You hit it right on the head, Deanna, there is just NO substitute for spending time on the water. When I was practicing in MI, I lived on a little lake and would spend my evenings winding down by fishing. I used my 4wt for panfish, and regularly used my 8wt for casting big deer hair poppers for bass. I got to where I could cast out into my backing with a fair amount of ease on a regular basis! I NEVER would have been able to do anything even close to that if I hadn't spent so much time fishing. When I hosted the MO fish-in a few years ago, I had a FFF flycasting instructor, give all of us a lesson, and really learned how much I didn't know about casting. Boy, was that an eye opener, lol. I can also tell you, without-a-doubt, that my casting isn't nearly as good as it was back then because I just don't spend as much time on the water.

Great little article.
TT.