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Casting can make or break your fly fishing experience and once you have mastered the basics its surprising how easy it all becomes. The basic thing you have to remember is that your casting a fly line and the terminal tackle (your leader tippet and fly or flies) are along for the ride. Good fly casting involves the forces of timing, rhythm and controlled power all working together. Take any one of them away and the cast will be deficient.

Casting a fly line: 6 essentials

1.    Gear and caster must be properly balanced.
2.    There must be a pause at the end of each stroke, which varies in duration with the amount of line beyond the rod tip.
3.    Slack line should be kept to an absolute minimum.
4.    The rod tip must travel in a straight line in order to form the most efficient, least air resistant passage of the fly line and to direct the energy from the rod to the fly line to the leader and the fly toward a specific target.
5.    The size of the casting arc and stroke length must vary with the length of line past the rod tip.
6.    Power must be applied in the proper amount at the proper place in the stroke.

First steps.

Gear.

When your just getting started a good practice is to overload your fly rod by one line class. This means that if it is a 6 weight rod use a 7 weight line - in fact by in large I find that many modern fly rods benefit from being overloaded when in the hand of all but the best of casters.  Set your rod up with a short leader/tippet of just 2 meters and make the tippet a little thicker than you would normally fish with. When you first start there is a good chance that you will get what are called "wind" or "casting" knots and these are much easier to remove with the slightly heavier tippet. Tie on a piece of wool or a fly that you have cut the bend of the hook off. Never learn to cast with a hook that includes the bend of a hook never mind the point and barb as you run a very real risk of injury to yourself or passers by. Also get into the habit of always wearing glasses when casting a fly rod. During a cast the terminal tackle will travel at up to 100 kilometres per hour and even if its just a piece of wool on the end it can still inflict serious injury to an eye.

	Loch style fishing tips - including leader set up River fishing tips - including leader set ups Fly lines

Location.

You will need a flat area with sufficient clear space both in front and behind. A sports field is fine but if you have the choice choose somewhere where you can cast over water as the water is less harsh on the line than the grass.

Stance & grip

once you have mastered the basics you will find that you can adapt your casting so that you can deliver your fly or flies with a less than ideal stance. For example you will adapt to fishing off creek and lake banks where the  terrain is rougher or your stance is impeded or you will be able to adapt to casting from a swaying boat or sitting in a canoe etc. Etc. When learning to cast however its important to set yourself up correctly. The best stance is a rifle shooters stance. That is if you are right handed stand with you left foot forward with a stance roughly 45 degrees away from the direction you are going to cast. The stance is important because not only do you need to be comfortable but you need your back foot in a position that provides stability and it helps you be a position so that you can comfortably look not only in the direction you are casting but also look over your right shoulder and watch your back cast. The way you hold the rod also is important too. Hold the rod in much the same way you would hold a club of some sort. With the rod extended in the direction you intend to cast you should be able to see the v between your thumb and pointer finger and your fingers should hold the rod firmly but not tightly with the fingers wrapped around and under the grip and  next to each other. The rod is meant to be an extension of your arm and wrist action is minimal. To help minimize wrist action some people like to cock the reel under their wrist. My preference is with the reel hanging straight down. The line should be held in the left hand.

The short simple cast.

Get this cast right because its the foundation upon which all casts area based.

There are really two types of casts. I call them english and american. The english cast evolved to present delicate flies to trout in pristine rivers and creeks. The american cast has developed more recently and is well suited to more open and aggressive environments and involves a technique that is known as "hauling" which i'll deal with when I discuss the long cast.  The basics are the same for each style however with the only distinctions being that the english cast involves more wrist action and wider loops and as a consequence may be better suited to softer action rods.

The function of the fly rod is to transfer power to the fly line which in turn transfers power along the line all the way to the point fly. With a short length of line outside the tip of the rod you will see that if you wave the rod tip around the line will follow and that the actual direction of the rod tip will transfer all the way along the line to the tip of the line. This is not casting but its important to understand that whatever the rod tip does the line will follow. So if you move the rod tip in a crooked direction the line will move in a crooked direction, if you move the rod tip slowly then the fly line will move slowly, if you overpower the rod tip then you will overpower the fly line and so on. If you ponder about this for just a time you will move toward understanding the physics involved. The rod has to move in a clean arc which is in line with the target. Think as the top part of that arc as being a clock face with 12 o'clock at the top 9 o'clock on the front horizon and 3 o'clock being on the back horizon.

The basic casting stroke involves moving the rod tip through that arc between 10 o'clock in front and 1 o'clock behind. The cast, both the forward cast and the back cast, should start slowly and accelerate, this loads the rod up. If you observe somebody else casting you will see that the acceleration cause the rod to bend with the tip of the rod lagging behind. The casting stroke then involves stopping abruptly at 10 o'clock on the casting arc for a forward cast or 1 o'clock on the casting arc for the back cast. What you will then observe is that as the rod straightens it releases the energy that's in the loaded rod into the fly line. If you watch this carefully you will see that the energy released by the unloading rod can either complement or hinder the fly line. If the energy transfer is in he same direction that the fly line is already travelling (because you pulled it in that direction) it complements the travel of the line by causing the line to straighten out either forward or backward depending on if it was a forward cast or back cast. If however the energy transfer from the unloading fly rod is in the opposite direction of the direction that the line has been pulled, or the timing is just a little off, then it will hinder the travel of the fly line. Ideally the amount of energy generated by the casting stroke should be the amount required, and be released in the direction required, to cause the fly line, leader and tippet to completely straighten out without snapping to a stop either in front or behind depending on if it were a forward cast or back cast. When the fly line, leader and tippet have fully extended that is the time to commence the next casting stroke or to present the fly.

The number of casting strokes that you undertake without actually presenting the fly, or false casts as they are known, should be kept to a minimum as with each false cast there is an increasing opportunity of timing, rhythm and control of power in the casting stroke to get out of kilter, for the casting stroke to be effected by wind and other elements, for you to spook target fish or even get hung up on some tree or other obstruction. The only difference that there should between a false cast and a presentation of the fly is that when presenting the fly, as the stroke is finished, the rod should follow the line down to the contact position. The contact position is that position where there is a straight line between the tip of the rod and the fly or flies.

For a presentation of two rod lengths of fly line you should work toward picking the line up off the water loading the rod on the back cast and then presenting the fly or flies on the forward cast without any false casts. As you become more proficient you will find that you can pick up and present longer lengths of fly line without any false casts. Unless you are undertaking the advanced technique of "water hauling" which is not delta with in this article, back casts and forward false casts should stay well clear of the ground or water as the case may be.

Paying out more line

it is important not to try and cast more line that the timing, rhythm and control of power of your stroke can deliver. If you want to cast a distance greater than the distance you can shoot the line, without any false casts, then you have to pay out some addition line during the casting stroke. To achieve this, initially only on the forward stroke, just increase the power of the stroke a little. This will cause the fly line, leader and tippet to straighten out in front but there will be more power than needed. To take advantage of this power release a controlled amount of previously unshot line with the left hand and allow the excess power to shoot that line through the rod guides. It takes practice but quite quickly you will learn to feel how much additional power you need to put into the casting stroke to accommodate a given release of additional line. With further practice you will find that you can also release additional line on the back cast. A good rule of thumb is to work toward releasing a further rod length of line on each additional false cast.  As you become more proficient you will find that you can release greater lengths of fly line on each additional stroke.

The long cast - double hauling.

There is a point where simple forward and backward strokes can't in themselves generate enough line speed to load the fly rod up sufficiently to cast a longer distance or to cut through wind in particular. A technique called hauling has been developed to create additional line speed and overcome this problem. The technique introduces an additional action known as a haul into each or either of the forward cast and back casts. It involves using the left hand which is controlling the line to reach forward, or backward in the case of a back cast, toward the first runner of the rod, and then as the line, leader, tippet and fly or flies reach the end of their travel, pulling down with the left had at the same time as the next stroke accelerates. You can imagine that this action greatly increase the loading of the rod and when that loaded energy is released it in turn increases the line speed increasing either the distance of the travel of the line resulting from that stroke or the penetration of the stroke to increase.

The side cast.

The side cast is generally employed either to keep the fly line, leader, tippet and fly or flies away from impediments, to keep the shadow of the line off the water to avoid spooking fish or to simply keep everything below the wind. It is exactly the same cast as the short cast or the long cast described above except that the plane of the casting arc is moved from perpendicular to the horizon down as close to the horizontal position as required. Because of the different distances to the ground or water and the different effects of gravity on the travel of the line, generally, the closer the cast is to the horizon then the greater power will be required.

The steeple cast.

This technique is employed when there are impediments that would interfere with the normal back cast. It involves tilting the casting arc forward as much as necessary and decreasing the back cast as much as necessary so as to avoid the obstruction. There is a commensurate decrease in distance but that can be compensated for a little by thrusting the rod tip forward on the presentation cast thus increasing the time the line has to accelerate.

The roll cast.

If there is no room far any type of back cast at all you will need to use a roll cast. It is a simple technique and again relies on timing, rhythm and control of power. It involves laying line on the water in front of you and then lifting the rod tip to a 1 o'clock position and moving the rod backwards so that the rod is by your side or even a little behind you. Pause for a moment the to allow a belly or "d" to form in the line and then do a controlled forward stroke with the rod tip finishing in about the 10 o'clock position with an abrupt stop. The power transferred through the rod  will  roll a length of line straight out in front of you. You should be able to roll cast about 6 meters of line with just a little practice and greater distances as you get the timing, rhythm and control of power right.

Casting faults.

Are all associated with problems of lack of timing, rhythm and control of power. Some of the more common faults are listed below.

Line doesn't straighten out.

This is generally a problem of not enough power being transferred through the rod to the line for the amount of line being cast. Check your casting technique to ensure that the rod tip is accelerating and stopping abruptly as described above and that your not either just waving the fly rod around in the air like a wand or trying to shoot more line than the line speed that you are generating will allow.

Sloppy loops.

If the rod tip does not travel in a straight line along the arc of the casting clock then the line wont travel straight either.

Line hits the ground behind.

Either the stopping point for the back cast has moved beyond the 1 o'clock position or there is a lack of power being transferred through the rod to the line during the back cast for the amount of line being cast.

Splashy presentations.

Either the stopping point for the forward cast has moved below the 10 o'clock position or too much power is being applied for the amount of line being cast. For really nice settling presentations for dry flies it may be necessary to stop the forward stroke a little higher so that the flies just drift down onto the water. Alternatively you may want a splashy presentation to get a fishes attention and you can achieve that by dropping the stopping point for the forward stroke below the 10 o'clock position and overpowering the presentation stroke a little.

Whip cracking

This is generally a problem of commencing the next stroke (particularly a forward stroke) too soon. Just watch your timing and make sure that the line is fully extending prior to commencing the next stroke.

Casting knots.

Some people call these wind knots but there not caused by wind in itself but rather a lack of timing, rhythm and control of power during either a forward stroke or back stroke. They occur when the flies overtake the leader in a way that causes a a simple overhand knot.

Tailing loops.

These are a bit like a mini roll cast that has occurred in the middle of a casting stroke. The most common occurrence is when timing on a back cast has been off a little and then to compensate for the wind the rod has been pushed forward in a chopping action causing the tippet to roll over  itself.

Tight lines,

Stephen Chatterton

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