Notice that my fly will sometimes travel below the fly line on the foward cast, and occasionally the hook will catch on the fly line when the leader is straightening out. Might be a bit rusty. Any tips on how to correct this?
Janus
A common problem called a “tailing loop.” In general quicky terms your rod tip is staying in exactly the same path fore and aft. Think in terms of “giving the tip some English” to make the fly go where you want it (tip and fly go in opposite directions) and most of your tailing loop problems will go away.
In other words, move your rod tip just a few inches to the side away from where you think your cast wants to go, relative to your target and you just might be surprised…
art
Tailing loop…lots of causes…don’t jab the forward cast…that is …don’t put too much punch into the forward cast too soon.
I highly recommend having a professional, and one with whom you do not have a personal relationship, observe your cast and offer critiques. Then practice the corrected cast a couple hundred times a day until it becomes the natural movement.
I had the same problem here recently and I found that I was over-powering the forward cast. The problem wasn’t in my casting though, it was my line hand pulling the line on the forward cast like a haul technique. I solved this problem by holding the line with my index finger on my casting hand. I had a lot of help from the people here and they helped me remedy this little problem. I throw nice loops now, though I can’t seem to control the size of it too well. Or the direction for that matter. I’m a bad judge of distance too…
It kinda stinks though looking at your line laying on the water like a lasso. Looks like you’re trying to lasso the fish.
To add to the overpowering comment: you might be applying too much power too early. If you’re hauling try to delay your forward-cast haul. (You want to begin you downward haul when your casting arm is extended about three-quarters.) Also, remember your casting hand reaches maximun speed just before your stop the rod. (Similiarly, a golfer reaches max swing speed just before he hits the ball.)
Finally, sometimes tailing loops are caused by stopping the rod too early in the casting stroke.
Randy
Janus,
Technically, the reason your loop is tailing is that you are not putting enough energy into the line. The most common way this is done is after the stop on the backcast, you let the rod drift forward before you start the front cast. This will not leave you with enough room to get a propper arc and you will tend to do a fast, short cast commonly called a jab.
The front cast should be a smooth acceleration from around the 10:30 position to about the 1:30 position with a sudden abrupt stop. Think of it as if you have a spider on the end of your rod. If you start too fast the spider will drop on your head. So you start slow and keep speeding up to your stop position and wham, you stop and the spider flies off towards where you want the line to go. If you start too fast and finish with a lazy stop, you will also get a tailing loop - again, because you have not gotten enough energy into the line.
Another common cause for a tailing loop is starting the front cast before the line has straightened out from the back cast. Practice making loops with a side cast until you get a feel for what makes a good loop, what makes an open loop and what causes the loop to tail.
See Jason Borgers book “Nature of Fly Casting” or Joan Wulffs book. Or if you want some technical stuff go to my website on the ebook page and look at Mechanics of flycasting.
But most of all - take a casting lesson from a FFF certified instructor. It will save you months.
Godspeed,
Bob Bolton
www.HATofMichigan.org
I dare ya,
from ten years ago…
http://flyanglersonline.com/cst/cst3498.php
Thanks for the tips all… problem solved. this was a once and and awhile problem on longer casts.And my first experience with glass rods this spring.I am not seeking professional help. ha! at least not for casting.
Thanks again,
Janus
How about sharing what solved it???
Slowing down, not overpowering…it took me a bit to get my timing right on a fiberglass rod. I was starting my foward cast before it straightened out on the back cast, and trying to punch it more than the rod could handle… I was not adjusting to the rod.
Janus