Excerpt from California Fish and Game, Vol. 5: October, 1919 Another very useful thing to have at the waterside is a piece of amadou. This substance, which looks like leather, is a fungus that has the property of rapidly absorbing moisture. If the y is very wet it can be pressed between a folded piece of amadou and nearly all the moisture is removed. But all said and done, most of the drying out of a y is done by switching or casting the y back and forth in the air. Anybody who is able to throw a y can in a very short time learn how to do this without snapping off his y. The first thing to remember is that the y should not be thrown at the water. Learn how to cast the y so that all the impetus imparted to the line is used up by the time the y is still above the surface of the water, and allow the y to fall of its own weight on the water. Now, when this feat can be accomplished with ease, instead of letting the y fall on the water, make a backward stroke similar to that which is made when picking the line and y off the water; this will extend the line behind. A series of three or four of these back ward and forward strokes (which are called false casts) are made between each true cast, and this action called drying the y is the principal thing that differentiates between wet and dry- y fishing. Of course, there are other things to be taken into account, about which I hope to say more at some later date, but the whole secret consists of being able to throw the y backwards and forwards in the air without permitting it to touch the water in front or the ground behind. When that can be done the major part of the art is conquered. In actual practice the false casts will be made at an elevation corresponding roughly to the top of the rod, whether the overhead or horizontal cast is being used. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."