THE BACK CAST
Split the cast into two parts start with the back cast.
First, find an area with a lawn, try to find a place free of
distractions, do not start on the water, you need to concentrate
on your movements, the last thing you need is to think about
is avoiding trees, bushes, water currents, etc. And remember
something worth doing is going to take practice.
Strip out about 30 feet of line out of the rod tip and lay it
out straight in front of you, lower the rod tip close to the
ground, make sure there is no SLACK LINE in the system, hold
the rod with the EXTENDED FINGER GRIP thumb on top of the cork,
keep a firm wrist, hold the line under the middle finger of
your rod hand, let the other arm hang loosely at your side,
get your self into a comfortable OPEN STANCE, left foot forward
for right hander's, concentrate on keeping your shoulders square
to the target. Start by lifting the forearm, lift the rod smoothly
starting slowly directly away from the target, lifting the line
to the point where the leader is attached to your fly line,
now lift your elbow and accelerate the rod directly up and back
finishing with a your hand slightly away from you with your
thumb pointing straight up and level with your right eye with
a positive stop, check that you have not opened the wrist, the
butt of the rod should be no more than two inches from your
forearm, let the line unroll and extend to the rear, stop there
and let the line fall to the Ground, if you want to repeat simply
turn around 180 degrees and try again. You are half way there.
THE FRONT CAST
Once you feel comfortable and confident with the back cast and
you can cast a straight line out behind you, advance to the
forward cast. Now instead of letting the line fall to the ground
on the back cast, after the positive stop on the back cast drift
a little up and backwards with the rod, this slight drift allows
you to go with the flow, following the unrolling loop until
it has lost its momentum.
At the moment when the line is just about to straighten we begin
our forward stroke, remember only a straight line can load a
rod. If we wait too long the line will begin to fall so there
is a magic moment just as the line is straightening. Now concentrate
on the specific point you want to cast to, come forward but
this time in reverse starting with your elbow and finishing
with your hand, we want the application of power to start right
down in the handle and to progressively move up through the
rod finishing at the tip, so start slowly smoothly increasing
in speed ending with a positive stop at about 45 degrees from
the horizontal. A loop of line will form in front of you, as
the loop unfurls and straightens gradually fade the rod down
following the unfurling line down to the starting position.
If you have problems putting both casts together go back to
just half casts. The basic cast is the foundation of all fly-casting,
practice it to perfection, only then will it be possible to
master the more advanced casts.
PRACTICE
I cannot emphasise this enough, don't wait until you are on
the water to practice casting, It is impossible to practice
casting while fishing, there are just too many other things
to concentrate on. Practice on a lawn or a pool free from obstacles
and distractions, every hour spent practicing will bring you
closer towards fly casting efficiency on the stream.
