Whilst the art of casting for fly fishing may look like a magic trick to the beginner, becoming a good caster is not that difficult with a some practice. Its pointless having the perfect fly fishing fly, fly line, and fly rod/reel combination if you don’t know how to cast, and to be an effective fly fisherman requires that you are able to cast accurately and land your fly in an exact location on the water. Below I’ve outline some basic fly fishing casting techniques for the beginner fly fisherman.
I would recommended that the beginner take lessons from a fly fishing instructor when trying to learn fly fishing casting, but there are loads of books and DVDs available on the subject. The two main fly fishing casting techniques used are the overhead cast, and the roll cast, and other casting techniques are variations of these two techniques.
When practicing fly fishing casting it is important to ensure you practice in a location with enough clear space, such as a open field or large garden lawn area. If you are practicing 45 foot casts, make sure you have 45 feet of open space in front of you and behind you, and about 20 foot of open space on each side of you. Safety is also important – wear glasses/protective goggles and a hat, and ensure you use a yarn fly (a fly with no hook) on your fly fishing line. You can also use any fly, and just clip the hook off. You can lay out targets on the ground in front of you (e.g. hula hoops) at specific distances, e.g. 20 feet, 30 feet, and 45 feet, and the goal of the practice session is to hit these targets.
This is the most commonly used fly fishing casting technique, and most beginners should start using this technique. This technique has sequences, the back cast, then the forward cast. With the back cast, you are essentially lifting the fly line off the water in front of you, and up over your head until the fly line is behind you. Before the fly line touches the ground behind you, you initiate the forward cast sequence. With the forward cast, you bring the fly line back over your head, and land the fly line on the water with the fly landing on the location you were aiming for.
The roll cast is used when you have obstructions behind you (such as bushes or trees) that prevent you from doing the back cast using the overhead casting technique. This technique is also useful in strong winds where you don’t want to be lifting the line too high into the air. To do a roll cast, slowly lift the rod up vertically to the one o’clock position just past your ear, and this effectively slides the line back on the water’s surface without lifting the line off the water. From this position, you do a firm forward cast to complete the roll cast.
There are many excellent books and DVDs covering fly fishing casting techniques. An excellent book that teaches the basics of fly casting, and is ideal for the beginner is The Essence of Fly Casting by Mel Krieger. A good DVD for the beginner angler is Introduction to Fly Casting by Brian & Judith O’Keefe.
Tags: fly fishing casting, fly fishing casting techniques, fly fishing techniques
