The Casting Grip

Hold out your hand as if you are going to shake someone’s hand. Think of that when you grip the rod, and place your thumb on the top of the rod grip. You will need a good grasp on the rod so hold it firmly. As you are learning to cast keep the rod butt in line with your forearm. The rod needs to be in that position when you cast. If the rod deviates from that position during the cast the tip will wander; the line will follow the tip. All of this wandering will spoil the cast.

Pull the line straight off the reel and up through the ring guides. Keep it going out the tip of the rod. Tie a 9-foot leader onto the end of the line with a tube knot or a nail knot. Tie a small piece of yarn to the end of the leader. Assuming that your practice field is a lawn as has been recommended, stand on the lawn with your feet spread slightly apart. Pull line straight from the reel about 20 feet and lay it on the lawn to the right of you (to the left if you are left-handed). The line needs to be pulled straight on the grass with no S curves in it. You need the line straight for a good cast.

Your First Cast

The principles of casting will always stay the same. The first cast you need to learn is the side arm cast before progressing to the other types of casting. The horizontal side arm cast starts by flicking the tip of the rod forward from your right to your left (if you are right handed). Watch as the line forms a loop before rolling out to your left to settle on the grass. Starting from your last finishing position, use your forearm and a flick of your wrist, as if you were throwing a Frisbee. Flick is first back to your right starting position and then to the left again. When casting to your right or your left, try to make the line form a candy cane. The loop is your end results of your cast. The tighter the loops, the better the cast. As you continue to flick the rod back and forth, keep your wrist firm and stop the rod sharply after each flick. Stopping the rod is the action that causes the loop to form in the line. It also causes the rod tip to release the energy you put into it on the line. You must practice stopping the line to become a good caster.

Once you have practiced long enough to feel comfortable with the rod and the line try casting at a 45-degree angle and then try casting vertically. You will achieve a different end result for each position of casting. At some point you will be using them all when fishing. You will want to practice enough that your stance becomes second nature, so pick one that works best for you. The sidearm cast is good to help you learn timing and loop formation because you are able to watch the line better.

Aiming the Cast

Assuming you are still practicing on your lawn, for a short cast you will aim about 4 feet above the lawn or water. As you try for a longer cast, you will have to aim higher to allow more time for the line to reach the target. Learning to hit your target with your cast is the label of an expert caster. Much of your time practicing should be at aiming and hitting the target on your lawn. Within your first hour of practice, using this excersise, you will be able to hit your target from 15 to 30 yards away. Casting takes practice to become an expert. So practicing every day for about 15 to 20 minutes and before you know it you will be an expert caster. When practicing you might want to keep these pointers in mind.

• Protective glasses or polarized sunglasses will help to prevent an eye injury.
• When practicing your casting, attempt longer and longer distances with the piece of yarn on the hook, but only after you have mastered smaller distances.
• It doesn’t hurt to have your casting critiqued by someone who is more of an expert than you are. You will probably learn some pointers.

Here are some of the errors often made in casting and how to improve them.

Problem: Back cast not staying in the air.

Fault: The tip of the rod is pointing too low, making the cast go straight down.
Correction: Keep your wrist firm when you stop the rod while it is high.

Problem: Distorted loops

Fault: Putting too much force or rushing the cast
Correction: Slow down when casting and try not to use so much force. Give the line time to become completely straight after you pull the line backward before you start projecting the line forward.

Problem: The fly breaks the fly line when pulling the rod and line back.

Fault and Correction: It is the same as for the distorted loop.

The Importance of Casting

If you can’t cast your line, then you can not fly fish. Fly fishing is all about casting. Any kind of fishing is all about learning the proper technique to do that kind of fishing. If you want to succeed at fly fishing you must learn how to cast. Casting is all about landing the fly so that it appears to be a natural fly landing on the water. Anything less is just grabbing some rays, enjoying the scenery and you will have a sore arm for your efforts.

To those that fly fish, fishing is all about “hope”. They “hope” to have a good time. They “hope” to catch a fish. And they “hope” to feel that connection with nature. They feel it is a waste of their time to fly fish with the ability to cast. There is a rule of thumb to follow when casting. First, you must STOP the rod, to make the line GO. If you are still having trouble with your casting, you can always watch a video about casting, or read a book about the techniques or last but not least, take a class. The people who take these classes range from the raw beginners to the experienced. Even the experienced can have casting faults they have not been able to correct. Chances are good that what ever your level of ability in casting is there is someone else in the class that is in the same boat you are.

Casting Basics

If you are use to spin casting, then you will know that the weight of the lure pulls the line. However, in fly casting the weight of t he line carries the fly. So in learning to fly cast you must learn to use the rod to cast the weight of the fly line. With these basic principles you will be able to accomplish that quickly.

The line follows the direction the rod tip is pointed during the cast.

Fly casting is based on timing not on strength. Practicing the timing of the cast is on the road to being a good fly caster.

The fundamentals of good fly casting are the correct stroke and stopping of the rod. You as the caster load the energy into the rod during the cast stroke. The energy is then released by the rod into the line during the cast. The amount of energy loaded into the rod by the caster makes the cast. Short casts need small low energy stroke, and so on.

Casting arcs are small for short casts and large for large casts.

Stopping the rod after the casting stroke is important to forming the casting loop plus it gives the rod the opportunity to unload and cast the line.

Fly fishing rarely need to cast more than 50 feet when fishing, however becoming proficient at long-distance cast will improve your overall casting. Once you have mastered the shorter distance then keep adding more distances to your cast. Master a distance before progressing to a higher distance.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 9:03 pm and is filed under Fly Fishing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.