but the bulk of the 
slack can be got out when making the 
final cast. After the downward stroke is 
finished release the slack and the momen¬ 
tum of the traveling wire will pull this 
slack through the guides and the fly will 
arrive at its destination. This is called 
“shooting the line.” It is not the easiest 
thing about fly casting to learn, but prac¬ 
tice and then more practice will gradually 
make one proficient. 
W HEN one comes to analyze the ac¬ 
tual motion of the hand that is 
holding the rod, and realizes what 
a very small amount of motion takes place, 
it is easily understood why casting is not 
easy to learn. 
Two consecutive casts may, to all in¬ 
tents and purposes, be two exactly similar 
motions of the hand; but the results are 
extraordinarily different. One cast will be 
all that can be desired, and the other will 
cause the line to fall in a bunch on the 
water. In the faulty cast energy was ap¬ 
plied at the wrong moment. 
