First of all, Welcome Chuck.
I live on a trout river but Gills is my passion. More on that another time.
Thunder storms and server problems have kept the computer shut down.
There were no storms yesterday morning but I was at a tying session and
by the time I got home the weather had changed. Lost a load of mail
through server problems.
Some of this might of been covered , here are a few pointers on casting.
One of the main things you have to remember is the line has to
straighten out behind and in front of you. The line has to have speed to
remain in the air. A good way of watching your back cast is to roll on
the balls of your feet in practicing your cast. When you do practice,
cast to an object like a clump of grass, a rock, leaf or paper plate
placed away from you. The other thing is to look where you want the fly
to land, it seems that looking at the spot tells your brain to make you
cast to that spot. It makes no difference if you cast up or to the
side, the cast is still the same. If you cast straight up , stop at
about 1 o'clock if to the side about 9 o'clock. The stop is important.
Now this is what I see most of the time that messes up the fwd cast. The
arm is moved fwd like you are throwing a baseball or casting a spinning
rod. The wrist should be held straight, the whole arm move fwd in a
straight line before the snap is made. After the snap is made, follow
the line down with the rod tip. It is all done in one motion.
It would be like using a hammer to drive a nail in the wall about the
height of your head. For short casts, I find it is better to keep your
upper arm against your body and do all the casting from the elbow to the
hand using your upper body for the power in the cast.
Back when I started casting with bamboo, they had you put a folded
newspaper between your body and elbow and hold it there while learning
to cast. That kept the upper arm against your body. It also helped you
slow down your arm movement so that the line would straighten out behind
you. If casting tiers you out, you are working too hard at it. You also
have to remember that the longer the line you have out, the longer the
pause between the back and fwd cast. This is also very important, if you
have a bunch of slack line when you make the first pickup, the line will
not have any speed. Without speed, the line will not go anywhere. The
line should be straight out from the rod tip. The tip should be low
enough to give the line some speed on the up (back) stroke. If you do
have a lot of slack line out and don't want to collect it all back,
make a half circle move with the rod tip. This will bring the line up
in the air and follow this immediately with the back cast. May sound
complicated but it is not when seen it done.
I don't want to ramble on too much, just remember not the twist your
wrist like you are casting a spinning rod or lob your arm like you are
throwing a baseball. You can practice casting while sitting in your
lounge chair watching television. Get a length of 1/4 "dowel from the
hardware store. Tie on a 3' length of yarn. Sit in your lounge chair and
practice casting. Watch the yarn, it should be straight on the fwd and
back cast like 2 and 3 in four step casting method. I did not mention
the 1,2,3,4, method,
1 With line straight out from the tip and the rod pointing to the water
(or ground) raise the rod to the 12 o'clock position. Do this with just
your forearm and wrist straight.
2 Make your stop at 12 o'clock, you might drift a bit to 1 o'clock,
pause for the line to straighten out.
3 Come straight fwd with your wrist still straight and your upper arm
against your body to the end of your arm travel, make the snap casting
the line to the horizon. This keeps you from slapping the line on the water
4 When the line is straight out, follow it down.
This is basic, as you cast, you will come up with your own way of doing it.
If you can remember to keep line speed, pause long enough to have the
line straighten out, you should have a good cast.
Tony
