Casting Clinic:
The Five Essentials of Casting
In a continuing series on fly casting, Matt Wihelm of the Federation of Fly Fishers and the Yellowstone Fly Fishing School shares tips and tricks for laying a line out:
Fly casting differs from spin fishing in that a fly is basically weightless whereas the lures used in spin fishing have weight. In spin fishing the weight of the lure pulls the monofilament line off of the reel when cast, delivering the lure to the fish. In fly fishing the weightless fly relies on the heavy fly line to deliver it to an intended target. When fly fishing consider casting the line and the fly will follow. Efficient and effective fly casting is relies on five fly casting essentials. When any one of these essentials are omitted a fly cast can fail or not end up quite where expected. Knowing and practicing the five essentials will help all fly fishers make strides toward efficient casting.
Essential One: Slack must be kept to a minimum while fly casting.
When beginning any fly cast it is best to start with a completely straightened fly line absent of slack. If there is slack in the line part of the casting stroke will be lost trying to take up the slack and the rod will not load (bend).
Tip: Totally straighten your fly line before each cast and anchor the line in either the non casting hand, or between the casting hand and the grip.
Essential Two: The rod tip must travel in a straight line while casting.
The casting loop will take the shape of the rod tip path for the good, or for the bad. Ideally the rod tip should travel in a straight line path. The result will be a tighter loop that is more efficient, less wind resistant, more accurate, and will travel further. If the rod tip travels in a convex or a windshield wiper shaped path a large, open loop will occur. Large loops often collapse short of the intended target. When the rod tip dips below a straight line path a tailing loop is often the result. Tailing loops are often the cause of those pesky “wind knots” that are found in the leader and tippet.
Tip: Pretend there is a paint brush on your rod tip and the ceiling needs painting. If the rod tip deviates from a straight line the paint brush loses contact with the ceiling.
Essential Three: Power should be added smoothly and evenly during the cast.
When casting a fly rod the hand accelerates the rod forward and/or backward. The hand movement starts slowly, gains speed, and ends with a crisp stop. Acceleration should be greatest just before the stop. When power is added correctly to the cast the rod will load correctly, and unload better after the stop.
Tip: Take a paint brush and dip it in water. Accelerate the brush forward as it were a fly rod and try to flick the water off the paint brush. If water goes up in the air power was added too early. If the water hits the wall in front of you around eye level or a little higher power was added appropriately.
Essential Four: The length of the casting stroke (hand movement) and casting arc (angle change in the butt of the fly rod) is determined by the amount of line beyond the rod tip.
When casting a short line a short casting stroke, and narrow arc is needed. This is because the amount of weight beyond the rod tip is small and the rod need not travel in a wide arc to effectively cast the line. Conversely, when a long line is being cast the casting arc must open and the stroke must lengthen to accommodate the greater weight of the fly line beyond the rod tip to maintain a good cast.
Tip: A common mistake here is trying to cast too much line. Mark your fly line 35” back from it’s tip with a permanent marker and practice often. Practice with the marking anchored in either your non casting hand, or anchored in your casting hand against the grip. Once comfortable cast slightly shorter and slightly longer noticing changes in the casting stroke and arc.
Essential Five: There must be a pause after the rod stops for the back cast and forward cast. The length of the pause is determined by the length of line beyond the rod tip.
A good rule to follow is when casting a short line there should be a short pause, if casting a long line there will be a long line and longer pause. Correct amount of pause also yields good timing when casting. Pausing after the stop allows the loop to unroll and straighten. If the pause is too short the rod will not load correctly. If the pause is too long the line and leader will fall to the ground either behind or in front and energy will be lost here as well.
Tip: Look over your shoulder and watch your back cast. Or, cast with the rod 45 degrees to the ground. This will allow you to see your back cast better and help to build timing. If the pause is too long the fly will hit the ground.
—Matt Wilhelm
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