Doing something wrong casting

[aaron1956]

Ok, Ive made my introduction here so now I am ready to start bombarding yall with questions. I have been out in the yard practicing casting and I keep snagging my fly line with my tippet about 8 or 10 ft from the end of my rod, like I am not getting enough height. End up with a tangled mess. Have a piece of sponge on the end of tippet. I make a pretty good cast every now and then. (Yea I know, a blind hog finds an acorn every now and then too.) Any suggestions?
I think I am gonna get my wife to make a video of me casting and maybe I can see what I am doing wrong. Should get a good laugh anyway!

[Fishingfiend]

Most people do not snap the line backwards hard enough. You basically need to cast backwards as hard as you do forward. The rod should stop at 12 o'clock on the back cast. Then you need to wait it out. If it takes a second for your line to "unfold" in front of you, you need to wait an equal time for it to do the same behind you.
So ... snap back to 12 o'clock ... wait for the line to unfold behind you ... snap the rod forward to about 3 o'clock.

There are a couple of good videos on youtube that teach you the basic casting form. If you hit the "home" button up top, then look for beginner fly fishing lessons, you'll find a lot of info on this site.

You could come to Deltona, and I'd be happy to help you by taking you out on the water for a day.

[rainbowchaser]

Read this

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/articles/cst/cst091699.php

[Jack Hise]

aaron;
The video is a good idea but first, watch your back cast and make sure the line has straightend out before making the fore cast.

[sagefisher]

Aaron,

You live real close to Corpus Christi. There has to be a fly shop in that city or at least a tackle shop that deals in fly fishing gear. They will know if there is a fly club in the area you could join. The best way for you to learn to cast the fly is to take some classes from a certified casting instructor. Many fly clubs have classes on casting and tying and fly fishing in general. If no club then someone at the fly shop should be able to get you started in the right direction on your casting.

Larry ---sagefisher---

[aaron1956]

Larry, I am in West Virginia now, will be for about 2 more months working. I am going to see what I can find around here as far as classes. It surprised me not to see many people fly fishing in the rivers and streams here but these rainbow trout and pretty clear streams here is what got me interested in fly fishing.
Thanks to you and everyone else for your replies!

[TyroneFly]

Hey Aaron,

Checkout this article by the late JC. http://flyanglersonline.com/articles/cst/cst112408.php

Pay particular attention to coming to a solid stop in both your forward and back casts. A solid stop is key. Be sure your rod tip follows in a straight line. Make sure there is no arc in your tip's travel.

[aaron1956]

I had to Google Deltona to see where it is! Was hoping it was here in West Virginia and I would take you up on that offer!

[bgreer]

Without seeing your cast, it's of course hard to say what might be the problem.

But there are a few things to pay attention to that often cause such problems.

Watch how far back the rod is going on your back cast. Make sure the rod tip isn't going too far back.

As mentioned before, make sure that your back cast is quick enough. The back motion should look like the forward motion when false casting.

And as mentioned before, make sure that the line is unfurling behind you as you start your forward cast. Make sure you aren't catching the fly with your forward stroke as the fly is still traveling backwards.

There's a lot of good knowledge on this board and a lot of good people that are willing to help.

You'll get it worked out in no time.

[JohnScott]

Forget everything you know about how to "cast" and ignore all advice on the "proper" way to do it.

Start out just hanging out some line and waving the rod around in circles, half circles, zig zags, figure eights, loop the loops, and what have you. And watch the line while you are doing that. Pretty soon you will develop a good sense of the interaction of the rod and the line and what movements you make with the rod produce what results / effects on the line.

You don't need to have a backcast that goes nicely over your head and straightens out so you can make a nice foreward cast over your head. You can actually just pull the fly on a low trajectory almost right at you, let it pass you on the right ( if you are right handed ) let the line form a loop behind you or straighten out as it rises behind you if you have room and prefer to do that, and power a forward cast in the direction you want the fly to go. Just one example of many non-conventional and very effective casting techniques.

If you do want to spend some time watching video, I would recommend Simon Gawesworth's three DVD set on spey casting. None of that nice tidy stuff guys do with conventional fly angling gear - more like art and science rolled up in a 13-14' rod and a line that hardly ever looks like it's doing what a fly line should. Pay particular attention to Simon's demonstration on how to apply spey casting stuff to casting single hand fly rods. Then apply all those things to conventional gear minus the anchor that spey casters get with the water - just use an "air" anchor and good timing.

Seriously - if you get all wound up in those clock movements and stop here and stop there things, tight loops and open loops, and on and on, all taught very well by certified fly casting instructors, you can easily miss out on what it is all about: finding ways to get the fly where it needs to be to catch fishies and having fun doing it your way. But you do have to take that first step - just start waving that rod and line around in circles and have some fun doing it.

The rest will come naturally. Except the double haul.

John

Now back to your regularly scheduled conventional discussion on fly casting.