To become proficient at the fly cast, you have to practice. I always found it difficult to read about fly casting while I was learning. For me, the cast is all about feel and vision working together. That is, I feel what is happening during the cast at the same time I watch it unfold.
The thing with practice is you need to practice the right way. During our casting lessons we teach the fundamentals for new anglers and refer back to the same fundamentals to improve and correct experienced fly fishers.
As a shameless plug for our school, I highly recommend taking a casting lesson or getting out with an observer who knows what to look for and how to fix basic casting problems.
Most importantly, the cast gets the line on the water. Your control of the rod, line, leader and fly once they hit the water is where you make fishy magic. I can tell you from experience, the fish don’t care about a perfect casting stroke, but it damn sure feels nice when you pull one together. Honestly, the last thing I think about when I’m fishing is my casting stroke. The reality is if I can manipulate the rod and the line to make the bug fool the fish, that’s all I’m after. Yes, it’s important to have the basics, but it’s more important to make that line work for you.
Orvis does a great job providing casting information in their Learn To Fly Fish videos and we mirror much of this information. I’ve linked several of their videos below along with some practice drills. It’s not hard to find information on fly casting, but you simply have to get out there, feel it and screw it up several times to eventually get it right.
Helpful Suggestions from our Fly Fishing Course’s Casting Chapter
Casting Principles:
- You must have line tension against the rod tip. That is the rod AND the end of the line must move. The slack must remove before the cast can begin. Slack must be removed on the UP Cast AND the Down Cast. Starting the rod tip low will ensure you make a FULL fly cast.
- The casting hand must move with increasing speed through the motion of the stroke. Slowest at the start and fastest at the completion of the casting stroke. This will load the rod. An abrupt stop of your casting hand completes the stroke and sends the line to its desired target. The faster the acceleration and stop, the tighter the loop.
- The line must and will only go in the direction the rod tip is moving when it straightens. The rod must track on a straight vertical path. (Straight line path behind you and in front of you)
- The longer the casting stroke (rod/arm movement proportional to the amount of line beyond the rod tip) the easier the stroke. The rod will do more of the work (bend)if your stroke is longer. A predetermined rod path will only work for one cast. The forward cast and backward cast should mirror each other. A longer lever moving through a longer distance, gives a greater mechanical advantage. (This has a lot of FEEL for anglers)
- Your “Rod Hand” takes the rod through the cast and your “Line Hand” is critical is equally important for casting control.
Once you get the feel of the basic overhead cast, you’ll begin to see and feel how your rod movement and line control sets you up for a variety of presentation scenarios.
The Orvis videos below expand into some other basic casts to help your proficiency on the river.
Casting Practice:
- Practice to solve a specific problem OR learn a new technique.
- Use targets.
- Record Yourself. Does it look as good as it feels?
- Short 15 minute sessions are effective
- Don’t wait for perfect conditions to practice (conditions on the water are rarely perfect)
- Practice both off and on the water (on the water practice is very effective when no hooks, or you’re in water that doesn’t hold fish)
- Look at your back cast. Especially effective for beginners.
- For accuracy, keep your eye on your target and square your shoulders to your target.
Three Simple Dry Land Drills:
- The Orbit. Place a target at a reasonable distance and orbit the target. This helps you cast to the target from a 360 persepective. You may have obstacles to your back cast, wind direction will factor differently, and you can move in and out from your target. My goal is always one cast…Pick up and Lay Down to the target without a false cast.
- 3 Wide Targets. Place targets (I use hula hoops) left to right and stand back reasonable distance from one of the targets. Change direction with each cast to the different targets. This works well to practice false casts, roll casts and accuracy.
- Traffic Light. Arrange your targets near to far and practice changing distances “ On The Fly”
Orvis Casting Videos
Basic Cast
Line Hand Position
Roll Cast
Reach Cast
Parachute and Pile Casts
Get Out There!
I love casting a fly rod. I often practice at camp just to clear my head for a few minutes. While on the river, I’ll often lose focus on catching fish and work on casting and drifting if only to experience the relaxation found in the process for me. It’s also an excuse to tell my fishing buddies I’m not catching fish on purpose. Whatever your drivers are, get out there and enjoy your waters!