Casting Philosophy
Having fly fished for more than five decades, been involved with giving numerous fly-casting workshops…not to mention having taught a goodly number of individuals to become good fly casters, I feel modestly competent to discourse on the philosophy of fly casting. No doubt others will dispute what follows, but it has withstood both the test of time and finicky trout!
The first tenet of my fly fishing philosophy is that it should be fun…not work. We spend a large proportion of our life working, so there is absolutely no reason to make work out of fly fishing!
The second tenet is that you do not need to be world-class athlete to be a very accomplished fly fisher. Anyone with reasonably good hand-eye coordination can be a successful fly fisher provided they follow the course outlined below.
First, learn with good equipment. I have heard people say “I’ll buy a cheap rod to learn with, then…”WRONG! All poor equipment will teach you is a plethora of bad habits necessary to counteract the inadequacies of the equipment.
Borrow or buy good equipment from the beginning. It will pay rich dividends in the end (guaranteed)!
Second, keep everything simple. Stick a paper plate on the lawn 15 feet away and practice hitting the target over and over. When you can hit it consistently, move it out five more feet and repeat the enterprise until you can hit it time and again, then move it out another five feet. When you have reached 40 feet…QUIT! Go fishing…as that is all the distance you will ever need to be successful! (You don’t need to use the double haul to catch trout--the only reason to ever learn the double haul is to fish for bonefish on the flats of the Keys)!
Remember that all you really need to use in casting is your forearm from the elbow to the hand…ignore the foolish counsel of those who think you need to use your entire arm. That’s patent nonsense. The goal is accuracy…NOT distance! You want to be able to put the fly precisely where you want it--not six inches from the target, exactly where you want it. If you keep your elbow in and sight down the rod (as though it were a gun) you will find that you will quickly develop a precision you thought impossible.
Also remember that the entire cast is performed between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. With the wonderful graphite rods at our disposal, forget the old 10-2 counsel--it is no longer valid. The rod can be successfully “loaded” in that short span, and, the less time you are obliged to keep the line in the air, the less that can go wrong! Sounds simple…and that is the goal--keeping it as simple as possible!
If you are going to be successful in my “short-line” approach to fly casting, you need to master other important skills--like wading s-l-o-w-l-y and quietly, keeping your silhouette low at all times (wear out the knees of your waders before the soles--the hallmark of a successful angler). Above all, keep your eyes on the water. Rig up at streamside, watch the swallows to see if they are active (if they are, the trout will be too), don’t overlook any piece of water--you will be amazed where you will find trout. They are not always where they “should be,” but where they are.
There is a lot of mystique connected with casting a fly…most of which is entirely unjustified!
I’ve given you the basics…now go out and have fun. Although I am filled with uncertainty about most things in life, I am confident that no skill you will ever learn will bring you more satisfaction than learning how to cast a fly upon rippling waters. “Tight lines” await!