False. The current definition of a roll cast is an anchored cast without a substantial change of direction. It consists of a lift, a D-loop sweep, a circle-up and a delivery cast, and the fly does not leave the water until after the delivery.

• Nothing in the definition asks the caster to reposition the line onto a new target line.
• A cast with a change of direction is defined separately: a Spey cast is an anchored cast with a change of direction.

Answer: false.

The word “substantial” is doing real work. It does not claim that the line can never take a slightly different heading; it claims that the large repositioning which defines a Spey cast is absent. If a question asks which cast includes a change of direction, the answer is the Spey, not the roll cast.

The rest of the definition carries the shape: lift, D-loop sweep, circle-up, delivery, with the fly staying on the water until after the delivery. Quote the qualifier when you answer — “without a substantial change of direction” — because dropping “substantial” turns a definition into an absolute the definitions do not make.

Source

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