Fly Fishing Part 2 - Casting Technique

In countries with long traditions and widespread popularity of fly fishing, there are schools where anyone interested can learn to cast with a fly rod. Only once they have mastered casting technique well do they head out to the water and put their abilities into practice. This approach is found, for example, in the Scandinavian countries, where technically flawless casts can be seen everywhere. But technique is far from everything; everyone must diligently refine it in practice. Woe to the one who, having studied casting technique thoroughly, thinks he knows it all. In Poland, things are different. A beginner angler first goes to the river, where he tries, with more or less success, to lay the fly on the water, gaining experience on his own. As a result, he masters a fishing technique suited only to a particular fishing spot, and quite often even an experienced angler who finds himself in a new area takes a long time to adapt to the conditions there. At a new fishing spot, in addition to new skills, a new casting technique may also turn out to be necessary. I know this from my own experience, because I learned to fish the same way myself.

I learned the loop cast and all its variations only while fishing for sea trout on the tree-choked rivers of the north. Later it turned out that this cast is a great help on my foothill rivers too. I am convinced that a technically experienced angler who can cast in different ways has a better chance of catching fish. Nevertheless, I would not want to praise this skill for its own sake. That is why I have never been an enthusiast of competitive fly fishing

Overhead cast

This is the simplest and most common way of casting, and any angler can start with it. It has already been described many times in publications that mention fly fishing even in passing, so I will give only a few technical details that I consider interesting and important, and touch on the main mistakes people make when performing this cast. We pull out a few meters of line in front of us (from 5 to 9 m). We hold the rod at the position of a clock hand pointing to 9 o'clock (fig. 15), and with an accelerating movement raise it to the position of a clock hand pointing to 13 o'clock (fig. 16). After the rod stops in this position, the line will fly over the head and straighten out in the air behind the back (fig. 17); it must straighten out completely (this moment can be felt through the rod tip). Once the line has straightened, just as dynamically as before, we bring the rod forward to the position of a clock hand pointing to 11 o'clock (fig. 18). The line flies over the head and straightens out in the air in front of us (fig. 19). During the cast, you should try to make maximum use of the rod's springiness. It is the rod, not us, that throws the line. To get the fly into the water, we let it drop as the line unrolls in front of us. We rarely make intermediate false casts overhead. The cast is limited to throwing the line back and shooting it forward to the intended spot. Contrary to the opinion of many anglers, the same is done when fishing with a dry fly. To "dry" the fly, it is enough to make one false cast for every few "working" casts. It is important that the rod is not moved forward and back with a sluggish motion.

It is always an accelerating (dynamic) movement, with a noticeable stop at the end. The forward and back strokes are not made in the same plane. The path of the tip should resemble an ellipse in shape, but without the leader getting tangled. For the fly to land on the water correctly after the cast, in the final phase, after the line has straightened, you need to pull it slightly toward you (fig. 20). Difficulties may arise if the fly's retrieve requires pulling in all the line while fishing, followed by a long cast. A long cast can be successfully performed in two or three stages. I will try to show this with an example. We hold the line in the left hand, supporting it with the index finger of the right hand. We throw the line back and wait for it to straighten. Then we shoot it forward, releasing it from the finger so as to increase the distance by a few meters. But we do not let the line go uncontrolled. After a few meters have been pulled out, we stop it and repeat the operation: rod back and forward, again only a few meters of line are pulled out.

We throw it back a third time and now, very energetically, with the whole forearm, bring the rod forward, at the same time releasing all the line, which should fly freely through the guides. The line can be shot this way with three (as I indicated) or two strokes. You should beware of making a fourth stroke, since too great a distance may result in the whole rig "dying" right next to us. I strongly recommend that during the "pulling of the line" with the rod, you additionally pull it with the left hand. This gives the line the necessary acceleration and at the same time considerably lengthens the cast. If you want to make a very long cast, remember that you must not tilt the rod too low behind your back; a bigger swing will not increase the force of the shot. The most common mistakes:

- insufficiently dynamic movement of the fly rod;

- the line not straightening behind the angler, caused by bringing the rod forward too quickly;

- too low a rod position behind the angler (remember to stop the rod at the position of a clock hand pointing to 13 o'clock, not, for example, 15 o'clock); I would even advise beginners to stop the rod in a vertical position;

- moving the tip of the fly rod in a single plane

Sometimes an overhead cast is impossible. This can happen when, standing facing upstream, we want to cast the fly in the same direction while tree branches hang over our head. It also happens that we need to get the fly under overhanging branches on the opposite bank. What do we do in that case? It is enough to shift the plane of the overhead cast by 90° so that the cast is made in a plane parallel to the surface of the water. This is somewhat harder than an ordinary cast. This method also lets you lay the fly on the water differently. When fishing a dry fly upstream, when we are dealing with an extremely "crafty" grayling, the fly should float ahead of the leader; this placement of fly and leader is possible precisely with this casting technique. After the line straightens, we hold back the whole rig, which makes the fly "accelerate" and overtake the leader. We get the same effect with an overhead cast if we stop the line so that the fly lands on the water before the leader.

This modification of the overhead cast is used to give the line even more acceleration during the stroke, which makes longer casts possible. The left hand, which holds the line, takes an active part in four stages of the cast by pulling and releasing the line: first stage - we pull the line with the hand while lifting it off the water; second stage - we gradually release the line as it straightens behind our back; third stage - after the line has straightened behind our back, we pull it with the left hand and at the same time vigorously swing the rod forward with the right hand; fourth stage - we release the line from the left hand. The pulls should be dynamic and sharp. During the cast we do not let go of the line in the left hand until the very last phase. This is a complex and rather laborious casting technique. It is shown in more detail in the illustrations.

We make this cast when, for example, there is a dense strip of trees right behind us and a classic overhead cast is impossible. With an accelerating movement we draw the line across the water without lifting it into the air. The end of the line slides along the surface. The line itself travels under the rod tip, on the outer side of the fly rod, forming a small loop behind us. We don't let it fly all the way over; we sharply stop the rod's movement and push it forward. The loop changes shape, forming a "ring" that runs along the line. That's what a classic roll cast looks like. The most common mistake is the absence of a loop behind the angler at the start of the stroke. Keep in mind that in that case the rod carries no load and doesn't work. The rod is loaded by the section of line that forms the loop behind your back. This is only part of the line we are casting. This load is much smaller than in an ordinary cast, so for a roll cast to be effective it requires a heavier line.

Another frequent mistake is lifting the entire line off the water. For the cast to succeed, the line must be "glued" to the surface. That's why the cast is easier to make standing in the water, and harder when we are on a high bank. This technique doesn't pay off when fishing a dry fly, because it's hard to dry a soaked fly with this cast. But casting a fly that absorbs little water and floats well is quite possible. Difficulties also arise when during fishing we pull the entire line out through the guides. Extending the casting distance can't be achieved in a single stroke.

This has to be done gradually, in several stages, extending the distance by a few meters with each cast. It isn't easy, since with this technique the line has a hard time going out through the guides.

So what do you do if branches hang over your head and the rod tip catches on them? In this case you can also use the roll cast, trying to perform it in a horizontal plane above the water. It's a difficult maneuver, but doable after some practice. In a roll cast it's impossible to change the direction of the fly's flight by 90° in one stroke; you have to make several strokes of 15° each. You don't run into such difficulties with the casts described below.

These casts were first performed on the River Spey, when because of people strolling along the embankment it was impossible to throw the line back.

They are variants of the roll cast that allow you to change the angle by 90° in a single stroke. Such casts are usually made when fishing with a two-handed salmon fly rod. But I've successfully used them for casting with a single-handed fly rod too, sometimes combined with an ordinary roll cast. Here I'll describe the classic cast using a two-handed fly rod. The Spey is used when a long line, strongly drawn out downstream and to the left , needs to be cast across the river. We draw the line in freely, under the rod, but move the rod not back but upstream. This should form a larger loop. We simply rip the whole line off the water (almost all of it - the leader slides along the water), throwing it under the rod to the right. When the fly is opposite us, we push the rod forward, changing the direction of the cast.

At this point we are already throwing the entire line over the rod across the current. Hesitating or speeding up the tempo is a mistake that makes the cast fail. You have to feel exactly when to throw the line forward. The Double Spey is performed when the current is flowing from the right side, since for purely physical reasons a Spey cast with a two-handed fly rod is very hard to perform in this situation. Under the rod, we throw the line lying downstream up the current so that it straightens out. Then we proceed exactly as when performing a Spey cast. We throw the line under the rod downstream until the fly is opposite us (on the right), then we push the rod forward, throwing the line over it across the river. As we can see, there are more elements here