Articles

Control Your Loop Shape

Slack Line Casts:  The Pile Cast

The Roll Cast and Roll Cast Pick Up

Adjusting Your Casting Distance - Shooting Line

A meaningful discussion on learning how to fly cast must begin with loop shapes and how we make them. This article lays the foundation for 3 common loop shapes (narrow loops with a straight top leg, wide loops with a rounded top leg and tailing loops) that beginning casters will likely encounter in their journey toward become an accomplished fly fisher. With a firm grasp of loop shapes and how we make them, future articles can begin to discuss the fly casting mechanics necessary to execute a variety of fishing casts.

The 5 Essentials of Fly Casting and the Pick Up and Lay Down Cast

No discussion of fly casting would be complete without the inclusion of the Essentials of Fly Casting. In 1988, Federation of Fly Fishers (predecessor to Fly Fishers International), approached Jay Gammel and his son, Bill, to write a casting pamphlet for beginners.  Together, Jay and Bill studied hours of video footage of the great casters of the time, including Lefty Kreh, Joan and Lee Wulff, Jim Green, Mel Krieger, Chris Korich and Steve Rajef.  The goal was to determine what good casts and casters have in common, separating the substance of a good fly cast from style.  After 2 years of work, Jay and Bill completed the 24-page pamphlet, The Essentials of Fly Casting, in 1990. 

These casts lay the foundation for a multitude of fly casts.  Master these casts prior to learning how to extend and shorten line, pile casts, wiggle mends, over- and under-powered curve casts, reach mends, and others. 

Improve your casting and catch more fish.

Reprinted: The Flyline, December 2023, Hawkeye Fly Fishing Association

There are times when fishing that we may not have room behind us to execute a proper back cast. For example, we may have trees, weeds, fences, high banks or any combination thereof behind us, restricting our back cast. In those instances, we need to make some sort of adjustment to allow us to present our fly to the fish. In many cases, we can use a roll cast. A roll cast is a fly cast that does not require a back cast.

Reprinted: The Flyline, April 2024, Hawkeye Fly Fishing Association

So, how do we increase the amount of line during our fly cast?  We do it by “shooting line.”  For this discussion, we will talk about shooting line on the forward cast, but you can also shoot line on the back cast.  Being able to shoot line is predicated on the fact that you are able to control your loop shape and deliver a narrow loop with a straight top leg.  Master shooting line and you be able to target fish and get your fly to them quicker before the opportunity passes.  This is especially important when targeting moving fish. 

When fishing, it’s not always desirable for our fly line to be straight to the fly.  To effectively fish many situations, we need to cast our line in a way that incorporates some slack into our line and/or leader. The pile cast, is a fly cast that delivers our fly to its target where the fly line and/or leader lands on the water in a series of wavy S-shapes rather than straight to the fly.  The slack layout of our line and leader compensate for differing current speeds.  This increases the time and/or length of our drag free drift.

Reprinted: The Flyline, September 2024, Hawkeye Fly Fishing Association