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Casting Methods and a Brief description thread

1K views 20 replies 15 participants last post by  Allison 
#1 ·
I have one style of casting and that's overhead or actually over my right shoulder and sometimes just past the right half of my body...
That's all I've ever done, and now that I'm back here in the Big World and want to hit the rivers and lakes (all from shore or wading), and after reading post after post of you guy's describing how you Spey this or you Strip that...

I really gotta hear from all of you a title to your cast and a brief description of how it's performed. If that's not too much to ask, maybe this thread will become a staple of searches in the future, a compilation of how to in an easy to search thread.


K
 
#3 ·
Well, I was trying to avoid a page with a thousand links on it... That's all... If it's impossible to describe them then I'll just follow you around and watch :) But you gotta shout out each time you change your casting styles :)
 
#4 ·
You're welcome. I'm easily confused. You want information but want to avoid a video page with that information? You'd rather get type written explanations over watching someone cast, probably a certified casting instructor with narration? You'd rather follow someone around? Hire a casting instructor and take lessons then.
 
#5 ·
I pick up my fly rod and strip a little line out and then I procede to do the 10 to 2 casting stroke over my right shoulder. I try to throw a haul in now and then to get out a little farther.

I've been doing it for so long now it's just something I do to get line out. If you watch anybody that has been doing this a long time you will see that we all do it a like but with a variations in the stroke.

Jim
 
#6 ·
Mumbles gave you a terrific option.

Here's another: The Washington Fly Fishing Club offers a intermediate casting lessons for four nights spaced a week apart in April on Greenlake. Cost $50. Creat instructors. Course covers many different casting skills.

Perhaps you have run accross the saying "A picture is worth a 1,000 words". That applies to your question.
 
#15 ·
OK, I hear these different names called out when people are using this and that kind of Rod and this type line ETC, and they all sound like they're throwing the line our differently, so I thought there was more to it than what I've been doing since I was about 13...

My uncle took me to a river in the mountains in southern Utah back in the 80's. He strung a fly rod, he handed it to me and said to do what he did....

I've been doing it that way ever since and it works... But with all the slang you all use here I get friggin confused and thought I'd ask this way. Since the way old man described it I guess that's about it other that Spey casting. Which I did see a video of.

Thanks for the input.
 
#17 ·
You know, I do the typical 10 to 2 over head cast when it comes to the lakes....When I retrieve the line in sometime I'll roll cast, ESPECIALLY when I see a fish rise after my fly, the roll cast usually lands that fish going after my fly while I was retieving the line alomost I'd say 80% of the time...the other 20% he lost interest.

On the rivers I'll switch either from a side arm when i'm trying to hit a small pool with not too much back cast space, or the 10 and 2 usual, but aiming for the pool to let is drift into the current....i've snagged and few and caught a lot this way in the rivers recently. I haven't fished rivers before, and this year it has been a blast!
 
#18 ·
Koolminx:

I think I understand your present confusion: Knowing new words/terms without knowing what they refer to in the real world is just confusing. You need to put some actual images to those terms. Checking out casting videos is better, and getting actual instruction is better yet. But I'll give you a lightning survey now, to begin to make sense of it.

Almost all casting with single-hand fly rods is as you describe it: it's called "overhead casting" from your master arm-side. 'Nuff said. When a strong wind is blowing against your master arm, you can make the same moves with your arm pointed across your body, so that your hand and arm, and the fly line, are moving back and forth on your downwind side. You can cast to moderate distance that way without getting your fly up your nostril.

The one other cast that other old timers all knew and used when their backcast space was full of leaves and branches, is the roll cast. It's best practiced on still or slow-moving water: With the line on the water in front of you and your rod low and pointing outward, toward where you want to cast, raise the rod at medium speed, nearly vertical, but just clearing your strong side. Pause and let the line sag down beside you. Cast forward, stopping the tip at about 45 degrees. The line and fly will go where the rod's pointing. With practice, you can roll cast 30 - 40 feet.

Now to spey casts, and the new terminology. Spey casts are water-anchored; that is, the fly and leader stay on the water while you're loading your rod (either a single-handed rod or a spey rod) with energy for the forward cast. Water-anchoring makes loading the rod easier to do. (If that sounds like the roll cast I just described, you're right. The roll cast is a sort of low-energy spey cast, without a lateral change of direction.)

I'm going to jump out of place here, and describe the second half of all spey casts, because that second half is the same for all the spey casts. It's called a D-loop back cast, because to an observer standing to one side, the backcast momentarily looks like a capital D. The purpose of the first half of all spey casts is to bring your fly from downstream, where it ended up at the conclusion of your previous cast and presentation (that's called "the dangle") back up toward you. Ideally, your fly, halfway through a spey cast, is on the water one to 1 1/2 rod length's in front of you, usually on your strong side, the side where you'll be gripping the upper end of a spey rod's grip. Anyway, fling a loop of line into the air behind your strong side without pulling the fly out of the water. When the line is momentarily forming the D-loop in the air behind you, deliberately stroke the rod forward. Stop the rod tip high; aim for the horizon, not the water. You just made a spey cast!


Now let's back up to the beginning and look at a few spey casts. I use the double spey more than all other spey casts combined. It's easy, predictable and low-stress, kind of like doing tai chi. With the rod (either kind) on your downstream side, with the fly line and fly downstream at the dangle, raise the rod and sweep it across your front like a slow-moving windshield wiper until the rod is low and pointing upstream. The fly should be slightly downstream of you, at what's called the "anchor point." Now swing the rod in an arc downstream, about eye-height; continue the swing into a D-loop behind you. Cast it forward, over the water.

This is getting long, so I'll describe one other spey cast: the Snap-T. This is one of the newer spey casts, and looks like a stunt, but it's really an easy, practical spey cast. With the fly downstream at the dangle, face downstream and hold your rod in the side toward the stream. Starting with your rod low and pointing down the like toward your fly, raise the rod tip to about 60 degrees, then snap it down toward the water. The line and fly will jump out of the water and land slightly upstream of you. While that's happening, swing around and face the water. Immediately throw a D-loop behind you, then stroke it forward. Damn, this is fun!

To repeat: Spey casts can be made with spey rods, switch rods, and single-handed rods. They're very useful additions to the usual overhead casts with a single-hander. They have the same advantages: easy on the angler, because they avoid false-casting; good when dealing with obstructed space behind the caster. They're not the best way to air-dry a dry fly.

You'll have to learn to make spey casts with either hand/from either side. That's not as hard as it sounds. Or you can make spey casts across your body (sometimes called "kack-handed" by the British) to deal with the wind. When you learn to make a few spey casts from either side, you're ready to fish anywhere.:)
 
#21 ·
I do 10/2, but on the advice of friends, sidearm a bit. Seems to work.

I think I'm a suck caster, and don't have much distance or accuracy, but Scott Microbrew Salzer seems to think I have some mean double-haul action. I'm not really aware of it, so maybe I'm lucky enough that that part is intuitive.

Also a big fan of roll-casting, all that fancy-pants shit seems like a waste of time unless you are trying to get some line out.
 
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