Reach Cast question

The other day I went fishing and was trying to do a left reach cast. I've practiced this many times and though I'm not the best caster in the world, I usually don't have any problem with this cast. I know this is a terrible way to explain my problem, but hopefully some one will get it. Normally a left reach cast should look similar to this

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Except the bottom line should be running straight with the bottom of the line. I hope someone figures out what I mean. Anyway, I kept getting a little curl at the end of my line. Normally not a problem, but I couldn't get the curl out of my cast. making it look something like this

2

bottom part of the two is the rod, the line lays out at an angle just like it is suppose to , but then curled back on itself. I hope my explaining what it did is understandable. And I hope someone can tell me what I was doing wrong so I can get my cast straightened out. I thought i might be stopping my cast to quick, but If I was i never did get it to work out right.

thanks in advance,
hNt

Could you be overpowering the cast?

I have found that reach casts can be too hurried. Don't start the reach too soon but let your cast extend a lot more toward your target and then deliberately and rhythmically move your rod tip lower and to the left. See if you can find online some of the wonderful videos of Maggie Merriman teaching these techniques. She is brilliantly understated and clear in her demonstrations.

What kind of fly and tippet? Fly too big? Leader diameter too small? This is where I usually have difficulty.

Thanks for your responses. :)

Lew, I changed flies several times and made the same curl with every cast. I had a 6ft leader on, which is pretty much all I ever use. I was casting right handed and to side armed due to the overhanging tree limbs. I'm wondering if rainbowchaser is right and I was over powering the cast? Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go back to the creek and practice. And as long as I'm there... :) I'll have to check out those videos Bswan, thanks for the tip.

hNt

HNT, you know somedays John Smoltz just couldn't get the ball to break like he wanted it to either. It happens to the best of us.

If you were casting sidearm from the right side, and the tippet curves to the left, I think you are overpowering the cast as rainbowchaser said.

When you do a LEFT reach from a RIGHT SIDEARM cast, the plane of the cast is PARALLEL to the water and as a result an overpowered cast will kick over to the left. Think of a tuck cast done in the a right sided sidearm plane.

Secondly, the parallel plane bring the line closer to the water surface so there is less time to do the left reach. This is especially true if the cast is overpowered. An overpowered cast has more line speed and with more line speed the cast reaches the target faster. You have to reach immediately after the stop. Any delay and the leader and line closest to the fly will fall to the water BEFORE you can reposition them in the air with the reach.

I think this plus the overpowering is what causes the "shoulder" on the upper right side of the "2"

I would just try the left reach on the lawn with an overhead casting motion and compare that with the right sidearm reach cast and see if I have gotten it right.

When faced with that same situation where I need to do a sidearm cast and I want the line to fall to the left side, I do a sidearm cast from the left side using a cross body right handed cast.

I think Silver Creek has nailed it considering you are doing a side-arm cast, and his use of the term 'tuck cast' gives a good image.
Another method to achieve the line to the left (upstream) of the fly when doing a side-arm cast to the left is to try a rather soft open-loop cast and let line slip from your left hand before the loop fully straightens. The cast (forward momentum) will 'die' and flop to the water in the shape of a "C". This cast is helped if it is a little low on the backcast and a little higher on the forecast. This ensures the fly is really close to the water when the cast dies and thus it hits the water first and helps collapse the loop.

Silvercreek nailed it! I got out in the yard yesterday and did a little practice. When i cast the reach cast overhand I noticed i wasn't using as much force as I was when I sidearmed the cast. It took a few casts before I managed to tone it down and get it right. i never thought of allowing the line to slip thru my left hand. I'll try that next.

thanks guys,
hNt

I don't know if this is the time or place to post this, but since the question was originally posted as a "reach cast question", I thought I'd mention it

I knew what you meant, but there is definitely confusion over what a cast is and what an in-the-air mend is. Greg's post about an underpowered curve cast also reminded me about what an actual cast is, what a mend is, and what some think an underpowered curve cast is.

This is not a dig at Greg because I also use the terminology of an underpowered curve cast and I do it exactly as Greg describes, by slipping some line. Nor is it a dig at you because plenty of folks use the terminology of a reach cast, and many fly fishing books call it a reach cast.

The first technical point is that casts and mends are related but separate concepts and they have separate definitions.

The second technical point is that some will say this underpowered "curve cast" is not a curve cast at all. They will say that a true right curve cast can cast AROUND an object like a tree or other vertical obstruction. This right underpowered curve can not actual go around the object. It is a cast that dies before it straightens. Nevertheless, it is a good way for a right hander to get the leader to land in a right curve.

I use the following definition to separate a cast from a mend. The cast is defined by the motion of the rod tip up to the stop. A mend repositions the line with the motion of the rod tip after the stop either while the line is in the air or on the water. This seems to agree with:

"Difference between a "Mend" and a "Cast" - a Cast is something you make during the Casting Stroke and affects the fly-leg of the loop, while a Mend is something you make after the loop has formed and affects the rod-leg of the loop. And that's all we'll say about that."

http://www.sexyloops.com/flycasting/fff_ci_test.shtml

Letting some line out after the rod stop doesn't strictly fit into either of these definitions but it is closer to a mend than a cast because it occurs after the stop and adds line to the rod leg of the cast. But I still call it an underpowered cast, because that is what everyone calls it. As long as everyone understand how to do it and why the line does what it does, you can call it whatever you want.