Then there is a third kind of fishing, and that is fly-fishing. It is
the most difficult, but at the same time the most useful, because it
is the only way that will do in the rapid rivers and streams with
which you meet in the wilds; and also it can be used on lakes and
slower rivers, and it is much the best fun.
All the boys in Norway catch their fish by fly-fishing. You have to
have a whippy rod with a long line to it, and a long piece of gut
(called the "cast") on it, with from one to three hooks made to look
like flies on it, these are fixed at about two feet apart.
By using the rod as a spring you can throw the line a long distance to
any point you wish, so that the flies will float past the nose of a
fish and tempt him to rush out and swallow one.
The throwing of the fly--casting it is called--is at first the
difficulty for a beginner, but it comes all right with a little
practice. You can learn to do it perfectly well without going to a
river and without having any hooks on your line to begin with.
Take a rod, and a line as long as a rod and a half, and try throwing
it in a field or road or anywhere--till you can get the line to go out
perfectly straight to its full extent on to the ground at the spot you
wish. The great points to remember which are the key to success arc
these: All the work is done by the tip of the rod, not the butt. Bring
your rod back with a little jerk at the end to throw the line back
behind you, but don't let the rod itself go back much beyond the
upright position.
[Illustration: LEARNING TO THROW THE FLY.]
Before throwing the line forward again, give a pause so that it has
time to straighten itself behind you--and that pause is the secret of
the whole thing. It must not be too short, or your line will still be
curled up when you shoot it forward and will not go out the distance
you want, and if the pause is too long it will fall and catch on the
ground behind you, and also will lose its spring. That is where
practice is so necessary, so that you know exactly how long to pause.
Then an important point to remember is that the jerking of the rod,
whether forward or backward, is done from the wrist and only slightly
from the elbow, and not at all from the shoulder. A beginner would do
well to tie his elbow by a loose strap to his waist, so as to remind
him not to wave his whole arm as most beginners do.
All this sounds a good deal to think of, but if you go and practise it
you very soon get into the way of it, and fly-fishing is the best
sport that I know.
There are two kinds of fly-fishing, "wet" and "dry." Wet fly means
that you let your flies sink into the water and you then draw them
along under the surface. A dry fly is made in such a way that it
floats on the top of the water as many natural flies do, and the fish,
seeing it floating there, rises at it. This is the best sport of all
fishing, but is also the most difficult to do well.
Of course, it is difficult for some boys to buy rods and fishing
tackle, but a Scout ought to be able to make his own as most of these
Norwegian boys do.
[Illustration: USING A YOUNG TREE AS A FISHING-ROD.]
Cut a straight, whippy rod of about ten feet, put on a line of strong,
thin twine, and a cast of horsehair out of a pony's tail if you cannot
get gut, A hook is difficult to manufacture for yourself, though it
can be done with a bit of wire and a file; but most Scouts going on an
expedition take a few hooks with them as part of their outfit.
When I was out with George, I had to make myself a rod, as we only had
one rod between us and I got tired of waiting for my turn with it; but
we were high up in the mountains where the woods were thin, so I only
got a poor choice of sticks from which to make one.
However, I cut down a likely looking birch sapling and trimmed him
down, and he did pretty well; but he was not very springy, so it
required more brute force on my part than skilful turning of the wrist
to get my line out, But I caught a lot of fish with him all the same.
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