Can someone please describe the bow and arrow cast?
Basically you reel in until you have little more than the leader out of the rod tip. Hold the fly in your hand by the “bend” of the hook. Point the rod at the target. Pull on the fly so that it bends the tip of the rod. Let it go…
This is not at all a distance cast. It is meant to allow you to place a fly where no back cast or roll cast is available. It is a very useful cast in heavy cover. Creeks with heavy vegetation or for short accurate casts like trout holding along the bank of a spring creek are great locations for this particular cast. It’s both accurate and stealthy.
I thought that was how it was performed.
Thanks FlyFishAR!
First time I tried it I buried the hook in my finger. 
Ouch!!!
First time I tried it I buried the hook in my finger.
Pete,
OUCH.
As I was reading the description, I thought it sounded like a fast way to see what a fish hook feels like as it’s stuck in your finger.
Jeff
The bend of the hook on small flies isn’t very big. I guess the fly flipped over when I let it go. Ouch is right.
Thank the lord I pinched the barb.
DO NOT hold the fly up behind your ear like you would pull the bow back on a real bow and arrow to aim your cast, hold the hook out in front of you. I saw a guy do that once and he (or I or anybody else that saw it) will never do it that way again. The hook embedded behind his ear deep into his scalp. It was awful.
Joe
And be sure the barb is pinched down just in case you do fumble the cast and have to remove the fly from finger or other flesh!
dont use small flies when you try this 14 and larger
Do what I do; get a Band Aid or a piece of bandage tape and wrap it around your index finger while at at the same time securing the end of a heavy piece of mono or a rubber band. Then, wrap the mono or rubber band around the hook bend; pull it back a-la-Bow & Arrow cast and release the free end.
Pttoingggg!!
No more jabbed fingers! It works great and you don’t have to do the tape thing if you don’t want except you will lose a few pieces of mono or rubber bands if you choose not to. I’ve been doing it this way for years.
I have been experimenting with a large enough O ring to fit on my index finger in place of the tape with the mono or a piece of D-Rib already attached via a simple overhand knot. It works just as good and is easier to deal with than tape. I’ve made a couple up and keep them in my pocket in case I need them. The possibilities for similar hook releases is endless.
About 15 years ago I was fishing for bass with a crank bait. I caught a decent size bass about 3lbs. I grabbed him by the lower jaw like I always do with bass. This time, he jerked his head right when I got a grip on him. One hook of one of the trebbles burried into my thumb up past the barb. Now, I had a 3lb bass going nuts trying to get away jerking his head all over the place and a rather significant trebble hook buried into my thumb and everytime the bass jerked his head, the hook went in deeper. I managed to get my left hand under the bass and lift him out of the water and get him on a rock on the bank of the lake. I took the hooks out of the bass and released him unharmed to the water. Now I had to figure out what to do with a crank bait hanging off my bleeding thumb. The angle the hook was in prevented me from pushing it through and cuttting the barb off as it would have come out underneath my thumbnail.
Also, I had just started fishing and they were hitting well so going home was not something I wanted to do. Knowing it was not going to feel good, I grabbed my needle nose pliers and with one quick motion removed the hook from my thumb. I had a first aid kit in the car so I put some neosporin on the wound, bandaged it up and went back to fishing. I don’t remember how many more fish I caught that evening but it was a few. What I do remember is how unpleasant it was to pull a hook out of my thumb.
After that experience, I’m a lot more careful when removing hooks from a fish’s mouth. :lol: I’m not too sure I’ll be doing a bow and arrow cast in the near future.
Jeff
I’ll be honest. I pinch barbs for me as much as the fish.
Have used this with a spinning rod and am afraid of iteven then!! I don’t think I’ll try it with a fly, thank you.
I have had a hook buried in a knuckle before and that is enough!!
it’s a fun cast.
hold the fly right and it can be fun.
Jeff, now you know how the bass feels!
I pinch all my barbs before I tie the fly!
They say to hold the hook point upward for the bow and arrow cast to keep it out of you. I have seen it excecuted by holding the flyline, with the line and leader laying out in front of the caster, and letting go. It rolled out like a nice roll cast (this was at a flyfishing show).
Greg
thats pretty interesting.
get a hold of the DVD “Casting Approach To Dry Fly Tactics In Tight Brush” by Joe Humphreys. That’s where this cast really shines.
Most likely the demonstration you saw was with Joe Humpreys at one of te shows. He does a “distance” bow and arrow cast for the crowd However the cast is really not meant for distance. It is meant to get you into super tight cover. If you try casting with the bow cast by using the fly line it is likely to hang itself in the brush as it unrolls.
One of the things we found in Portugal was that it helped tremendously to use a 10-11 foot rod in heavy cover in lieu of a 6-7 foot rod. The extra length helped place the fly at more than double the length of the rod. With an 11 foot rod you could effectively fish at 25 feet while with a 7 foot rod you could only reach about 15 feet. Generally it is difficult to get within 15 feet of spooky fish. The longer rods produced 10 times the takes.
John Wilson