Lesson 7 — Off-vertical casting

Off-Vertical Casting

from the Open Stance

from the Open Stance

The major drawback to casting entirely from the closed stance is that it restricts the length you can drift with the rod, thus restricting the potential length of your forward stroke. When you use a closed stance and keep your shoulders square to the target throughout the casting sequence, the only place your rod hand can drift after you stop the rod on the back cast is slightly above your shoulder. The drift length- ens your forward stroke by only a few inches. By shifting your weight during the casting sequence as we described in lesson 6, you can use body motion to add another couple of inches to your stroke—but that’s about it. Although an exceptional caster can make a long cast from the closed stance, it will be easier for most fly-fishers to deliver a fly 50 feet or farther from an open stance. The open stance allows you to drift much farther back with the rod, affecting a much longer forward stroke. Accelerating the rod over a longer distance to load it deeper will allow you to make a long cast much more easily. The primary difference between casting from a closed stance and casting from an open stance is that with a closed stance, your shoul- ders will remain square to the target throughout the entire casting se- quence. When casting from an open stance, your shoulders will ro- tate sideways to the target during the second part of the back-cast stroke (the power-snap portion of the cast) and will rotate back square to the target during the second part of the forward stroke as well (again, the power-snap portion of the cast). To assume an open stance, begin with your shoulders square to the target and your feet even with each other and about shoulder width apart, as you would for a closed stance. Next, take a full step back with the foot that corresponds to your rod hand (about twice the length you stepped back for the closed stance), and turn that foot outward 90 degrees from the target. This open stance is very stable

and will give you good balance, and it will allow you to watch your back casts unroll (which I’m convinced is very important in the early stages of learning to cast distance). Also, as you progress, this wider stance will allow you to shift your weight more during your casting sequence, enabling you to use body movement to add significant length to your stroke. Most important, though, an open stance allows you to make your longest drifts—critical to making your longest strokes

2opposed to being in the same vertical plane as the shoulder, as it is 1. To assume an open stance, begin with your shoulders square to the target and your feet even with eachyou reach the line-leader connection. When you’ve lifted line to other and about shoulder widththe line-leader connection, the loading move is complete. apart. 2. Next, take a full step backAt this point, your shoulders will still be square to the target. It is with the foot that corresponds to your rod hand and turn that foot outward 90 degrees from the target.speed-up-and-stop, or power stroke) that your shoulders will quickly

Begin with about 20 feet of fly line outside the rod tip. The line should be lying on the water in front of you with all the slack removed, and the line should be trapped under the middle finger of your rod hand. When casting off-vertical from an open stance, you’ll begin your back cast with your shoulders square to the target, just as you would when casting from the closed stance. 90˚ Lift the line in a loading move with the rod held 40 to 45 degrees off-vertical. The path of the rod hand is just outside the shoulder (as

with the pick-up-and-lay-down cast). Just as with any back cast—the fundamentals of fly casting never change—continue to lift line until

during the second part of the acceleration (that is, the power snap,

rotate 90 degrees to the target, or nearly so. It is also during this stage of the acceleration that your wrist will move very quickly from bent forward to straight.

When you’ve lifted line to the line- leader connection (not shown), theWhen the yarn fly leaves the water, you’ll squeeze the rod very loading move is complete.firmly and very quickly, and you’ll stop the rod abruptly. At this

point, your elbow will be close enough to your side that you could grasp a dollar bill in your armpit. Your upper arm and forearm form aDuring the power-snap portion of the cast, your shoulders rotate 90 de- narrow V that’s pointed at the target. The imaginary line coming off grees to the target. When the yarn fly the thumbnail of your rod hand should be pointed 180 degrees di-leaves the water, you’ll stop the rod rectly opposite your target.abruptly.

When you stop the rod at the end of the power snap, your upper arm and forearm form a narrow V that’s pointed at the target. The rod will unload, and if you’ve done everything correctly, the loop of line will unroll just outside the rod tip (see photos next page). You should be in good position to watch your loop unroll without turning your head or rotating your body (it should require only a shift of your eyes). If you cannot, that means you didn’t rotate your shoul- ders enough during the second stage of the acceleration.

The rod will unload (1), and the loop ofWhen the back cast straightens, you’ll begin your forward stroke. line will unroll just outside the rod tip Your rod hand will accelerate along the hand-target line, still in the

(2). When the back cast straightens, off-vertical plane. When the thumb of your rod hand (and the shaft you’ll begin your forward stroke (3). of the rod) is perpendicular to the target, you’ll execute the power

snap, pushing forward with your thumb as you pull back with yourDuring the power snap (1), you’ll push forward on the rod handle with lower fingers to stop the rod abruptly. It’s during the power-snap por- your thumb as you pull back with tion of the cast that your shoulders will rotate back so that they’re your lower fingers. Simultaneously, square to the target. If you’ve done everything correctly, the rod willyour shoulders will rotate back unload, and the loop will form and unroll, turning over the leadersquare to the target. The rod unloads (2), unrolling the leader and fly just just above your target. above your target. Problems with Distance Apart from the shoulder rotation and the off-vertical plane of your forearm and rod, casting from the open stance is virtually identical to casting vertically from the closed stance. Yet fly-fishers tend to have a lot of trouble learning to cast from the open stance—even those an- glers who have a decent grasp of casting from the closed stance. In truth, you can do almost everything wrong and still get 30 feet of fly line to unroll consistently. The problems common to casting off-vertical from an open stance become most obvious when we look at long casts of more than 50 feet, for errors—and their results—be- come magnified: distance casting is the ultimate test of good fly-casting form. So let’s take a close look at the individual parts of the long- cast sequence—back cast, drift, and forward cast—and the problems particular to each. Also, we’ll look closely at several concepts criti- cal to your becoming a good distance fly caster.

To practice your casting with more than 30 feet of fly line outside the rod tip, I’m convinced it’s easier to cast on a lawn rather than on the water. For this you’ll want to remove your yarn fly from your leader, as it may catch on the grass as you lift your line from the lawn. Begin with 35 to 40 feet of fly line outside your rod tip. Trap the fly line under the middle finger of your rod hand. The fly line should be lying straight out in front of you on the lawn with all the slack removed, and the rod tip should be touching the ground. Your shoulders should be square to the target area. Begin with your rod arm fully extended. This will give you your most efficient back-cast stroke. Lift the line from the lawn in a loading move with the rod held slightly off-vertical. During the stroke, your elbow will move back in toward your body, and your rod hand will move in a straight incline that’s just outside the line of your shoulder. Because you don’t have the aid of the water’s surface tension to tell you when you’ve reached the end of the first stage of the acceleration (loading move), you’re going to have to estimate this. You will have reached the end of the loading move—approximately—when the tip of your fly line leaves the ground. (With practice, you’ll eventually come to know automatically by feel when you’ve completed the first part of the stroke.) During the second stage of the acceleration (power snap), your rod-hand continues along its inclining straight-line path; simultaneously, your wrist moves very quickly from bent forward to straight, and your shoulders rotate 90 degrees to the target. With 35 or 40 feet of fly line outside the rod tip, you’ll have to use your longest back-cast stroke. Your elbow will come back into your body until it is close enough to your side that you could trap a dollar bill in your armpit. If you do this, the structure of your arm will force your rod hand to stop abruptly and about even with your shoul-

With 35 to 40 feet of fly line outside the rod tip, you’ll have to use your longest back-cast stroke. The struc- ture of your arm forces your rod hand to stop abruptly and about even with your shoulder. This forced stop is the body block for the open stance.

der. To accentuate this positive stop, you’ll squeeze the cork handle very firmly and very quickly. (As soon as you feel the rod unload you can relax your grip again.) Bringing your rod hand up against the structure of your arm to force it to stop abruptly on the back-cast stroke is the body block for the open stance. Unlike the body block in the closed stance, the body block in the open stance does not cause the forearm to crash into the biceps, for in the open stance the forearm and upper arm are not aligned. In the closed stance, it is the physical crash that forces the rod to stop. In the open stance, it is the refusal of your arm to be bent back any farther that forces your rod hand to stop. Whether you’re casting in the closed stance or the open stance, keep in mind that the more abruptly you can stop the rod, the more power you’ll put into the cast. At the conclusion of the back-cast stroke, your forearm is just outside your upper arm; together, they form a narrow V that faces the target. Your rod hand is close enough to your face that you could al-At the conclusion of the back-cast stroke, your forearm and upper arm most reach out and touch it with your chin. form a narrow V that faces the tar- If you’ve done everything correctly, the rod will unload, a tight get. Your rod hand is very close to

loop will form just outside the rod tip, and you’ll be able to watchyour face. the fly line unroll completely. When learning how to cast from the open stance, fly-fishers tend to make several common errors with their back cast, which are dis- cussed below. First and foremost, keep in mind that, as with all straight-line fly casting, your rod hand must move along a straight-line path through- The rod unloads, and the loop of line unrolls just outside the rod tip.

out the entire casting stroke. In order for your rod hand to travel a straight-line path throughout the back-cast stroke, your elbow must also move along a straight-line path as it moves in toward your body. Many fly-fishers allow their elbows to swing out from their sides during the back-cast stroke, and this is perhaps the most damaging error with the back cast. If your elbow leaves your side during the backcast stroke, it likely will move through a curved path; if your elbow moves through a curved path on the back-cast stroke, your rod hand will move through a curved path as well. At this point, even if you manage to bring your rod hand through a straight-line path through the back-cast stroke, your rod hand will still be a significant distance from your body. The farther away your rod hand is from your body during the stroke, the less power you have, and the less efficient your cast.

If your elbow leaves your side during the back-cast stroke, your rod hand likely will move through a curved path. Also, the farther away your rod hand is from your body during the stroke, the less power you have.

At the end of the back-cast stroke, your elbow should be close enough to your side that you could hold a dollar bill in your armpit, and your rod hand should be close enough to your face that you could almost reach out and touch it with your chin (see photo on page 103). If, at the end of the back stroke, you cannot hold a dollar bill in your armpit, your elbow is too far away from your body, and it’s very likely that your rod hand moved through a curved path during the stroke. Much of the trouble fly-fishers have with keeping their rod hands on a straight line when casting in the open stance is directly related to the shoulder rotation. The function of the shoulder rotation is to move your body out of the rod hand’s path to accommodate a slightly longer back-cast stroke. In a sense, the shoulder rotation allows your

body to “sidestep” the rod hand as it moves through the stroke (with- out your actually taking a step). You must not allow the shoulder rotation to affect the straight-line path of the rod hand. That is, if the shoulder rotation moves the rod hand, your rod hand will come off its straight-line path and you’ll put a decided hook into your back cast. The back-cast stroke must be inde- pendent of the shoulder rotation. It’s critical that you do not allow your elbow to pass the line of your body on the back-cast stroke. This, too, can bring your rod hand off its straight-line path and around a corner. Also, if your elbow passes the line of your body on the back-cast stroke, your rod hand will miss hitting the body block, and you will have to use strength to stop the rod. It helps to thrust the tip of your elbow toward your target during the power-snap portion of the cast. This ensures that your el- bow doesn’t go behind the line of your body and that your rod hand comes up against the body block. Notice that on a proper back-cast stroke, your rod hand is forced to stop about even with your shoulder. Many fly-fishers, when learning to cast from the open stance, have a tendency to turn their rod hands outward during the back-cast stroke. The effect of this is much the same as if you were to allow your shoulder rotation to pull your back-cast stroke off its straight-line path (discussed above). Once again, the thumb of your rod hand functions as an aiming device for the back cast as well as the for- ward cast. At the end of the back-cast stroke, the line coming off your thumbnail should be pointed 180 degrees opposite your target. If you turn your rod hand outward during your back-cast stroke so that the line coming off the thumbnail of your rod hand is not pointed directly opposite your target—even if you turn your rod hand only slightly—then your cast will hook. During your practice sessions, take note of where every one of your back casts lays out. Wherever your back cast travels, it’s because the line coming off your thumbnail was pointed in that direction when you stopped the rod. This is a fly-casting axiom that should be chiseled in stone: your fly cast will travel in whatever direction you stop the rod. With 35 to 40 feet of fly line outside the rod tip, your back cast should unroll just above the horizontal—the horizontal being an imaginary line that runs off your rod tip parallel with the ground or water (see photo next page). With this much fly line outside the rod tip, you must unroll the cast slightly above the horizontal to avoid the effects of gravity; for as soon as the back cast straightens it will begin to fall. If you happen to unroll your 40-foot back cast below the horizontal, as many fly-fishers are prone to do, chances are good that your fly will hit the ground or water behind you sometime during your forward stroke. As I’ve written, I’m a staunch advocate of practicing one incre- ment of the cast at a time until you’ve worked out all the bugs and it

entire casting sequence. If you want to become a good distance caster, I recommend you spend at least several weeks on your lawn, as close to every day as you can manage, practicing nothing but your back cast with 35 to 40 feet of line outside the rod tip. Study the loop of each and every back cast; remember that the loop of line is your best piece of data for self-analysis. Let each back cast fall to the ground and notice where your line lays out. Did it lay out directly opposite the target, as you wanted it to, or did something else happen? To become a good fly caster you must be able to answer these questions for yourself. You simply cannot overestimate the importance of the back cast to your entire casting game. If you improve only your back cast, your entire cast will improve dramatically. Once you’ve burned the proper muscle memory into your rod arm and developed a solid off-vertical back cast, once you can get 35 to 40 feet of fly line behind you in a

o’clock position, and the loop of line unrolls just above the horizontal.

straight line consistently, you’ll have little trouble delivering a fly 60 feet with trout tackle and beyond 70 feet with saltwater tackle. When you stop the rod against your body block in the off-vertical plane, the shaft of graphite just above the cork handle will be pointed at the 1 o’clock position. While the back cast is unrolling, you’ll drift to reposition the rod tip to affect a wider arc on the forward stroke. As the back cast is unrolling (drift time), your elbow will leave your side and your rod hand will move beyond your shoulder to continue along the same straight-line path begun by your back- cast stoke; that is, your rod hand moves upward and backward on the drift. As your rod hand drifts, your palm turns upward toward the sky. The reason for this is simply because if you were to keep your thumbnail pointed directly opposite your target on the drift, it would put a fair amount of strain on your forearm. Moving your rod hand beyond your shoulder repositions the rod so that it’s now pointed beyond the 1 o’clock position. This sets you up to make a longer forward stroke. Accelerating the rod through a wider casting arc allows you to load the rod deeper to make a longer cast more easily. The most common problem with drifting in the open stance is when the caster runs the stroke together with the drift. That is, rather than stopping the rod against the body block and allowing the rod to unload and the loop to form before he begins the drift,As the back cast is unrolling, your the caster allows his elbow to leave his side during the stroke. Theelbow leaves your side and your rod hand moves upward and backward. rod hand is well behind the shoulder before the rod unloads. Such a This drift move repositions the rod stroke does not stop the rod as abruptly as it could; and because theso that it’s now pointed beyond the elbow leaves the side during the stroke, it usually causes the rod hand1 o’clock position.

to move in a curved path, compromising the loop. On a good backcast stroke, the rod hand comes up against the body block and is forced to stop about even with the shoulder. Only after the rod has unloaded and the loop of line has formed should the elbow leave the side and the rod hand move past the line of the shoulder. The other major problem with drift is when the caster moves her rod hand out to the side of her body, rather than behind her shoulder, on the drift. Such a drift does not reposition the rod tip to make a wider arc on the forward stroke. If your rod hand moves to the side of your body on the drift, you will have set yourself up to make a sort of roundhouse slice on the forward stroke. During a proper drift, your rod hand always stays very close to the line of your body. How much drift you need for any given cast depends on how far you wish to cast. Some casts require very little drift, perhaps only a couple of inches. Longer casts require a longer forward casting stroke and hence require a longer drift. This is something you must learn individually and with any given outfit—there’s not really a fixed answer. For your longest drift, you’ll reach back until your forearm and upper arm form a 90-degree angle, and your upper arm and body also form a 90-degree angle. At this point, your rod will be pointed be-

straight behind you for your longest drift, so that the rod is parallel

For your longest drift, you’ll reachyond the 2 o’clock position on the clock face. This will set you up back until your forearm and upperto make a very long forward stroke. arm form a 90-degree angle, andSome fly-casting instructors advocate that you reach your rod arm your upper arm and body also form a 90-degree angle. Your rod will be pointed beyond the 2 o’clock positionwith the ground. I’m not a proponent of this for three reasons. First, on the clock face.with your rod parallel with the ground, you will not be able to feel your back cast straighten, which is critical to the timing of your for- ward stroke (remember that perfect timing in fly casting is not visual, but tactile). In order to feel this tug against your rod tip, your fly rod and fly line must be at an angle to each other: they cannot form a straight line. Second, a straight arm is not a strong position in which to begin pulling the fly rod through the forward stroke. If you begin your forward stroke with a straight arm, you will not be in a strong position until you reach the 90-degree/90-degree position described above. To my mind, beginning your forward stroke with a straight arm is simply wasted movement. Third, if you begin your forward stroke with your rod parallel with the ground, you’ll find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to move the rod tip in a straight path throughout the forward stroke. When she’s drifted to the 90-degree/90-degree position, with the tip of her fly rod pointed beyond the 2 o’clock position on the clock face, a good caster is able (with saltwater tackle) to deliver a fly 80 feet consistently without hauling—which is very adequate indeed. The instant the fly line straightens on the back cast (which you’ll feel as a tug on the rod tip), you’ll begin your forward stroke. Begin the stroke by bringing your elbow back close to your side as your rod hand begins to pull the rod forward through the loading move. As I’ve mentioned before, I regard the forward stroke as a pulling mo- tion, particularly on a long cast, and it may help you to think of it the same way: you’re pulling fly line from behind you, pulling the rod tip against the fly line’s resistance, and continuously pulling the rod into a deeper and deeper bend. During the loading move, your rod hand, which was facing upward on the drift, rotates back so that the pad of your thumb is facing di- rectly in line with the target. When your elbow has moved back close to your side and your rod hand is even with your shoulder, you’ll begin the power-snap por- tion of the stroke (see top photo next page). Your rod hand will con- tinue forward along its straight-line path as you push forward with your thumb and pull back with your lower fingers; you’ll squeeze the cork handle firmly and quickly as the structure of your hand, wrist, and forearm force the rod to stop abruptly. The power-snap and stroke end at the same instant. The rod unloads, and a loop of line forms and begins to unroll toward your target (see bottom photo next page). When learning to cast from the open stance, some students have a tendency to try to deliver the forward cast in the vertical plane; that is, they change planes during the forward stroke. Changing planes during the stroke pulls the rod tip off its straight-line path and com- promises the loop. You can change planes only between strokes (that is, during drift time). To preserve the integrity of the cast, once you begin a stroke in a particular plane, you must finish the stroke in that plane as well.

When your elbow has moved backVirtually all fly-fishers, when first learning to cast distance, tend to close to your side and your rod hand is even with your shoulder, you’ll begin the power-snap portion of the stroke.stage of the stroke). In fact, I’ve never had to instruct students to

use an excess of speed and power on the delivery (reasons again why I don’t like the words power and speed associated with the second

use more power or speed on the delivery—I’ve always had to tell them to use less. Although we must describe the casting stroke as an acceleration, there comes a point in every student’s learning where the word acceleration has little practical meaning and is perhaps more of a hindrance than a help. Allow me to elaborate here, for I’m convinced

The rod unloads, and a loop of line forms and begins to unroll towardthis is one of the great stumbling blocks encountered by every fly- your target.fisher who hopes to become a good distance caster. When I explain to the typical student that, to deliver a long cast, she must accelerate the rod over a wider casting arc, invariably she simply moves her rod hand more and more quickly as it travels through the stroke. The problem is that she moves her rod hand more quickly without regard for the feeling in the rod. I call this casting mechanically: going through the motions of casting without any real feeling for the interaction be- tween rod and line. Casting mechanically results in jarring, jolting, hitting, punching, popping, or otherwise destroying the cast. This is why it’s so important for you to develop the feeling of loading the rod properly—again, the most important feeling you’ll ever develop as a fly caster—for it is this feeling that will govern your every stroke, whether you’re making a 14-foot cast or a 94-foot cast. Stand at the casting pool at one of the fly-fishing shows and watch people trying out rods they’ve never used before. The typical fly-fisher will immediately tear 60 or 70 feet of line off the reel and begin flail- ing away, trying to cast as far as he can. The good caster will approach it differently; she’ll be much more thoughtful. Her first casts will be very short, perhaps only a few feet of fly line. Then she’ll strip a couple more feet of line off the reel and try a few more casts. On every cast, this fly-fisher is “listening” to the rod, allowing it to tell her what it likes. Many fly-fishers spend their lives searching for “the perfect fly rod for my style of casting.” When I hear these words (and in one form or another, I hear them frequently), this tells me that the person has no range to his casting stroke: his rod hand has one speed—usually fast—and he’s looking for a rod that will mask the errors that ac- company a too-forceful load. A good fly caster can cast any rod. Her stroke automatically adjusts to accommodate a particular outfit and automatically tunes in to the rod. If you want to become a good distance caster, I suggest you forget about such things as speed, power, and acceleration—those are just words, and they’ll likely get in your way—and focus instead on the feeling in the rod. As Mel Krieger writes in his book The Essence of Flycasting, “Think of casting heavier rather than quicker when you need more power.” He’s talking, of course, about the heaviness you’ll feel in the rod when you’ve loaded it well. And that’s about as good a piece of distance-casting advice as you’ll ever receive. Here I sometimes find it helpful to think of the rod as a lever. Your rod hand is at the fulcrum, and you’re using your rod hand to force the end of the lever—smoothly, gradually—against the fly line’s resistance to make it bend. Fly-fishers who “muscle” their rods tend to bypass the rod’s spring- flex action and use the rod instead as simply an extension of their rod arm to “throw” fly line. Again, every fly-casting stroke concludes with an abrupt stop. If you’re using the rod as an extension of your arm to “throw” line, you’re not going to stop the rod nearly as abruptly as you might. No matter how deeply you may load the rod during the

stroke, by stopping the rod less than abruptly you’ll drain a great deal of power from the cast. Also, fly casters who muscle their rods tend to form fairly open loops—a further drain of power. To stop the rod abruptly on the forward stroke, it’s critical that you learn to use the structure of your hand, wrist, and forearm. At the end of the loading move, your wrist will be in the straight position, with the butt of the rod 45 degrees from the underside of your forearm. During the second stage of the acceleration, you’ll push forward on the cork handle with your thumb while pulling back with your lower fingers. The structure of your hand, wrist, and forearm will allow you to push/pull the rod handle through a 45-degree arc. When your wrist reaches the bent-forward position, the structure of your hand, wrist, and forearm will force the rod to stop abruptly; at this point, the butt of the rod will be parallel with the underside of your forearm. This structure is so effective at stopping the rod abruptly that I think of it as the body block for the forward stroke. Few fly-fishers truly appreciate the effect that this positive stop (or the lack of one) has upon a fly cast. It was a great revelation to me when I learned (after more years than I care to admit) that I could cast farther not by casting harder, but simply by stopping the rod more abruptly, more crisply if you will. Once you truly learn to stop the rod abruptly on your forward stroke, you’ll be able to make long casts with far less effort than you ever thought possible. When you first learn to cast from the open stance, I suggest you use your rod arm only and trap the fly line under the middle finger of your rod hand. When you get comfortable unrolling 35 to 40 feet of fly line on both your back cast and your forward cast, you can attempt to shoot some line using the single-handed shoot we covered in lesson 4. Trap the fly line under the middle finger of your rod hand so that you have 35 to 40 feet of line outside the rod tip. Strip off an additional 5 or 6 feet of fly line and let it hang from your reel. Make your cast, and after you’ve stopped the rod on the forward stroke and the loop of line has formed, stick your middle finger straight out to release the line completely. If you can shoot enough line on the delivery so that you end up with 45 feet of fly line outside the rod tip, you will have delivered the fly 63 feet (assuming you’re using a 9-foot rod and a 9-foot leader). Once you become proficient using your rod hand alone to cast in the open stance, you’ll need to learn to use your line hand to maintain tension on the fly line. During the casting sequence, your hands will not move in unison, as they did in the closed stance. Rather, your line hand will remain fixed during the back-cast stroke and drift. During the forward stroke, the line hand will move rearward to maintain tension on the fly line while the rod hand moves forward. Once you become proficient at shooting 5 or 6 feet of line using a single back cast and a single forward cast, practice false casting in

Your line hand remains fixed during the back-cast stroke and drift.

During the forward stroke, your line hand will move rearward to maintain tension on the fly line while your rod hand moves forward. the off-vertical plane. Begin with a short line, 15 or 20 feet, and grad- ually lengthen it. To hold 35 to 40 feet of fly line airborne while false casting will require you to drift and follow through a bit on each stroke (though ideally you will drift and follow through with shorter lengths of line as well). Then, on your final back cast, you can drift that extra distance to make a long forward delivery.

For short casts of 30 or so feet, your hand-target line actually touches the target. However, because of the effects of gravity, the hand-target line on a long cast will be somewhat above the target. Your longest delivery will unroll the fly just above the horizontal. That is, when you stop the rod on your longest delivery, the line coming off the pad of your thumb is pointed well above the target. We’ve discussed using rod drift to widen your casting arc, but you can also do so by simply lengthening your forward stroke. Just make sure your rod hand stays on a straight-line path throughout the stroke, and that it stops on this straight line as well. For a very long cast, you may need to use a very long forward stroke. Body motion will also add length to your stroke. Shifting your weight to your rear foot to lean back for a long drift, and then shifting it to your front foot during a long forward stroke, can add 12 inches or more to your stroke length. This can translate to several feet added to your casting arc. Also, any movement you enact during the forward stroke contributes to the rod’s overall acceleration. Keep in mind, however, that you’ll make your greatest gains as a distance caster by refining your rod-arm mechanics. As was mentioned in lesson 4, to make your longest cast you must get the head of the fly line just outside the rod tip before you make your delivery. The amount of running line you hold between the head of the fly line and the rod tip is called overhang. As a general rule, you should overhang no more than 2 or 3 feet of fly line as you cast; any distance you need beyond this you should get by shooting line on the delivery. If you try to overhang more than a few feet of running line, your cast eventually will collapse. When you overhang a significant amount of running line, you’re asking a very thin line

A very long cast requires a very longto suddenly turn over a very thick, heavy head section. It’s simply forward stroke.an inefficient transfer of power.

overhang rear taper running leader line tip of fly line The amount of running line you hold between the head of the fly line and the rod tip is called overhang. I encourage students who are just learning to cast distance to use long casting strokes with very moderate rates of acceleration, for all good casting form is learned at fairly slow speeds. Also, a moderate rate of acceleration will allow you to “listen” to the rod much better. Plow your rod hand through the stroke like a bull in a china shop and you’ll feel nothing—that is, you’ll be “deaf” to the rod. Eventually, as you get more proficient at making longer casts, you can begin to use slightly faster rates of acceleration—that is, a little more force ap- plied to the rod during the stroke. Again, this is governed by feel. (Remember Mel Krieger’s suggestion to think of casting heavier rather than quicker; focus not on moving your rod hand faster, but rather on making the rod bend a bit deeper.) With experience, you’ll find your own best combination of stroke length, acceleration, and body movement to execute any given cast.