Advanced lesson — Hauling

Hauling

Hauling is an advanced fly-casting technique. The subject of hauling doesn’t really belong with a discussion of fly-casting fundamentals, and it’s not something you should learn about in a basic lesson or introductory seminar. However, no work on fly casting would be complete without at least addressing it. Hauling is known primarily as a technique used for adding dis- tance to your cast. However, the role of hauling in distance fly cast- ing has been greatly exaggerated and misunderstood. Although haul- ing will add some distance to a cast, your greatest gains in distance will come through refining your basic casting stroke: rod-arm me- chanics. Although it would be a difficult thing to measure, I would guess that a haul adds less than 10 percent distance to a good cast (and even this estimate, I think, is generous). That is, a cast that would have delivered a fly 60 feet, combined with a well-executed haul, may just break the 65-foot mark. I’d like to emphasize here that this esti- mate is for a good 60-foot cast—there is a world of difference between a good 60-foot cast and a poor 60-foot cast. For a poor cast, a haul would add significantly less than 10 percent distance, and maybe nothing at all. On the other hand, a fly-fisher whose best cast is 60 feet without hauling can hope to add 20 or more feet to his cast simply by refin- ing his basic casting stroke. Although hauling is not the “secret” to distance fly casting that many anglers believe it to be, it is nevertheless a valuable casting technique that all fly-fishers can use to advantage in a variety of fish- ing situations. A haul is simply a pull on the fly line during the casting stroke. Pulling fly line through the guides during the casting stroke lets you pull harder against the fly line’s weight and resistance (inertia) and

bend the rod a bit deeper than you could bend it with the casting stroke alone. Remember that the deeper you can bend the rod, the more power you can put into the cast. Hauling allows you to put more power into the cast with no more effort from your rod arm. The haul coincides with the second stage of the acceleration: the power-snap portion of the cast. The haul begins at the end of the loading move, accelerates in synch with the power snap, and stops abruptly at the same instant that the rod stops. For a single haul on the back cast, the line hand stops abruptly at the end of the haul and remains there, maintaining line tension throughout the delivery. The extra power the haul generates would be helpful to drive the back cast into a stiff tailwind. When hauling, your line hand moves directly opposite your rod

Illustration from Master the Cast — Hauling allows you to load the rod deeper than you could with the cast- ing stroke alone. This deeper load translates to more power in your cast with no more effort from your rod arm.

For a single haul on the back cast, the line hand stops abruptly at the end of the haul and remains there, maintaining line tension throughout the delivery. hand and always in a straight line (again, think of straight-line fly cast- ing). In fact, during the haul, the line hand creates a sort of mirror im- age of the rod hand. During the back-cast stroke, your rod hand will move upward and backward, so your line hand will haul forward and downward. The double haul allows you to haul continuously throughout a false-casting sequence. To execute a double haul, you’ll haul on both the back-cast stroke and the forward stroke. At the end of the back- cast stroke and haul, the line hand gives back line as the cast unrolls (see illustration next page). By giving back line, the line hand repo- sitions itself to make another haul on each subsequent stroke. The line hand reaches a position near the reel in time to haul for the for- ward stroke. On the forward-cast haul, your rod hand moves for- ward, and your line hand moves down toward your thigh. Many fly-fishers, when learning to double haul, give back line too

The double haul. At the end of the back-cast stroke and haul,The line hand repositions itself near the line hand gives back line as the cast unrolls.the reel to make another haul on the

quickly and create slack between their line hands and the first stripping guide. You should give back line only at the speed the unrolling cast wants to take it. The haul is sharp, and the give-back is slow and deliberate. Double hauling makes it easier for you to hold a longer line in the air during the false-casting sequence. To hold the fly line’s entire head section (often 40 feet or more) outside the rod tip requires a

Hauling allows you to form a tighter loop than you could form with the cast- ing stroke alone. fairly long casting stroke, and the entire burden of loading the rod falls to your rod arm. Hauling divides the work of loading the rod between both of your arms and reduces the length of the casting stroke. Perhaps the greatest benefit of hauling is that it allows you to deliver all casts with less effort. The other major benefit of hauling that most fly-fishers overlook is that it allows you to form a tighter loop than you could form with the casting stroke alone. Keep in mind that a tight loop is the most effi- cient way to transfer all the energy from the fly rod toward the tar- get: the tighter the loop you form, the farther and faster your cast will travel. Form a tighter loop and you’ll automatically add distance to your cast. I suspect that most of the extra distance we get from haul- ing comes simply from forming a tighter loop. Also, a tight loop is less wind-resistant than a wide loop, so hauling is critical when you have to drive a fly through a wind. Hauling is a technique you’ll eventually want to learn, but until your basic casting stroke is solid, it will do almost nothing for you. In- deed, trying to incorporate hauling into your casting sequence be- fore your basic stroke is solid will only hurt your cast. Before you even think about hauling, develop your rod-arm mechanics. That’s where you’ll make your greatest gains as a fly caster.