False. The anchor is not just the fly. In the current definitions it is the fly, plus the fly line and leader, in contact with the water at the bottom of the D loop.

• The fly is one part of it.
• The line between the fly and the rod tip is part of it wherever it touches the water.
• The leader is part of it for the same reason.

Answer: false.

The whole contact patch is the anchor, and that matters when you read a cast. Picture only the fly holding and you miss most of what the definition calls the anchor: the fly can be sitting exactly where you put it while a length of line and leader also lies on the water at the bottom of the D loop.

It also explains why anchor faults are described as layouts rather than as fly placements. A piled or crashed anchor, a Bloody L anchor, a blown anchor — each describes how the fly, the line and the leader lie on the water at the bottom of the D loop, not merely where the fly is.

In an answer, list the parts and the place together: the fly, the line and the leader, in contact with the water at the bottom of the D loop.

Source

Defined in the FFI Fly Casting Definitions (August 2025); terms on this site follow the same FFI Fly Casting Definitions.