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IMPORTANT
SITE UPDATE:
Visit the relaunched
Fish & Fly at fishandfly.com
Fly
Casting - Part 1
Our December 2001 contribution from Master caster
The ability to be able to cast well is fundamental to successful and enjoyable fly fishing. In the first article of a major new series on fly casting, Master Caster discusses the four basic principles that govern casting a fly rod. Future articles will look at how to cast further, including the double haul, the importance of the line hand and identifying and eliminating common casting errors.
The four basic principles of fly casting
Every successful fly cast must conform to four basic mechanical principles that governing casting. These principles have been laid-down by leading fly casters including Lefty Kreh and Ed Jaworowski. Being able to cast well is fundamental to successful and enjoyable fly fishing. It would seem that many anglers - particularly those new to the sport - want to be able to cast a full line every cast. And some will use enormous amounts of effort and energy to try to achieve this nirvana. A good understanding of the basic principles will help you to cast better and with less effort. It is worth pointing out that more effort does not translate into better or longer casts. Trying to put more effort into a cast does not produce more distance because you will be violating the second principle of casting. Technique and timing are the keys.
To be able to cast a fly you have to put a bend into your rod by smooth and gradual acceleration of the rod so that it pulls against the weight of the fly line. This action flexes, or loads, the rod. This applies to both the back cast and the forward cast. Increasing the acceleration and then stopping allows the rod tip to straighten which sends the fly line, as it unrolls, either backwards, or forwards to the target. There is no essential difference between a back cast and a forward cast. (This can be demonstrated by turning round and making your "back" cast the forward or presentation cast. This is a technique that works very well if, for example, you are fishing a tree-lined river bank where there is no or little room for a traditional back cast.)
The first principle states that you must remove all slack from you fly line before you can load a rod. To load a rod properly requires tension between the top ring and the line so that the weight of the line makes the rod bend as you start the back cast. If you move the tip of your rod and not the line as well, then you are wasting energy. So start your back cast with the tip of your rod close to the water, eliminate any slack and then, when the line is moving, you can start your back cast. Using part of a back cast to take slack out of the line is inefficient.
Moving on to the next principle, once you have eliminated the slack in your line and got the line moving, the only way to load your rod is through a continuous movement of your casting arm, starting slowly and building speed before coming to an abrupt stop. This speed increase and abrupt stop is critical. A fast and short speed up and stop movement will result in high line speed and a tight loop. Conversely, a lack of acceleration or an abrupt stop will cause the rod to lose part of the load.
Subconsciously it is easier to achieve a good speed-up and stop on the forward cast because you can see what is happening to your casting hand as well as having the water there in front of you. But to make a good cast, you need to achieve the same speed-up and stop at the end of the back cast.
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For many years the traditional English-style of casting - and method of teaching - has been based on a relatively short casting stroke, stopping and starting at specific points, usually relative to the hands on a clock face. The American school of casting maintains that the further you move your rod, particularly backwards, the easier it is to cast and the further you can cast. A fly rod is a lever and, with all levers, the further it moves the more work it does. So, for shorts casts, use short arm movements.
Long movements will be a waste of energy. When you want to cast further - to reach that fish the other side of the reservoir - use much longer arm movements, not simply more energy applied to a short arm movement. For a long cast, start your back cast with the tip of the rod as close to the water as possible which will enable you to achieve the longest casting stroke.
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If you now take your hand and arm well to your rear, your back cast will be of a similar length to the forward cast.
A long back cast and forward cast will help load the rod more fully.
The last invariable principle is that the fly line will always go in the same direction as the rod tip was moving when it stopped. Put simply, this means that if at the end of the forward cast, your rod tip is pointing at the target, that is where the fly and line will go. Understanding this principle is the key to achieving accurate casts. If the rod tip is pointing too low, the line will hit the water hard, pointing high will increase distance. If you have trouble with your back cast hitting the water, or bank, behind you, it is because, at the end of the back cast, your rod tip was travelling downwards, rather than upwards.
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Care must be taken when casting to lift only the right amount of line of the water: enough to load the rod but not so much that you risk over-loading it. This point is more important with both weight forward lines and sinking lines. When fishing sinking lines - and particularly fast sinking or deeply-sunk lines - it may be necessary to role cast the line to the surface before lifting-off and making a back cast.
As was pointed out at the beginning of this article, technique and timing are the keys to making good casts. Get these two right and distance will follow. But simply slinging the whole of a fly line across a river or stillwater is not going to catch anyone more fish. Although there are times when the ability to make long casts is invaluable, accurate casting and presentation will always catch more fish.