With fall on the horizon, now’s the time to tune up your casting. There’s more to casting than just the mechanics of whipping the rod around to throw the fly. Though my casting skills are adequate enough to get the job done, I relish the idea that there is no finish line; there’s always a new tip or tune-up to make casting easier, more efficient and pleasant. Every fly caster has good days and bad, successes and failures. The following tips have helped me catch more fish, and that’s the ultimate goal, to stick the hook and feel the tug.
1. Stretch the Line
Few fly-fishers do this, but for the upcoming fall season when air and water temperatures get chilly, giving the line a good stretch will eliminate tangles and loops and make your casts lay out perfectly. In the boat, you can trail about 10 arm lengths of line in the water heading away from the dock, or you can form a 4-foot loop (8 feet total), step on the line with soft soles and pull, and then do this until you’ve stretched all the line. Before wading or surf fishing, make a “U” in the line and drape it over the rearview mirror on your truck, a fence or sign post and pull both legs until it lies flat with no coils.
2. Relax
Every cast doesn’t have to reach Portugal. And, if you’re trying to make casting distance a priority you could be over-shooting the fish and spooking them. When you make the first cast of the night or morning, it’s natural to want to put some effort into it, but a better start is to make a half dozen short to medium casts to get the line wet, get it into the stripping basket, and make sure your gear is rigged right and ready for the next few hours of fishing. Many fly guys make one or two excellent false casts and then muscle the final forward cast, which destroys the presentation. Relaxed casting uses less muscle and more rod.
3. Cast What You Can Handle
The natural tendency as each fly-fishing session starts is to be optimistic and pull lots of line from the reel; however, this much line is probably more than most flyrodders can realistically handle without causing snarls, amazing line knots, and tangles on the deck or in the stripping basket. Casting the amount of line you can efficiently handle is related to the first two tips. If you have a comfortable amount of stretched line in the stripping basket that you can comfortably throw and you let the rod do the work, your casting will be more effective.
4. Watch the Backcast
Looking over your shoulder to see what the line is doing on the backcast is essential to making a good forward cast, yet many fly-casters rarely do this. You may be surprised at what you see! Many casters don’t realize they’re aiming the backcast too low or are making huge circular loops that waste casting energy. After lifting the line off the water, the backcast is the essential first step to making a good forward cast to deliver the fly. Keeping an eye on the backcast will improve your forward presentation.
A short, speedy double haul will get you more line speed, which then requires fewer false casts to get enough line out of the rod. Some guys make impressive 5-foot pulls with their hauling hand, but a snappy 18-inch pull delivered at the start of the forward cast, just as the rod is beginning to bend, will deliver a better cast with less effort.
5. Practice is Essential
Many of the best fly-casters, like Sandy Moret, the world-renowned Florida Keys casting instructor, says he practices every day for 15 to 30 minutes to keep his skills at their peak. He stresses “every day” because as the wind changes each day, he’s confronted with different casting problems to solve, which ultimately makes him a superb caster. If you can’t get outside because of rain, or don’t have a big backyard or nearby park, try a TFO Bug Launcher office rod. It’s small and easily used in small areas. Like batting practice, driving golf balls or throwing passes, fly-casting depends on muscle memory to achieve peak performance.
To be sure you’re not building muscle memory based on faulty techniques, book a lesson with a Federation of Fly Fishers certified instructor. Local instructors are listed at fedflyfishers.org. Tune-up instruction is also available with Paul McCain River and Bay Outfitters in Oceanside, New York and at L & H Woods and Waters in Wall, New Jersey with Jim Valle.
Some great advice from Capt. Dick Dennis at the Atlantic Salt Water Flyrodders club is to have a buddy take a video of your casting. You can do this at the beach, on a football field or at a park near your home, even on the street in front of your house. Every strength and weakness will show in the video, especially if there are dark trees for a backdrop and a bright fly line.
