Fly Casting

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When I was a really little kid I
remember fishing with my dad. He would bait my hook cast the line out
and then we would sit and wait. We had great conversations. Then
every once in a while we would drive up to still water and he reached
for his fly rod. On those days, my job became removing the fish from
his hook. He would look at them and tell me if they were dinner. In
either case by the time I was done with the fish he had another on
the line.
Of coarse I wanted to fly fish. I was
about 12 when he gave in and taught me how. We went out on the lawn
and spent hours getting me to cast just right. That was over 40 years
ago. Now I am going to try to pass that on over the Internet. I have
seen other sites that attempt to teach fly casting on the net. I'm
not sure it can be done. Most of them miss or under emphasize the
most important part, the stops.
Some people teach that the casting
motion is done from 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock others teach 10:00 to
2:00. I'm going describe the physics. The force applied to the line
is perpendicular to the end of the rod so as the rod passes straight
up you begin driving the line down toward the ground. The classic
loop of a cast forms because the line at the end of the rod is
driven down slightly. At the same time most of the line is still
moving forward. When you stop the rod the line forms the classic
casting loop.
While I don't have a problem with
either the 10:00 to 2:00 or 11:00 to 1:00 rules the bottom line is
you must move the rod far enough to apply force to the line. If you
go to far you will hit the ground or water. Now the most important
part, timing. When you start stretch the line in front of you. Bring
the rod back to about the 10:00 o'clock position and stop. This stop
is firm and held until the line extends behind you. The timing is
crucial. If you bring the line forward too soon you'll hear a
cracking sound like a whip. Your cast should be quite. You might also
hear a whoosh sound this also means you didn't wait long enough. When
you bring the line forward you stop the rod to get the line to extend
straight out and then let it settle down on the water. In a perfect
cast the line will be straight and the fly will hit first. If the
cast is not long enough pull some line out of the real. Hold this
line and repeat the same casting procedure. When the line is moving
in front of you allow the line to shoot out in front of you. You can
work the line this way and keep working the line out but the more
line you have out the more power you need to apply, the higher you
need to stop and the longer you need to wait for the line to
straighten.
I have seen other sites that are about
the joy of casting. I understand their passion. I hope you develop
that attitude but I am about catching fish. The longer you want to
cast the more practice you'll need. As for catching fish, twenty to
thirty feet is plenty. Now that I have become a floattube fisherman I
will tell you that casting is not essential to catching fish the
biggest fish I've caught were taken while trolling with a streamer or
a nymph.
Their are times when I cast a fly to a
spot and the fly just drops on the water with a perfect touch and I
know that if I don't catch a fish I need to change flies. The reason
I know this is because I can read the water and their must be a fish
there.
Next time I will write about reading
the water.
I wrote this and then worked on the
graphics anyone who believes that 10 to 2 works can't cast or hasn't
looked at how low that angle is. Float Experience

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