Basic Casting
Casting a spinning rod and casting a fly rod and line share one major similarity When the rod stops, the lure continues along the same trajectory. Everything else is different. In conventional fishing, you cast the lure and the line follows. In fly fishing, you cast the line and the lure (or fly) follows, allowing you to fish with floating dry flies that are nearly weightless.
Your first objectives in fly casting should be to learn to bend the rod (called loading the rod), and stroking the rod correctly.
Too many beginners try to cast the line by moving their arm in exaggerated windshield-wiper movements and they never really load the rod.
Try not to move your arm or wrist like a windshield-wiper blade. Instead, your forward stroke should be analogous to hammering a nail into a wall The rod grip is your hammer. It is a short, curved stroke that accelerates quickly to the target and then stops suddenly. The acceleration loads (bends) the rod, and the rod “unloads” after the sudden stop, propelling the line forward.
The “apple and the stick” analogy is another common teaching tool. Imagine spearing an apple on the end of a limber willow stick. Your goal is to hurl the apple as far as you can. If you start too quickly, the apple will fall to the ground behind you. You must start slowly, accelerate smoothly through the stroke and then stop abruptly to throw the apple.
If you decelerate smoothly at the end of the stroke, the apple may actually stay on the stick—it is the sudden stop that causes the apple to fly, and so it is with casting a fly line.
These are good analogies but fly casting is actually much more complicated than hammering a nail or throwing an apple, because fly casting is not just a forward motion. There is a mirror-image cast to the rear (backcast) for every forward cast. If your backcast is faulty, you will also struggle with your forward cast.
For this reason, it’s helpful to turn your head and watch your backcast. This is not only for beginners; this is good advice even for experts looking to hone an already excellent casting stroke. You can also videotape your casting as you practice so you can see what’s going on behind you.
Casting Principles
The old way (and the wrong way) to teach fly casting is to have a beginner move his arm like the arm of a metronome back and forth from the 10 o’clock position to the 2 o’clock position. This was quaint in the movie and book A River Runs Through It, but in real-life situations, your arm will need to move along different paths to deal with different situations.
Clock positions are not as important in fly casting as the timing and application of power to and from those positions. To be a good caster, you need to understand the physics behind casting, or the basic principles of fly casting, so you can make whatever cast you require into the wind, with high bushes behind you, under an overhanging branch, or whatever.
Fly Fisherman editor-at-large Lefty Kreh is one of the world’s most accomplished casting instructors. He has taught thousands of people how to cast, produced fly casting DVDs, written a host of magazine articles, and given casting demonstrations around the globe. His recent book Casting with Lefty Kreh (Stackpole Books, 2008) is an authoritative reference that outlines four basic principles and then expands on those principles in the following 400+ pages.
Lefty’s Principles:
1. “You must get the end of the fly line moving before you can make a back or forward cast.”
2. “Once the line is moving, the only way to load the rod is to move the casting hand at an ever-increasing speed and then bring it to a quick stop.”
3. “The line will go in the direction the rod tip speeds up and stops—more specifically, it goes in the direction that the rod straightens toward when the rod hand stops.”
4. “The longer the distance the rod travels on the back and forward casting strokes, the less effort is required to make the cast.”
These basic casting principles apply to nearly every casting situation, but they are difficult to learn and apply on your own. The best way to learn casting is from a qualified instructor through your local fly shop or fly-fishing club.
Self Starting
Don’t try to learn fly casting merely by fishing. Learn to cast before your first fishing trip and you will have more success. It’s hard to concentrate on casting when you have to deal with moving water, fish, and everything else.
Take your assembled rod, reel, line, and leader to a grassy park. Don’t practice in a parking lot as abrasive pavement rapidly wears out a fly line. You’ll need a large open area without obstructions such as trees, wires, or fences.
Mark your fly line with a permanent marker at 30 feet. The marker indicates when you have enough line out to begin loading the rod. There are also two-tone lines on the market with a color change that indicate the first 30 or 45 feet of line.
Place a target on the grass such as a hat or paper plate to help you develop the sense of distance and accuracy.
The Grip
Grasp the rod with your thumb on top of the rod grip, opposite of your target. There are other specialized grip techniques, but this one is common and effective.
Do not squeeze the rod too tightly. You should have a loose, comfortable grip, and only squeeze the rod grip when you force the rod to stop abruptly at the end of each stroke. Over gripping the rod causes hand fatigue which in turn prevents you from making a quick stop at the end of the stroke. Over gripping can also cause tendonitis in your forearm and elbow.
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. When you make short to medium casts, a parallel stance is all you need. With longer
casts, you get better performance with one foot forward (left foot forward for right-handed casters).
Thread the line off the reel and up through the line guides and out the tiptop of the rod tip. It can be awkward sometimes to thread the thin tippet through the rod guides. If you drop it, the weight of the line drags everything down to the ground and you must start over. Instead of threading the tippet or leader end, grasp the fly line near the tip. Pinch the line into a loop and pass this loop through the guides, pulling the leader and tippet up behind the line. The line is easier to see and hold onto, and if you do drop it, the shape of the loop will prevent the line from sliding down through the rod guides.
Use a clinch knot to tie a small piece of yarn to the end of the tippet. Pull about 20 feet of line off the reel and lay it out on the lawn to the right of where you are standing (or to the left, if you are left handed). Make sure the line is straight and not in coils or S-curves, or it will not cast well. “You must get the end of the fly line moving before you can make a back or forward cast.” If the line has slack in it, you will be partially through your stroke before the end of the line begins to move. The Editor.]
Use a horizontal sidearm cast to flick the rod tip forward from your right to your left in a low plane right above the grass. By casting low and sidearm, you can watch both the forward and backcasts as they unroll, and learn from them. If you do this correctly, the rod will bend and the line will form a loop as it rolls out to your left and then settles to the grass.
Using your arm and flicking your wrist the way you’d throw a frisbee (on the backcast) and skip a stone at the lake (on the forward cast), cast the line repeatedly back and forth low to the ground to your left and right.
During this exercise, keep a firm wrist and stop the rod abruptly after each stroke. Come to a complete stop after each cast to reassess your success and prepare for the next cast.
Your goal is to make the line form loops in both your back and forward casts. Loop formation is the intent of this exercise—the tighter the loops the better the cast. Visualize hitting the rod tip with the line as it passes in front of you—this helps develop tighter loops.
As you learn to create and control loops the byproduct is that you are also learning how to load (bend) the rod, learning correct timing, and learning how to apply power to the rod to get the desired results.
After 15 minutes of this low, sidearm practice, cast the rod at a 45-degree angle and then vertically. You’ll use all these casting positions when you are fishing, so get used to them. Find a casting plane that is comfortable for you but be aware that you may have to modify it in actual fishing situations.
Practice
If you want to become proficient at golf, you go to a driving range. You also practice your putting aside from the regular time you spend golfing. Fly fishing is no different. To improve, you must practice. Frequent fishing also improves your casting but not as quickly or dramatically as practice casting on a pond or in your back yard without a hook. Practice allows you to focus on casting fundamentals without distractions.
Using these self-starting practice steps, you should be able to teach yourself how to cast the line, leader, and yarn (fly) from 15 to 30 feet in about an hour. After two or three practice sessions you should be ready to start fishing.
Fifteen minutes of practice every day over the course of a summer or fall season can make you an excellent caster—then all you have to worry about is finding the fish, using the right patterns, and presenting the fly correctly.
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