← Master the Cast: fly casting in seven lessons

Lesson 1 — The roll cast

The Roll Cast

The roll cast is perhaps the most underutilized fly cast. It is highly functional, with numerous applications in both fresh and salt water, such as for taking the slack out of a fly line so you can make a back cast, or for lifting a sunken fly line from the water. The roll cast is also an excellent way to learn the mechanics of the forward cast, as it re- quires no back cast. To execute a roll cast you must be on the water, as the water’s sur- face tension anchors the end of the fly line, giving you the resist- ance you need to load the rod during the stroke. You cannot roll cast on the lawn. Conduct your roll-casting practice sessions at the edge of a pond with a fairly clean bank—don’t stand amid bushes or tall grasses, which might catch the line and prevent you from making the cast. Ideally, you should learn all casts on calm days. That’s not always possible, however. If there is a significant wind, position yourself, if possible, so that it is at your back. Having the wind at your back will give you the least interference as you learn to roll cast. As a second option, position yourself so that the wind is coming in from the line- hand side of your body. The roll cast is difficult to learn with wind coming in either from the rod-arm side of your body or from directly in front of you. Select a point on the water, about 35 feet away and directly in front of you, as your target. This might be a small clump of lily pads, a half-submerged log, a pocket in the side of a grass bed, or what- ever. (You should always cast to a specific target, even if it’s only a particular inch of water.) If you can’t find a natural target, make one (from a bathtub toy, a Frisbee, a ring of foam pipe insulation, etc.). In any case, use a specific target and intend to deliver your fly to it. As- sume the closed stance. That is, stand such that your shoulders are square to your target; your feet are shoulder width apart, and the

foot corresponding to your rod hand is half a step back and turned slightly outward (see page 23). Strip about 20 feet of fly line off your reel and lay it on the ground on the line-hand side of your body. Grip the fly line loosely in your line hand. Next, hold the rod tip low to the water and begin stroking it vigorously just above the surface, to the rod-hand side of your body and in front of you. The water’s surface tension will grab the fly line and pull it through the rod tip. Use fairly long strokes. Presently, all the fly line you’ve stripped from the reel will be lying in a pile on the water. Trap the fly line under the middle finger of your rod hand and assume the key grip. (When you’re casting while actually fishing, you ordinarily will not trap the line under the middle finger of your rod hand. Instead, you’ll maintain tension on the line using your line hand—which we cover in lesson 3. However, it’s best to learn the basic discipline using your rod arm alone.) Raise your rod hand so that your thumbnail is directly above your shoulder and is at forehead level. Your elbow should be pointed directly in front of you, directly at your target. The line of your shoulders and your upper arm should form a 90-degree angle. Remember that you must begin every forward cast—and the roll cast is nothing more than a forward cast—with your wrist in the straight position, with the rod butt at a 45-degree angle to the underside of your forearm. This straight wrist will position the rod tip well behind your body. The fly line will hang from the rod tip and belly down toward the pile on the water. You may find it helpful in these early stages, as you prepare to roll cast, to think of a capital D: your body forms the standing part of the D, and the belly of line hanging behind you forms the curved part of the D. It’s very important that the fly line hangs from the rod tip and bellies behind the rod down

to where it is anchored on the water. A common problem I see even among experienced fly-fishers is that they’ll try to make the roll cast with the fly line hanging in front of the rod. To load the rod properly for the roll cast, the fly line must hang behind the rod. It’s virtually impossible to make a good roll cast in the vertical plane, with the rod tip pointed at the 12 o’clock position, as the fly line is almost certain to catch behind your rod, rod arm, head, or body on the forward stroke. Therefore, you must cant the rod outward slightly. To do this, keep your elbow positioned directly in front of you—your shoulders and upper arm are still forming a 90-degree angle—and simply tilt your forearm outward slightly so that the rod is pointed toward the 1 o’clock position (for a right-handed caster; 11 o’clock for a left-handed caster). If you keep your elbow positioned directly in front of you, with your shoulders and upper arm forming no larger than a 90-degree angle, the structure of your arm will not allow you to cant the rod any farther outward than the 1 o’clock position, as in photo 4 on the previous page. Your pile of line is lying outside your rod hand. A right-handed caster must deliver the roll cast to the left of this pile, while a lefthanded caster must deliver the roll cast to the right of the pile. If a right-handed caster were to try to make the cast to the right of the pile, the loop would cross itself and the line would tangle. This also holds true when the fly line is lying straight out on the water in front of you (as it is in the photo sequence). A right-handed caster must cast to the left of the line. Therefore, your target must lie somewhere between your pile of line and your line hand. If your target lies outside your line hand, you won’t be able to form a good loop.

your eye (that is closest to your rod hand) and the target. You can think of this as your eye-target line. Imagine also there is a straight line between your rod hand and the target. Think of this as the handtarget line. Because your eye and your rod hand are very close together, the eye-target and hand-target lines run very close together as well. At your body, these lines are only as far apart as the distance between your rod hand and eye—perhaps only 12 inches or so. Imagine that these lines run toward each other gradually until they meet at a single point on the target. These three lines—the eye-target line, the hand-target line, and the line that runs between your eye and rod hand—form what Joan Wulff calls the accuracy triangle. The narrower the triangle formed by the eye-target and hand-target lines (that is, the closer your rod hand is to your eye), the more accurate your casts will be—this holds true not only for the roll cast, but for all fly casts. Imagine trying to throw a dart accurately by holding the dart out to your side at arm’s length. The same holds true for a fly cast. During the casting stroke, your rod hand will move along the hand-target line. Again, I want you to think of what you’re doing as straight-line fly casting (see page 22). All good fly casts begin slowly, and so should you begin the roll cast slowly. Lead with your elbow. Your elbow should begin to drop and your rod hand should follow, moving downward along the handtarget line. The cast begins slowly and your rod hand continually gains speed as it moves; that is, your rod hand accelerates through the casting stroke. As your rod hand accelerates, the rod tip begins to pull against the fly line that is anchored on the water next to you. This begins to pull the rod into a bend: the rod begins to load.

Together, the eye-target line and the hand-target line, and the line that runs between your eye and your rod hand form the accuracy triangle. The narrower this triangle, the more accurate your cast.

To stop the rod abruptly, your forearm must stop as well. To help affect the positive stop, quickly and firmly squeeze the cork handle as you enact the pushing-pulling movement. The thumb of your rod hand functions as a sort of aiming device in fly casting. When your rod hand stops on the forward stroke, the line coming off the pad of your thumb should be pointed at the target.

7. The thumb functions as a sort of aiming device in fly casting. When your rod hand stops on the forward stroke, the line coming off the pad of your thumb should be pointed at the target. 8. When the rod unloads, a loop of line will form and begin to unroll above the water toward the target. 9. As the loop of line unrolls, follow through by lowering your rod tip to the water. The leader should unroll the fly just above your target.

If you’ve done everything correctly, the rod will unload and a loop of line will form and begin to unroll above the water toward the tar- get. After you’ve stopped the rod abruptly and the loop of line has be- gun to unroll, follow through by slowly lowering your rod tip to the water, directly in line with your target. As you do, your leader will straighten and your practice fly will lightly fall to the water very close to your target, if not actually touching it. Although it takes several paragraphs to explain the mechanics, in real time the roll cast takes place within the blink of an eye: you start the casting stroke slowly, your rod hand accelerates, the rod stops abruptly, and while the loop of line is unrolling you follow through by dropping the rod tip to the water.

Troubleshooting the Roll Cast

Troubleshooting the Roll Cast

We’ve just described a “textbook,” or ideal, roll cast. However, it’s unlikely that your first roll casts will be perfect. You’ll almost cer- tainly encounter one or more problems that will hinder your delivery. To become a good fly caster you must be able to recognize your mis- takes and know how to correct them. So let’s take a look at the clas- sic roll-casting problems, as well as their remedies. We’ve already touched on one of the problems with roll casting— catching your line around the rod tip, or your rod arm. This hap- pens when you try to make the cast with the rod tip perfectly verti- cal. Remember that you have to cant the rod outward slightly when you make the cast. Imagine that you’re at the center of a clock face, and 12 o’clock is directly above you. If you’re a right-handed caster, cant the rod so the tip is pointed at about 1 o’clock (see photo 4). If you’re a left-handed caster, cant the rod so the tip is pointed at the 11 o’clock position. To keep the line from catching around the rod tip, set up for the roll cast with the rod already canted. That is, rather than lifting the rod vertically to the ready position and then canting it outward, make sure the rod is already canted when you lift it. This lessens the chance of the line tangling around the rod tip. Even when the rod is canted, your elbow should be pointed at your target. Some casters have a tendency to let their elbows escape their sides as they set up for the cast. Beginning the roll cast with your rod hand a significant distance from your eye compromises both strength and accuracy, and you’re almost sure to end up with some sort of a slice. Many beginners try to set up for the roll cast by popping the fly line off the water. What this usually does is pull the fly line com- pletely out of the water, and it ends up somewhere behind you. Re- member that to make a good roll cast you need the end of the fly line anchored on the water. Set up for the roll cast slowly. After you

raise the rod, come to a full stop and wait for the line to slide back and belly behind the rod to form the D loop (see photo 5). A lot of fly-fishers try to make the roll cast with their rod hands at chest level. This greatly constricts the length of the stroke. This is extremely inefficient, and it’s virtually impossible to make a good, accurate cast this way. Make sure your thumb is at forehead level when you begin the stroke (see photo 3). If your line isn’t turning over on the cast, it might be because you’re not accelerating the rod through the stroke. Simply moving the rod through the stroke isn’t going to do anything. To get the cast to lay out, you need to start slowly, speed up continually over the entire stroke, and stop the rod very abruptly at the end. Many fly-fishers use a lot of force on the roll cast, and they do get the line to turn over, but it doesn’t turn over crisply, or with any real power. Remember that it’s the hard stop at the end of the cast that triggers the rod’s spring-flex action and makes the line turn over. When the pad of your thumb and the shaft of graphite above the rod handle are 90 degrees from the target, you’ll quickly push forward with your thumb and pull back with your lower fingers, and the structure of your hand, wrist, and forearm will stop the rod dead. It’s this abrupt stop—and not how much force you use during the stroke—that gives the cast true power. Remember that to form a tight loop, your rod tip must move in a straight-line path throughout the casting arc. In order to achieve this, your rod hand must move straight along the hand-target line throughout the roll-casting stroke, and it must stop on this line as well. If your rod hand veers off this line during the stroke, and your hand moves in a curved path, the rod tip will move in a curved path

If your rod hand moves in a curved path during the roll-casting stroke, the rod tip will move in a curved path as well, and this will be reflected in your cast as a large loop, also known as a nonloop.

as well, and this will be reflected in your cast as a large loop, also known as a nonloop. This is why it’s so important that you learn to use all the parts of your arm during any casting stroke—because a full-arm move- ment is the only way to make your rod hand move along a straight line. Pantomime the roll-casting stroke and you’ll see that the only way you can make your rod hand follow a straight line is by using all the parts of your arm. Begin with your rod hand at about fore- head level—where you’d actually begin a roll cast—and try to draw a straight line that slopes downward. You’ll see that you need to lower your elbow as your rod hand comes forward. If you don’t lower your elbow, if you keep your elbow stationary and try to hinge there, as many fly-fishers do, you’ll have no choice but to draw a curved line. This is so important for you to learn: a full-arm move- ment is the only way to accommodate a straight-line path of your rod hand. In a good roll cast, your rod hand moves along a straight line, stops on this line, and only after the loop has formed and the line is un- rolling toward the target should you follow through with your rod tip down to the water. If you run the roll cast and follow-through to- gether, you’ll rip the loop open. Remember that the roll cast begins the same as any forward cast— with your wrist in the straight position and the rod butt positioned at a 45-degree angle to the underside of your forearm. If you begin the cast with your wrist opened more than this, you’ll drop the rod tip so low behind you that it will have to move in a curved path during the casting stroke, creating a large loop. Some beginners break their wrists as they begin the roll-casting stroke; that is, they point the butt-cap of the rod at their target as their rod hand starts forward. This will kill your cast as well. Your wrist must never open beyond the straight position. That is, the butt of the rod is never at more than a 45-degree angle to the underside of your forearm. In the roll cast, the wrist stays in the straight position through the first part of the stroke. Many beginners try to extend their rod arm fully on the roll-cast stroke. Not only is this unnecessary, it will destroy your cast every time. If you extend your rod arm completely on any forward stroke, the line coming off the pad of your thumb is going to be pointed down at the water at your feet rather than at the target. For a roll cast of this length, the necessary stroke is fairly short. At the end of the stroke, your rod arm will be bent significantly at the elbow. There’s never any need to extend your rod arm fully. Again, remember that the cast will travel wherever the line coming off the pad of your thumb is pointed when you stop the rod. During a good roll cast, your rod hand follows along the hand-target line, stays on the hand-tar- get line, and completes the stroke with the line coming off the pad of your thumb pointed at the target.

Your rod hand should never cut across the plane of your body on the roll-casting stroke. Instead, it should move directly to the target. If your rod hand crosses the plane of your body, you’ll end up making a slice, and the loop you’ll form, if any, will be poor. Remember that your cast will go wherever the line coming off the pad of your thumb is pointed when you stop the rod. If your fly line is having a tendency to lay out to the other side of your line hand, this doubtless is the problem. These are the most common problems I see with roll casting, and if you’re aware of them as you practice, your casting is sure to progress much more quickly.

Roll-Cast Variations

Ideally, you’ll want to unroll the leader and fly just above the target, but there are times you’ll want to make your cast actually unroll on the water. If you have to roll cast directly into a breeze, keep in mind that the wind speed is always slower close to the water. Unrolling your cast on the water lets you drive your cast under the wind. To unroll your cast on the water, you’ll still move your rod hand along a straight-line path during the casting stroke, but this straightline path will be at a steeper angle. Rather than moving your rod hand straight to the target, you’ll move straight to a point that’s somewhere beneath the target, but still in the same vertical plane as the target. This causes the loop to unroll on the water rather than above it, and your leader is able to turn over with less wind resistance. Once you learn to make a pick-up-and-lay-down cast, which we’ll cover in lesson 2, you can use a roll pick-up to take the slack out of a fly line in order make a good back cast (see photos page 40). As

This steeper path of the rod hand causes the loop to unroll lower on the water.