Anyone ever heard of a bow and arrow cast? I was reading about fishing in small streams and came across the term. There are mostly creeks and small streams around close and I was very curious about it. Now I can’t find where I have read it.
thanks,
Jason
Hey there Hungn,
My method ,details of which I will spare you, causes a much too frequent impaling of the fly/hook in my clothing and in the worst case my finger. When someone finally tells you how, do yourself a favor and use barbless hooks.
Mark
This might help:
http://gorp.away.com/gorp/activity/fishing/skills/bow_arrow.htm
Do yourself a favor and practice this (and all of your other casts) with a one inch piece of yarn attached to the end of your leader. Just tie it on in the center of the piece of yarn with a clinch knot(or a couple of any knots you can tie). Beats changing your name to hungNfinger, or hungNear.
Joe Humphreys is probably the best reference for this cast. I would suggest looking at his DVD:
[i] A Casting Approach To Dry Fly Tactics In Tight Brush[/i]
Heritage Angler -
Thanks for the link.
John
I have never used this cast with a fly rod, I try to stay away from it. When I was around 12 or 13 I had used it several times with my bait caster until I put a large crank bait through my left index finger. It was literal bloody mess. Luckily I have meaty fingers and the hook didn’t hit a tendon or nerve. Anyways I try to avoid using it, and so far I haven’t had to, but that doesn’t mean I won’t if I have to. However I will be very care full of how I hold the hook.
I wholeheartedly agree! Joe is a real gem, and IMHO, the best flyfisherman of all time.
Pardon a shameless plug for a friend 
…
Nice link, thanks for the help. Another thing I’ll have to add to my christmas list, No way Santa will think I have been this good.
Here’s how I do it with NO jabbed fingers:
Just get an O-ring big enough to fit over your PINKY; attach at least 4" of old fly line with a loop-to-loop (cow hitch) connection and you are in business. Like this:
I keep the O-ring with the attached fly line on my PINKY where it isn’t in the way. When I need to use a B&A cast; instead of grabbing the hook with my fingers, I form a loop with the end of the doubled line between my thumb & index finger; loop it over the hook point and around around the hook bend; pull back on the fly with the fly line, open my fingers and let-r-go!
But it gets even better; if you are married and wear a wedding band on your line hand; it is a piece of cake to just attach the short piece of old fly line right to your wedding band the same way! I do that more often than anything. Just make sure to attach the fly line to your wedding ring someplace where you can’t possibly drop the ring; :shock: like back at the car.
If you lose your wedding band your spouse will hurt you WAY more than getting impaled by a hook! Maybe me too for giving you the idea!
Dear Bamboozle,
Never even heard of such a tactic. How, pray tell, did you come up with it?
Is there no end to what one can learn around this place !!!
Thanks, Bam.
John
And I can just hear this; “Honest honey, I was making a ‘Bow & Arrow’ cast and the piece of string that was tied to my wedding ring just,”
Thanks for the tip bam, but I don’t think I’ll be using my wedding ring any time soon. 
I use a method similar to Bamboozle but without the o-ring and never the wedding band. Just a piece of string tied around my index finger and controlled with my thumb. As some others have pointed out, the other way is just too risky and at times painful. :shock: Jim
I fish a lot of really dinky creeks where the B&A cast is used almost exclusively. A bunch of jabbed fingers had me thinking about better ways to hold the fly which made me think of archery, shooting paperclips and other stuff with rubber bands back in school.
I used started doing the B&A cast a many years ago using a rubber band taped to my index finger but the rubber band kept breaking so I figured string or a hunk of old fly line would be even better. I came up with the wedding band and O ring idea after I found the index finger wasn’t the place I liked the fly line to be attached and tape wasn’t a suitable way to keep the line in place for the whole day.
As proven by jimsnarocks’ post; necessity is the mother of invention or another way to think of it is: ingenuity spurred by a desire to lessen pain isn’t the exclusive property of one fisherman; many of us come up with the same ideas when there is a fish hook stuck in our finger!
Try either method; it really works and is so simple you won’t believe you didn’t think of it too!
This is one cast you can practice doing in your living room!
I was shown the technique of using a loop by a great uncle of mine in the late '60s. He was born just before WWI and had all sorts of neat fly gear I got to wade through and use as a kid.
also heard of this cast and have used it a few times while in a confined space or when I needed to cast under a low overhang. not bad! it works!!! but I didn’t cast far. maybe 20 feet or so
20’:shock: Wow I don’t think I have ever had a B&A cast that took more than 6’ to reach the pocket I wanted to hit. Hmmm…wondering if I was doing it all wrong now.
Of course I have been know to use the dangling technique with a 7’ rod with only a few inches of line maybe a foot hanging out of the tip top. Of course when I set the hook on that little aggressive brookie he ended up in the bushes over head. <sigh>
Hey, that’s brilliant, Bamboozle! One of those “now why didn’t I think of that?” moments.
I get in tight spots from time to time, and use the B&A cast, but smaller flies are tough to hold and still get a good rollover upon release.
Great idea!