Sexyloops: the fly casting manual, page by page

Fly casting is a craft built from a handful of ideas, and few people have written them down as plainly as Paul Arden. His Sexyloops manual — Basic Principles on the cover of the PDF that has circulated for years — runs 42 pages and forty-odd sections: the stop and the loop first, then grip, drift, hauling, the roll cast, the speys, and every presentation cast worth knowing.

Until now it has lived as a PDF. Here it is as a page: the same words in the same order, with the hand-drawn diagrams and the photographs where the author put them. Text you can search, select and link to; no 2.2 MB download, no pinch-zooming on a phone; the whole article is about 95 KB of HTML and a dozen images that load as you scroll.

What it is not: a beginner’s course with exercises, or a substitute for a lesson. It is one experienced caster’s argument about how a rod loads and how a loop behaves, and the drills he uses to dig a fault out.

What’s inside

• The stop and the loop — why an abrupt stop is the whole trick, and how the path the rod tip takes decides whether the loop is narrow, open or tailing.
• Grip and style — pushers and pullers, the crooked thumb, and what the hand has to do at the end of the stroke.
• The pieces between strokes — drift, the power snap, shooting line, and when to release.
• Hauling — the double haul, its two classic faults, and the moment the haul has to stop.
• Wind, roll casts and speys — across, into and with the wind; the roll and its variations; the single and double spey, the snake roll and the switch.
• Presentation casts — tuck, pile, parachute, reach, mends, curves, bow-and-arrow, steeple, tension, the rotating thumb, and the flick.

Basic Principles

Fly casting works because we use the weight of the flyline to bend the rod, we then force the rod to unbend which casts the line for us. We bend the rod by moving it against the flyline’s mass. We unbend it by stopping. The most important part to learn in fly casting is an effective stop.

OK now I’ve told you this, let me also tell you that it isn’t true. What this is, however, is a nice way to visualise flycasting. It gives you ‘feel’. If this was actually all there was to flycasting then we would be able to stick the rod in the ground so that it was standing upright, and by pulling the line against the top of the rod until the rod bent to it’s maximum, then releasing it, we would be able to make a long cast. Truth is that the tip of the line won’t even reach the rod. Try it.

So leverage is also important. Indeed it is an interesting combination, for it is possible to cast with rods which don’t bend (broomsticks, short pieces of timber and one or two brands of flyrods), but if you have tried this you will rapidly come to the conclusion that a rod which actually bends is a far better tool.

In flycasting we are using both leverage and the spring of the flyrod. Your average caster gets the leverage bit just fine, but loses it when it comes to unbending the rod.

Anyway the more abruptly we stop the rod, the faster the rod throws the line. Working on this stop is the first secret to good fly casting. This part of the fly cast goes by many names: ‘positive stop’, ‘forced stop’, ’tip-snap’, ‘wrist flick’, ‘flick of the tip’, ‘flippetty flip’, ’tip-top’, and many others — but I’m sure you get the idea.

You know when its right purely by feel: you can actually feel the flyrod unloading at the end of the stop. You should be getting this feeling on both backcasts and forward casts, and every single time you stop the rod. This is the fly casting feeling. Some casters (possibly the majority) go through their whole lives never experiencing this feeling. Isn’t that sad? Working on the stop is the quickest way to achieve results: especially a firm stop in the backcast. Often a great way to learn distance casting is to concentrate on a hard stop on the backcast. Just one of many strange paradoxes in life.

I teach this flycasting feeling by false casting a short length of line (perhaps 8 yrds) using the minimum of hand movement. The movement should be slow, gentle and relaxed.

Casting loops are formed when the line travels over the tip of the rod, after the positive stop. Good casting requires a narrow loop shape. The shape of the loop is directly dependent on the path the rod tip travels: narrow loops are caused by straight paths of the rod tip, open loops are caused by convex paths of the rod tip, and tailing loops (where the line crosses over itself) are caused by concave paths of the tip; ie the tip of the rod dips under the straight line path.

Do not fall into the trap of forgetting that the fly rod bends when we cast; therefore forget that rule that the line goes where the thumb goes — this is broomstick logic. When you bend the rod the tip comes closer to your thumb. This is not a matter of semantics, but is a basic principal behind flycasting.

Basic Principles (2)

A useful fly rod has a progressive action. This is an essential requirement since fly fishers require short casts and long casts. The longer the cast the greater the required bend in the rod. We can choose where to bend the rod: tip for short casts, middle for long casts, and butt for extreme distances.

It follows from this that for narrow loops all we need do is to match the bend in the rod to the size of the casting arc. It is simply not true that narrow loops are caused by small strokes and open loops by large strokes; anyone who tells you this fails to understand the mechanics of casting (or casts with a broom handle), either way you should beware of ‘instructors’ who teach this.

One way of learning to match the rod-bend to casting-arc, is to go for feeling: start off by false-casting a short length of line (about seven or eight yards) with a very small casting arc. Try making the loops as narrow as possible — without hauling. If you hit the rod with the line you are in the right ball park — lifting the elbow on the back (or up) cast and subsequently dropping it on the forward is one way of sorting this problem. There are others — such as casting slightly round the side so that the line fails to travel over the tip of the rod — there are advantages and disadvantages in this which will be discussed later.

Each rod has it’s own maximum bend. It follows from this that it also has it’s own maximum casting arc. Rods which only ever bend at the tip can only ever be cast in a small arc (assuming a narrow loop is required). With a tip action rod, once it is fully bent, the only way to cast the line further is to increase the rod tip’s acceleration by extending the distance it travels. With a progressive rod you can choose to bend the rod deeper by aerialising more line. In my opinion tip action rods are inferior for this reason. Don’t mistake tip action for speed. The maximum bend a rod has under load is independent as to how quickly the rod tip travels as it unloads.

To see the action of a rod, push the tip against the ground and look at the curve created. In order to see how fast it is cast with 10 yrds of line. The rod should feel ‘crisp’. The crisper, the faster. You can mess around with the weight of the flyline to get different results. Check out Sexyrod Article for more information on flyrod assessing.

Different Styles

There are many different styles of casting which can be broadly separated into two groups: the Pullers and the Pushers. The Pushers tend to drive the rod out on the forward cast by leading with the hand. They often talk about ‘punching’ the rod. Pullers on the other hand lead with the elbow and follow through with the hand. These guys talk about ’throwing’ the rod.

Amongst the ‘pushing’ establishment — which I have to say is a very British way of teaching casting (and pretty international way of doing it) — there are further variations: some casters really emphasise the forward stop with an abrupt snap of the wrist, others use less wrist and refer to this movement as ‘a turning over of the thumb’, which is a very interesting description of a wrist-snap, yet others insist on strapping the rod to their forearm in order to eliminate any wrist movement. Although many casting instructors who use this method start the forward stroke from the ear, you can also find casters who cast from behind them — generally using the open-stance, for this cast to work well emphasis must be made on forcing the rod to travel through in a vertically straight line, preferably with the line directly above the tip of the rod.

Amongst the ‘pullers’ — which is basically the rest of the world outside UK — there are many different variations: some cast a very similar movement to throwing a dart, others cast like the butt of the rod was a stone (the dart movement is closer to the head — and feels completely different to the other), then there are the guys who tighten their loops up by sidecasting, others pull directly downwards (perhaps imagining they are forcing the butt of the rod downwards), yet others actually lift the elbow on the forward stroke (back to pushing again). All groups can then be divided amongst those who snap the wrist, and those who don’t. And also you find variations in how far back some casters start the fore-stroke.

Whichever style of casting, and whether or not the caster has reached out behind, and even if the caster has stopped the back cast in the 90-90 position (spear chucking position), all the great casters I have seen emphasise making the forward cast with the elbow in line between the shoulder and the target. Or in other words, make sure your elbow is directly in line with your right knee (if you are right-handed) when you make your forward cast. This is a great tip.

It is very unfortunate that many casting instructors fail to realise that all the above casting variations are acceptable. Often this is how it works: your casting instructor finds a style of casting which works for him — perhaps others comment on it and tell him how wonderful a caster he is — whatever, at some point he says to himself: “There, cracked it, this is the casting technique for me”. Which would be OK — not great you understand, but acceptable — however the next thing he may say is this: “If this technique is best for me then it follows that this technique is best for everyone else too”. And then “My technique is right, all the other stuff sucks”. Its gets worse: for your instructor then discovers faults which only apply to his technique. To be specific there are some styles of casting where any wrist movement is a catastrophe, however there are plenty of styles where some wrist movement is essential! At this point may I make my apologies for emphasising this wrist thing — in the UK it causes much confusion.

Personally I throw the rod, normally with a wrist snap on the backcast and with a cocked wrist on the forward cast. However I have taught people who cannot throw the rod — the most natural movement for them is to punch. Doesn’t make any sense to me, but there you go.

The 2001 update

This is an area which has generated quite a large amount of interest. And confusion (well naturally). Look, pushers cast by extending their elbows. Pullers, by rotating the shoulder. If you extend your elbow while making the forward cast you are a pusher. Having experimented with these different styles I have come to the conclusion that pulling is more effective. It allows a deeper flex in the rod, a more relaxed syle and is bio-mechanically more efficient.

However if you have a broomstick you are going to have to push the rod in order to make it go further. With a broomstick you can only ever cast in a narrow arc and so you will have to grow longer arms for distance casting.

The Grip

I’m not going to make a big fuss about how you hold the rod: some casters like to point the index finger upwards (mainly stream fishers), others point with the thumb (especially stillwater addicts), yet others use a V-grip (common among competition casters). I favour thumb on top, unless perhaps I’m side casting with a particularly poky little rod — then I’ll probably use finger pointing.

Two superior variations to the standard thumb-up grip, are the flat-thumb screwdriver grip (thumb and index finger opposite each other) and the crooked thumb grip which gives a similar result. I evolved to use the crooked thumb, I guess it just felt more natural for me. (Ergometric grips offer a similar grip).

Although grip is, I believe, a thing of personal choice, how you actually ‘feel’ the rod isn’t! It is critical to have a relaxed grip. You must hold the rod lightly in your hand. What works very well for me, is to bend the hand backwards; this puts the hand outside the elbow and gives for a more comfortable stroke.

Often you will come across anglers who favour casting with the rod rings turned outward. In other words they are casting using the rod turned at 90 degrees to the standard. There are a couple of thoughts on this:

• The first opinion is dead against it: rod manufacturers spine rods for a purpose, so we should bend the rod through the spine,
• The second opinion is all for it: as it enables us to keep the fly line from touching the rod therefore reducing friction.

What I would say is this: if the spine of the rod makes an obvious difference to the cast then use the spine, otherwise it’s your choice…

The Spine

When a blank is rolled an area of overlap occurs. This is the spine of the rod. Rod builders ring through the natural plane of bending. This is important for if they were to ring against the spine, the rod would twist during the forward stroke. Sometimes you can feel this happening during the stroke with the rings twisted out. If this is noticeable then don’t do it!

As a further note of interest, when attempting to cast off the right shoulder, with the wind blowing onto that shoulder, the rod can feel sluggish, this is also because of twist: during the cast the rod has rotated 180 degrees about its axis.

For an improved grip you could try this page.

(Get a Grip)

I may be about to change the way you cast; I certainly hope to change the way you think. This may be something new and then again it may not. However it is not just style; it’s better than that. We all do something a little bit different. I believe that what I am doing is the best style of flycasting that I have tried and of course this is why I do it. If something better still comes along then I will change, I am not only open to change but I am actively seeking it out; after all this IS what I do.

Although this page is about something really simple, ie the grip, it can have a profound effect on the loop, for how you hold the rod actually governs how abruptly you can execute the stop. You want an abrupt stop. I have tried changing absolutely everything. This is a change of grip. It is also the start of a series of serious pulling content.

I believe that virtually every flycaster uses their wrist ineffectively and this is a result of how they hold the rod. The classic style of casting with the thumb on top, behind the spine of the rod, isn’t the best use of the wrist. By rotating the hand so that the palm faces forwards during the forward delivery you can create a far more abrupt stop.

You can try this out yourself right now without a rod: pick up a pencil and with the “classic” grip make a little wrist flick, then try rotating the hand 45% and try the same downward snap movement. It is crisper. Now comes the real deal. Try making this movement miniscule, to the extent where it is simply a squeeze the hand. You simply cannot make the sharp movement in the classic style.

This is a beginning but before we go further and start to delve into The Stoke, I want you to try the crooked thumb. For me, using this style (which we will call the Arden Flip-flop Style) by cocking the thumb so that it is opposite the forefinger I can make the sharpest stops of all – want a tiny loop on a roll cast? Then this is the baby for you… actually there are a few other things you will need but this is a start:-)

Tomorrow we will continue with the Arden Flip-flop Cast by talking about the angle of the pull.

Bet you can’t wait:-)

Shooting Line

Interesting fact: Flycasting originally began without the means to shoot line. The line (which was braided horsehair) was knotted directly to the top of the rod. This made playing large fish rather an exciting experience; apparently (and I’m quoting Donald Downs AAPGAI here) they (they being Romans, I guess) used to chuck the rod in after the fish and let the fish drag it around until it was tired (I’ve had a similar thing happen to me with Hardy rods).

Anyway, someone had a bright moment and invented the reel. And everything changed.

So with slack line at our feet, all we need actually do, after the stop has been made, is to release line and allow the momentum of the line travelling forwards to pull some extra line out. Basic, I know, but I include this because the time of release is critical to our success.

Beginners always seem to want to release during the stroke and not after it: Stop the rod, then release the line. Remember casting (partly) works because we bend the rod. The instant we stop the rod it is still bent, it has yet to unbend and cast our line, we have to wait — albeit fractions of a second — for the rod to unbend. If we release too soon we actually unbend the rod, and just at the time when we want to be bending the rod to the maximum.

Many good casters hang on slightly too long. When we stop the rod the rod flips over from a fully flexed position to a counterflexed position. The perfect time to release is when that rod passes the straight position. Try consciously releasing sooner and you might start throwing tighter loops.

There are a few different thoughts on what we should be doing with our free hand when shooting line. Some casters recommend feeding the line through the fingers, perhaps with an ‘O’-shape with forefinger and thumb, others recommend just dumping it and letting it all shoot out.

If you have to stop the line at the end of the forward shoot (and sometimes you do) then you must feed it. If you are purely striving for distance then dump it; all that friction through your fingers will slow it down.

The Drift

The drift is where, during the pause section, of either the forward or backward casts, the rod is moved in the same direction the line is travelling. My main interest here is with the back cast: after the stop make a small movement backwards and upwards with the hand, or perhaps concentrate on slightly lifting the elbow. There are four main reasons to learn the drift:-

1. It improves timing
2. It cushions the tip of the rod
3. It leaves you in a better position to start the forward cast — remember that for most backcasts we are simply flicking the tip, whereas for the forward cast we may well want to bend the butt. The first is a small stroke: the second a large stroke. In other words you have to relocate rod position to accommodate that increased stroke.
4. It helps avoid tailing loops: a very common problem casters get into is throwing a wickedly tight loop on the backcast which then straightens and forces the rod to bend backwards, forcing the caster to start the cast with a bend rod. This often causes the tip to dip under the straight line path and creates tailing loops. Apart from drifting backwards there are only two other ways to get around this problem: the first is to throw poorer quality loops (!), the second is to race the forward cast — in other words start with the bent rod and hope to increase the bend. Now although there is a slight possibility that this slight bend can be useful in certain circumstances, namely to competition casters (although I’m dubious about this, but it can’t be completely ruled out) it is very difficult to control and on the whole a much better technique is to avoid this with the backwards drift.

Learning to drift backwards often turns an intermediate caster into a good caster almost instantly — always assuming the other things are working fairly well together.

Drifting on the forward cast is also important, however purely as a means of cushioning the rod tip.

Long casters allow their backcasts to straighten out more fully — another great reason for learning the back-drift.

The Drift

This short article has recently appeared in Fly Fishing and Fly Tying magazine as part of the " Get out of Jail" series. Although this column (which I write with Charles Jardine AAPGAI) is really about presentation casts, it has been so successful that it was decided that we should expand its scope. I include it here because I think you should read it!:-)

This one is a little different from all the others in as much as it’s one of those secrets behind the effective use of all the others and we haven’t told it to you yet. The very fact that we have decided to explain it now is merely an indication of how nice we are as people and is in no way representative of our teaching methods. Charles, it should be said, requested that we do this one last May, but I felt that the timing then, was not yet appropriate and besides this piece requires technical writing and I haven’t been in a techy mood for years.

First I’ll explain what the drift is, why you should use it every single cast and why it has been included in our get-out-of-gaol series. And then I’ll get a bit techy-like.

A description

In a simple overhead cast there are three things you can do during the pause between the ‘stop’ in the backcast and the start of the forward stroke.

The first thing you can do is nothing; simply wait for the loop to straighten out and then commence the forward cast when it does so. This is acceptable and the basic cast as initially taught.

The second thing you can do is to ‘anticipate’ the forward cast and creep forwards with the rod tip. This closes up the forward stroke and is unacceptable: it’s a fault. Many otherwise good casters do this and some even make it look good, which doesn’t help.

The third thing that you can do is to drift backwards with the rod tip after the ‘stop’. This is called the drift and guess what? It’s the subject of this jail-break.

Why you should drift

Drifting backwards attains a number of desirable objectives and eliminates some interesting problems. Learning an effective drift will instantly turn a competent caster into a good caster.

• Drifting facilitates better timing allowing the loop to fully straighten out on the back cast.
• It cushions the rod tip, taking out those nasty wiggles created by a hard stop/poor quality rod.
• It takes out excess energy. There is a misnomer that the backcast loads the rod for the forward cast. This is not true; the backcast positions the line in such a way that we can make an effective forward cast. Some casters believe that they should wait until they feel a ’tug’ on the backcast before starting the forward stroke. You don’t want this either. That tug is pulling the rod tip backwards and therefore downwards, leading to an uneven path of the tip and an associated tailing loop.

Even a fully straightened out loop can have energy. That is the energy that pulls the rod tip back and it’s a bitch to control (See? Told you this was going to get techy).

• Drifting puts you in a better position for the forward cast. Most backcasts are merely tip bending affairs, the aim of which being to stick anything between eight and eighteen yards of line in the air. The forward cast is a different kettle of fish altogether, the aim of which often being a butt-bending 40-yard explosion. Backcast – small stroke, forward cast – long stroke. In order to facilitate this, you will find it necessary to relocate the rod tip during the pause. Sounds like a drift to me.
• A good drift also gives you more time. Ever wonder how some casters appear to have more time than others? This is because they do. At the time when most casters are starting their forward cast, good casters are drifting backwards.

Why we have included it in this series

Drifting has one more effect. Since it allows us to commence the forward cast with the rod angled further backwards, it allows us to make more of the forward stroke behind us, which in turn allows us to stop the rod earlier on the forward cast.

And this gives us more room to play with for creating slack line.

I see many anglers struggling with slack line casts, struggling to find time and room to create slack. This is because they have finished the forward stroke with the rod close to the horizontal. A much better scenario is to finish closer to the vertical. Drifting allows this.

Tips on how to achieve this

A great description of the drift movement is to ‘feel’ for the loop straightening on the backcast with the rod tip. Don’t be too hasty to get back there. It is not a sudden double movement; it is a subtle feeling movement.

It is important that the rod tip tracks the fly line. In order for this to occur the drift is also an upward movement. Many casters do this better when the emphasis is on the ‘up’ and not on the ‘back’. I’m one of those actually.

When it goes wrong

It normally goes wrong for one of two reasons. The first is that the drift is thought of as a powerful exciting event. It is not. It is subtle; like a summer zephyr.

The second is that the caster thinks he has done it, but in fact hasn’t and has indeed lost all timing. At times like these, it can help to put yourself in a field and break the cast into all of its’ components, allowing the line to land on the ground on the backcast.

When it goes right

Something very subtle happens; you go from being a mechanical scientific flycaster to a fluid smooth feeling flycaster. Be warned however; you might find yourself taking off your shoes — these things start to become important when you enter the world of feeling.

The Power Snap

We have just returned to our favourite subject: the stop. Although a really good cast relies on a smooth built up of power — and therefore bend in the rod — it also requires a snap of loading just before unloading. This is best achieved with a little wrist snap. Also a squeeze of the hand as the stop is made works well for me.

The power-snap:

Once the skill of drifting has been learned it is then possible to emphasise the stop on the backcast. Improving the backcast is always worth working on. Really concentrating on an abrupt stop is one of the keys to a great backcast.

Having just said this, let me also say that if you are having problems with your casting, it is far more likely to be a result of putting in too much power, rather than too little.

The Backcast

Many people will tell you that the back cast is the most important part of casting. There is a little rule somewhere that “you can’t have a good forward cast unless you get a good backcast”, which although not strictly true, it is the case that it sure helps your forward cast to have a good backcast.

Certainly if you have a low back cast and then come over the top with the forward cast, then you are either going to throw a high forward cast or an open loop.

The first faults a beginner usually has with a pick-and-lay-down cast are usually in the backcast. The faults are this:

• Taking the rod too far backwards
• Failure to stop the rod — which is really the same as the first point
• Failure to get an effective lift — either by completely forgetting the lift element of the cast and throwing a large open loop, or worse; a low, face-level cast flying directly at the caster, with alarming pace (this is caused by the rod bending against the surface tension on the line, and then unbending as soon as the line is free — duck!), or by remembering the lift but starting with the rod near the horizontal and ending up clearing the line from the water too far backwards, so that by the time the backcast has been completed, the line has travelled over and down and not up and back.

When teaching (or even when practising myself), I imagine casting straight up into the sky. If you try to cast the line vertically upwards, you generally get a great backcast. Its a mental thing.

Remember that for the backcast the stroke should be small — we are merely flicking the tip of the rod. Ten yards, maybe a little more is all we are trying to aerialise. Initially. Later when we get involved in overhangs and rear back shoots then we can relax this rule.

I purposely move the hand upwards into the stop, with a little twist of the wrist. This gives me a narrow loop. It’s a little upwards corkscrew movement.

Positive stop. Positive stop. Positive stop.

With a really great loop on the backcast — even with a drift — you can often end up with the very end of the line dipping downwards after the loop has straightened, its very much like forward casting with an attempt to get the fly to land first (tuck cast). And it can be a real pain in the arse. There are several ways to counteract this:

• You could try shooting some line into the back cast — something we will deal with separately.
• You could force the loop to travel under the rod on the backcast so that when it straightens the line pops up and not down (this is a really smart trick incidentally and is great for casting over low bushes or when using a heavy lure).
• You could bring the loop around the side of the rod on the backcast (a la Belgian Cast)

Some casters watch every single back cast, to see when it has fully straightened. Often a recommended viewing position is the open stance. Some casters hardly ever watch their backcast. Frankly unless watching the back loop, brings in some fault of its own — such as a body twist resulting in a curved track of the rod tip — I can see nothing wrong with watching them (in fact it can help!). This said, however, there are times — specifically in fishing situations when you really don’t want to take time out to watch your backcast, in these circumstances ‘feeling’ for the line with the rear drift really comes in handy (and it helps to have practised it before encountering Mr Lunker).

Feeling for the line straightening should, however, be a sixth sense and not a literal pull on the rod tip. Having the line bounce against your rod tip is not a good position with which to be starting the forward cast.

The forward cast can actually tell us what happened behind us. There are two things to look out for: the first is a complete heap at your feet — generally just preceded by an almighty ‘crack’ this is failure for the backcast to straighten out (not long enough pause) and the second is for the line to land in a wriggle as opposed to perfectly straight and is caused by a low backcast (when I get this I call it a presentation cast BTW! — see puddle cast).

Hauling

As soon as a beginner has grasped the basic fly casting skills it is a good idea to introduce hauling. Depending on the individual, the double haul can often be introduced after three or four hours of tuition (so long as there has been additional practice). Hauling has a huge effect on loop control. And since loop control is the key to good fly casting learning to haul is really quite important.

Hauling (for those who have no idea what I’m on about) is where the non-rod hand pulls line back through the rings during the casting stroke. It gives dramatic results, firstly it can be used to force a greater bend in the rod than would otherwise be obtainable, and certainly a greater bend with little increase in effort, and also it vastly increases the speed that the line travels through the air.

The double-haul is where the haul is made on both the forward and the backwards casts. Single hauls are also useful — especially for beating the wind.

There are two basic faults in the double haul. The first is failure to get your hands together during the pause in the backcast — as you can imagine non-drifters of the racing variety have problems here (if this makes no sense you haven’t been paying attention) — which leads to an ineffective second haul. The second fault is slack line between the hauling hand and the butt ring — and depending on how this happens, generally means an uncompressed rod at some point during the stoke — too hasty.

There are many ways of teaching the double haul. Without doubt the most effective way is for the instructor to do the hauling for the pupil: this is a fast method and in most cases it teaches the pupil in less than two or three minutes.

Another common method is to use the “DownUp” hand movement description; “DownUp” being one word — emphasis on the “Down”. However it should really be “Down-and-Up”, because time has to be given for the rodtip to unbend and the loop travel backwards — the best time to go “Up” is during that little backwards drift we talked of earlier. If we do it too soon we end up unbending the rod — and just at the time when we want to be bending it to it’s maximum.

Some guys teach without rods and lines — and (perhaps surprisingly) this can also be effective. Another method which has been shown to me and I have used to good effect (especially useful for those who can’t seem to grasp the method when you help them do it) is to get the caster to perform side-casts using the double haul, but on the backcast actually allowing the line to land on some water (or field, or whatever — short cut grass is great for this as it eliminates the need for the lift element of the cast). This gives a very long pause (indefinitely) which allows the caster to see if his hands are together, look for slack line and generally slow things down. Also it gives more feel in the forward haul because the caster gets to beat gravity in both directions — a common statement a learner makes is “I don’t seem to feel the forward haul doing anything”.

Some or all of these techniques are required — but without a doubt if the instructor can get away with the first, then he should go for it. Double hauling is easy and contrary to most people’s opinion does not require superhuman co-ordination. It’s an essential skill and should be taught as quickly as possible — before all that self-doubt creeps in. It’s really great to see the results of teaching hauling; the pupils often feel such a sense of achievement and the results can be really quite phenomenal.

For basic teaching often the easiest way to teach timing is to time the start of the haul to the start of the casting stroke. However the most effective time to haul is as near to the stop as possible. For those really tight, sexy (yes I had to start using this word to describe loops at some point) loops the haul should be made at the point of the tip-snap, wrist-flick, positive-stop or whatever you want to call it. For more open loops the hauls can be made more throughout the stroke.

This is a very important point. And not one I have seen written about very often. So let me say it again: the correct time to apply the haul is not as the stroke is being make, but rather as the rod is being stopped. So how the hell do you learn this??!! Easy. Every time you squeeze the rod into the stop, say ‘stop’ to yourself (!). After this is drilled into your mind, replace the ‘stop’ word with ‘haul’ or ‘down’ (of the down-and-up).

Hauling at the stop will give you a tight loop. Hauling throughout the stroke will give you an open loop. You can use this! Throw a tight loop into the wind and a open loop with it! Therefore with a tailing wind, time your haul at the stop in the backcast, and throughout the stroke on the forward cast.

More improvement can be made to line speed by working on haul timing and hauling speed rather than rod-hand speed. Really dramatic results come from really fast hauls — work on your hauling speed:- distance travelled with the haul is less important than velocity. A fast haul is one of the secrets to V-shape loops (the other is a relaxed stop).

And now for my greatest tip of all (so far): for the most dramatic effects, stop the haul at precisely the same moment that you stop the rod. In order to ensure a fully synchronised stop I finish the forward haul with a straight hauling arm; I find that I can get a real ‘snap’ when I straighten my arm, and if I make that snap at exactly the same moment as I make my wrist-snap… well, this one of the secrets behind ‘sexyloops’, and it works for me, every time!

Everyone has heard of the benefits of an abrupt stop of the rod. How many have thought of the importance of an abrupt stop of the haul? Straightening the haul from the elbow allows that abrupt stop.

Loop Shape

V-shape loops are more aerodynamic than U-shape. The way to create a V-shaped loop is to relax the hand immediately after the stop. Without relaxing the hand the rod tip continues to travel forwards creating the U-shape.

Incidentally, relaxing the hand is also important for removing bounce from the rod tip. All rods bounce to a certain extent after the stop. The better the rod the less the bounce. However by relaxing the hand after the stop, the bounce is minimalized as there is nothing to for the rod to bounce against! Orvis have a series of rods, called the Trident series, which boasts a patented dampening system beneath the handle. This is an interesting marketing concept as you already have your own dampening system outside the handle.

It is possible to vary the position of the point in the loop. Some casters try to position the point at the bottom of the loop. Others put it in the middle, yet others position the point at the top.

It may not be the whole story, but I haven’t met anyone else who’s gotten into this stuff, although I have read a short article on it somewhere — sorry, can’t remember where… think it was a Kiwi fishing magazine — but the article did nothing more than refer to the shape of the loops and describe the point at the bottom as a rat’s snout cast, and it was a long time ago, and I never met the fellow, but the way I achieve the different loop formations is by varying the angle I use to cast the rod. Up to now I haven’t used the clock face — too restrictive — but by casting between 12 o’clock and 10 o’clock I get to put the point at the bottom of the loop and by casting between 2 o’ clock and 12 I get to put the point at the top and I can still get a horizontal line at the top of the loop so long as I drop my elbow in the forward stroke in order to maintain that horizontal path of the rod tip that I require. However this might not be the whole story, perhaps the angle of the backcast plays a part, and perhaps the angle the rod tip travels as is unbends plays a part, don’t know, but when I do, you’ll be the next to find out…

One way to effectively practice these loops is to cast with very short lengths of line (8yrds and less).

Although opinion varies, I prefer to position the point at the top for most of my distance casting. This is because the shape of this loop acts as a wedge, keeping the line in the air for slightly longer.

For into-the-wind casting it is advisable to put the point as near the bottom of the loop as possible, for two reasons: the first is that the wind will be less able to get under the loop, the second is that you need that high back cast for casting into the wind.

Changing Direction

For pick-up-and-lay down change of direction casts simply start by pointing the rod in the direction you want to cast and perform an overhead cast. The pause will sort it all out for you. Effective up to 90 degrees change of direction.

That was easy!

However for changes approaching and exceeding 90 degrees I’ll corkscrew (snake roll) the line around so that it lays in the new direction before overhead casting. This takes slightly longer that the first method but allows greater control of the overhead cast.

What I won’t do, is to false cast the line backwards and forwards, changing the angle a little at a time. Life’s too short.

Across the wind

When the wind blows off the wrong shoulder (i.e. onto the casting arm) it threatens to send a low backcast into the caster. We have several options:

1. we can tilt the wrist so that the rod tip travels over the other side of the body — keeping the line and fly away from the body and clear of danger
2. we can bring the thumb up to the other ear, which has the same effect
3. we can cast with the other hand
4. we can put our back to the wind and cast backwards
5. we can cross to the other side of the river/lake (!)
6. we can go home
7. we can hook ourselves

I have seen them all.

Most US instructors choose option-1. Most UK instructors choose option-2. And most stillwater fishermen I watch choose option-4 (or 5). Although 6 and 7 are also quite popular. All the first four are acceptable: number-3 being the best, and hardest. The short coming of option-1 is that it throws the loop off the side of the rod, whereas with option-2 you can cast perfectly vertical loops, however double hauling is awkward with this second option — easier with the first.

Many anglers find both of these methods restrictive and lacking finesse with the left hand resort to option-4. Against the hard-core professional body of opinion I actually recommend this style for distance casting. Why? Because it casts further than the other methods. Sure for tight little nooks and crannies where you have to wedge a narrow loop under some weeping willow tree then I’ll use one of the first 3 options, but if a 40yrd cast in a crosswind is your goal:- option-4 is your best bet.

One way of making the double haul less awkward when using option 2, is to haul horizontally backwards instead of vertically downwards. This is quite popular on the Continent. It feels somewhat like pulling back on a bow and arrow. What I don’t like about this technique, however, is that the natural thing to do with the rod hand in this instance, is to push directly against the hauling hand, and this is very obviously the pushing movement which I dislike.

Into the wind

This is how it normally is taught: high backcast, high backcast, high backcast. With a normal no-wind situation what we are trying to achieve with the forward cast is for the line to straighten out some three or four feet above the surface of the lake, hover for a fraction of a second and sweetly drop onto the lake. Try this into to the wind and what happens is the line goes out straightens and instead of sweetly dropping, blows straight back to your feet. So what we do is tilt the cast. By angling the backcast so that the line straightens at an angle above the horizontal we can get the line to cast such that when the loop unfurls and straightens on the forward cast, the line is on the water. This is how most instructors teach into wind casting.

And how do we get this high backcast? Quite simply the most effective technique is to consider the elbow on the backcast:- instead of travelling forwards with the elbow as we would normally do during the lift element; tuck up. In other words the elbow should move backwards and upwards slightly. What we are actually doing is changing the angle which our hand travels through when we make the backcast: we are forcing our hand (and rod tip) to travel at angle much closer to the vertical than we normally choose.

Don’t forget to drift.

OK, a high backcast is important. But what we should also be saying is: narrow loop, narrow loop, narrow loop (on the forward cast). Eliminating the hover on the forward cast is not nearly as important as throwing a tight loop.

Putting a haul into the forward cast tightens the loop and gives us that kick we often need.

Often the leader fails to straighten. To counteract this try:- putting a heavy or slim fly on the point, or; stopping the shoot with the left hand so that the leader kicks over, or; (in gales, typhoons and hurricanes) the triple-haul: put an additional haul in just before the flyline straightens.

One thing I have often heard, is that one should attempt to cast ‘under’ the wind. The theory is that it’s less windy the closer you get to the water. Of course there is actually wind down there, which is explained by the fact that there are waves on the water surface, and although it is true that there is less of the stuff, you will certainly never be able to get ‘under’ it.

However, when attempting to get out into Force 9, there is something to be said for sidecasting. It’s not so much that it keeps the line close to the surface, as much as it keeps the rod away from the verticle (where it can get blown about something interesting like). When side casting angling the backcast upwards takes out that forward hover. A very real advantage to sidecasting is that if the leader doesn’t straighten, it lands in a curve and not a heap.

Control is key to casting into the wind. Tighten up; tuck up; try casting with the dart-thrower’s style. Really concentrate on keeping the elbow in-line with the shoulder. Casting into the wind helps tighten up style and loops, as soon as you try to force the cast you fail miserably. The wind is not particularly tolerant of sloppy loops.

Practice your loop control by casting into the wind… then when you have to fish into the wind you can put a smile on your face.

Casting with the wind

Strangely this is the hardest wind direction to deal with well. First I’ll explain how to deal with it then I’ll explain why it’s so awkward. On the backcast we must cast below the horizontal, otherwise the wind will get beneath the flyline and blow it back towards the caster. It is essential, for obvious reasons, to cast a tight loop on this backcast. On the forward cast an open loop is, not only acceptable, but also an advantage (as the wind can get inside the loop and assist in carrying it out — it’s a bit like a sail). The entire cast is tilted backwards and the angle of cast is made above the horizontal on the forward cast.

The reason that this wind direction is such a bitch, is because often that low, tight backcast hooks the grasses behind us. It is especially difficult because a powerful cast has that tendency to kick the end of the flyline downwards — the only solution I can offer is to send a horizontal loop into the backcast (a la Belgian cast) or an upside down one (pendulum cast).

Obviously one key to the efficiency of this cast to stick a late haul into the backstroke in order to get that narrow loop. If it’s really windy there are times when you just are not going to get your hauling hand back up in preparation for the forward haul. Under these circumstances the only recourse is to make a very precise sharp wristy-haul on the forward cast.

Under these circumstances the forward haul is not so important anyway. One instructor I know called this the ‘finger’ haul. It’s very useful for loch style fishing BTW.

As an aside:- there is a dam where I do a fair amount of angling, and when the wind is up for it, it can blow at you both ways: over the top and in your face (tight loops both ways and crossed fingers).

Side casting

To make a side cast tilt the casting plane of the overhead cast over to the side. Tilt the rod all the way over to the horizontal. It’s a great way of throwing narrow forward loops, but it’s most useful for casting in tight spots. Five benefits appear: 1. we don’t have to take the rod up to the vertical where it’s going to clunk on branches 2. our back loop can be kept low and parallel to the water and can be send underneath overhanging foliage behind us 3. the loop on the forward cast is horizontal, which is really useful for sending under branches 4. and we can keep this forward loop really low to the water 5. side casting helps keep the rod outside the fishes window of vision.

Side casting is also useful for casting into the teeth of a gale — for two reasons: one is that taking the rod high into the air allows it to get blown around and the other is that if our leader doesn’t straighten out properly on the forward cast, it will simply land in a curve as opposed to a heap.

Side casting can be performed off both sides of the body, in order to cast of the left hand side for right-handers (or vice-versa) the recommended style is to rotate the wrist so that the palm of the hand is facing downwards.

Incidentally returning to that 40yrds of the wrong shoulder cast, doing this (i.e. putting the thumb behind the rod on the forward cast) makes this cast more acceptable to some instructors — aren’t we a funny bunch?

A neat trick is the change of direction side cast. The way to achieve this is to perform the side cast as you normally would and then on the last forward cast just as the rod points in the direction you want to cast, rotate the wrist so that the reel points downwards. Many good stream anglers I know use this to good effect: they do a couple of false side casts to judge the right distance, and whack! change of direction, under the tree, dead on target.

Make sure that you point downwards with the rod tip on the final delivery, otherwise the line clashes with the rod…

Underhand / Pendulum cast

The underhand cast is a variation of the sidecast, the difference being that with this variation the caster throws the loop underneath the tip of the rod. This is achieved by casting the side stroke with a small downwards dip with the tip of the rod ( i.e. the tip of the rod draws a saucer shape during the casting stroke).

The result should be an upsidedown loop. The smaller the dip, the tighter the loop. This variation is particularly useful for casting beneath trees and is often the only workable tactic — even if the loop hits the overhanging branch, the fly often kicks underneath and still lands on target! A very useful cast on small steams.

One advantage of the underhand loop is that with a strong positive stop after the loop has straightened the end of the flyline kicks upwards. Yet another good reason to learn this neat trick!

An advanced technique is to make an underhand cast on the back cast, which forces the loop to pop upwards (great if you have thistles behind you, or just a big heavy fly), followed with an overhead delivery on the forward cast.

Because this is flycasting… Note well: the title ‘Underhand Cast’ is also currently being used to describe the Single Spey cast. The main emphasis being that the lower hand on a double-handed rod doing the work. Historically the Underhand Cast was also used to describe the roll cast. Many USA instructors refer to this cast as the Pendulum Cast.

Belgian Cast

Belgian Cast

Put quite simply this cast is a side cast in the back cast, followed by an overhead cast in the forward. It is very useful for (a) acquiring distance very quickly (b) keeping flies apart on a multi-fly leader and (c) casting with the wind.

The disadvantage of this cast is that it throws a half twist in the line every cast. Half twists add up! So it’s best to use this cast sparingly, otherwise you will have to get into the habit of removing the reel from the rod, every 30 casts, or so, in order to spin the twists out.

One fishing partner of mine, who uses this cast for most of his fishing, has the infuriating habit of casting his line out, unspinning the twists, refitting the reel (all very casually you understand) and bringing in the slack only to discover he has hooked a fish, which he promptly lands with deft skill.

One excellent reason for performing this cast is that (with slightly too much power), once the loop has straightened out on the backcast, it will kick around to the side. With an overhead backcast the loop will flip over downwards.

A side cast is excellent for casting narrow loops which makes this cast perfect for casting with a following wind. A tight low backcast followed by an open forward loop. Remember to haul as you stop on the backcast, and through the stroke on the forward cast.

Since the backcast can be presented very low to the water, this is an excellent cast for making a high forward cast.

Different Lifts

There are five different methods I use for clearing the line from the water surface:

the slow lift: slowly lifting the tip of the rod from the surface of the water to about 11 o’clock, as in pickup and lay down casts

the roll cast: covered later, the roll cast is particularly useful as a lift for sunk lines, or simply in circumstances where we want to retrieve the fly to our feet, still leaving sufficient line outside the tip ring to load the rod

the snake lift:(very popular amongst NZ guides): the procedure is that a circle is drawn with the tip of the rod, and then the line is put into the backcast. Small powerful circles tend simply to release just the line from the water, large circles can be used to lift heavy nymphs to the surface. A particularly useful lift in fast water situations where large amounts of slack line are strewn randomly about the river — especially so when the whole lot’s drifting towards a logjam. You are not resticted to one circle BTW.

the shake lift: otherwise known as “digging it out”; this lift is useful during sunk-line river situations. Starting from our fishing position, with the line on the dangle, we lift the rod slowly to the vertical whilst side casting backwards and forwards, with ever increasing stroke length, until the line is pulled clear from the water where upon an overhead cast is made. Naturally we initially (at least), end up casting at 90 degrees to the flyline’s original direction.

The dynamic or flick-lift: this lift is made by smartly lifting (or flicking) the tip of the rod forwards, from the water surface to the horizontal, with the intention of flicking a small wave all the way down the line, to the leader, lifting the flyline clear of the water in the process, whereupon it can be cast backwards. Even if the line fails to completely clear the water, often sufficient movement is generated such that the line can be lifted off quite cleanly. A particularly useful lift under three circumstances: the first, when speed is required; the second, when large amounts of line need to be lifted off the water and the third for the Belgian cast — note the finishing position of the rod after the lift: horizontal; ideal for chucking around the side.

Distance casting including backcast shoot

The most powerful casting position for the start of the forward cast is what is commonly called the 90-90 position: the upperarm is stuck out at 90 degrees to the body and the forearm is at 90 degrees to the upperarm. This the ultimate throwing position; its how we throw spears, javelins, stones, balls and flyrods. You must remember to lead with the elbow, just as you would with a spear. Directing the cast with the elbow gives (me) a much smoother stroke.

I have said it previously but let me remind you that one of the best ways to learn distance casting is to stop crisply into the backcast. So make sure you do just that: stop abruptly; don’t concentrate on a powerful backcast, but rather on an abrupt stop. We need that line to fire backwards off the tip of the rod into a narrow loop.

On the forward cast we really need to concentrate on forcing a deep bend into the rod.

One of the best ways of forcing a deep bend is to aerialise more line. Most anglers currently use weight-forward profile flylines. One problem that the beginner encounters early on with this line, is false casting with too much overhang. As soon as your cast gets beyond the weight forward head section the line starts to hinge and collapse. BUT we can get away with an overhang on the last backcast. By shooting 2, 3, 4 or even 10 and more yards of line into the last backcast greater flex can be forced into the rod, and hence greater distances can be achieved. There are two ways:

• The first is the method I use; with lots of practise it is possible to feel your way through the overhang
• The second is a much more precise method; a permanent marker pen is used to mark the line at the hauling hand, indicating when the tip of the weight forward head is just outside the tip ring. And then another mark is made some two to three yards further on down the line away from the head. When retrieving line, the first mark you come to is gripped and the retrieve continued until the second mark comes to hand. At this point the caster knows, that were he to lift off at this moment and shoot the coiled loop into his backcast, he would get a great cast.

But as I said I use the first method. But of course I practice…

Overhang

Overhang is the line between the tip of the fly rod and the end of the rear taper of a weight forward flyline (including shooting heads). Too much overhang, during a false cast, is the quickest way to look a dick that I know.

There are a few points to consider:

• The more line outside the tip of the rod; the greater the bend in the rod we can create, and
• The more line outside the tip-ring the longer it takes for the loop to straighten (this is a key point; not enough line and the loop straightens before the cast has fully shot, too much and the loop fails to straighten).

The longer the head, the more overhang you can maintain. This is why:

• 3 yrd shooting heads suck, and
• most long casting lines have a 15 yrd head.

There are two ways to utilise overhang:

• The backcast shoot:- discussed previously.
• False casting with overhang: It is quite simple to false cast with 2 or 3 yrds of overhang, however in order to have a longer overhang it becomes important to cast a tight fast loop by hauling as the ‘stop’ is made.

For very long casts (say 40 yrds with a WF5 — including leader) ten yards plus of overhang is required.

The basic roll cast

The principles of the roll cast are that:

• we slide the line towards us in order to position the flyline just off to the side of the body
• we wait until the tip of the flyline is stationary on the water in front of us
• a ‘D-loop’ has been formed with the rod and the flyline
• we drive the rod tip forwards bending it against the weight of the line in the D-loop
• we then stop our rod forcing it to unbend and cast our line
• as the line lands on the water we lower the tip of the rod.

Because we do not rely on casting very much line behind us this cast is great in situations where we either haven’t got the space for the backcast, or when it’s just too windy to get a safe backcast.

Also the roll cast can be used as part of a casting sequence — ie as a lift element in which case it allows us to fish the fly to our feet, still leaving enough line outside the tip ring to make a cast.

With sunkline fishing this is the cast to use to get the line out of the water (unless you are changing direction, in which case you are best to start digging — see alternative lifts section).

If a fish takes our fly at the moment when we have just formed our D-loop (as they do — partly because the fly just stopped moving, but mainly because the fish are out there to annoy us) the only way to hook him is to roll cast, and use the momentum of the line travelling forwards to set the hook. Incidentally this takes great presence of mind — but accounts for over 20% of my catch — so learn it if you haven’t already!

NB: unlike with the overhead cast, the roll cast does not require a straight length of line on the water. So it’s useful after a casting cock-up too.

In order for the cast to work efficiently it is important that:

• the tip of the line is anchored and stationary on the water surface
• sufficient line is in the D-loop to bend the rod
• the line is lying to the side of the body and not in front of the body where it will spring up and hook the caster on the forecast
• the line is as close to the body as possible (no more than half a rod length) because this cast is most efficient when the tip of the rod travels directly over the flyline
• the tip of the rod travels in a straight line on the forward cast in order to throw an elliptical loop, as opposed to a round one which lands in a heap at the end
• we are not trying to make the roll cast using the thin shooting part of a weight forward flyline.

Roll Cast Variations

There are many variations in the styles of the roll cast:

• The standard style taught in the UK is 45 degrees angle at start of backcast, with a wristy stop, attempting to cast the line into the air where it straightens out, hovers some two to three feet above the water, and all lands simultaneously
• The rest of the world seems to have a tendency to rotate the stroke further forwards (starting rod position much nearer the vertical) forcing the line roll across the water as opposed to in the air above it
• Sometimes a particularly useful style is roll casting off the side: the most effective technique here is to keep the elbow close to the body, the forearm vertical and rotate the wrist so that the rod is horizontal. A variation of this is to start the cast with the tip low on the backcast in order to cast upwards on the forward stoke
• Emphasis can be made with the stop component by pulling the tip backwards as opposed to purely stopping, very narrow loops can be formed this way, however a slight change of casting plane between the forward stroke and the backward stop is required to avoid collisions of line and rod
• Using a combination of the last two techniques immense power can be achieved
• There is a direct correlation between the amount of line in the D-loop and the amount of force required to sucessfully complete the cast: the more line — the less effort.
• Narrow loops are formed by straight paths of the rod tip. Controlled open loops can be formed using a circular path of the rod tip, either by turning the rod tip over more at the end of the stroke using the wrist, or by emphasising dropping the elbow more on the forward stroke.

Off the opposite shoulder

Initially is may seem a little awkward (although for some it seems a little easier) but being able to roll cast effectively off both shoulders is essential for both dealing with the wind and changing direction. The principles are exactly the same as for our more ’natural’ shoulder, however these pointers should help:

It helps to rotate the wrist so that the back of the hand is on the top of the rod

It helps to rotate the body from the hips in order to get the line back into the D-loop

There are two popular rod hand positions for the start of the forward stroke:

1. thumb at the opposite ear
2. thumb in front of the nose (sighting target)

We use this cast when:

1. the wind is threatening to blow the line into our body, or
2. when we want to change the direction of the line to the outside of its current position (for example:- when a right hander wishes to roll cast the line which is lying in front of him, to his right) — if we didn’t cast off the opposite shoulder under these circumstances the rod crosses over the line, and as it picks off it tangles (and this can be quite dangerous). In order to change direction this is the procedure: stand square to new direction, point rod in this direction, form D-loop and cast — it’s good to about 45 degress — (it is especially important not to leave too much line on the water because this line is facing the wrong direction).

Under general roll cast circumstances we want to place the D-loop fairly close to the body so that the rod tip travels over the line on the forward stroke; if the wind is strong this means we may have to form the D-loop by lifting the rod tip the wrong side of our body, in order to place the line close to us on the opposite side.

Coping with the wind

Into the wind:

When roll casting into the wind tilt the whole cast forwards so that the line rolls over the water, casting with a narrow loop. Often a short haul helps (discussed later). In strong winds the powerful side cast (last of the variations — above) is particularly useful.

With the wind:

Tilt the forward casting stroke backwards so that the forward cast travels upwards. Throw an open loop.

Casting further

There are several ways you can make a more powerful roll cast, you can start with more line in the D-loop, you can start with less line on the water, you can force a more powerful stop and you can add a haul:

• More line in D-loop:- the most straight forward way of achieving this is to reach out behind you with a straight arm to set the D (but remember to bring your hand back to your ear before executing the forward stroke).

Alternatively as an excercise in lateral thinking you can get more line into the D-loop by first forming your D then taking a step forwards — not to be recommended in a boat.

Another method is what is commonly called the jump-roll: here we stop the backcast with a little upwards flick in order to send some more line backwards. This technique is really effective because it allows us to keep more line in the air, anchoring only the last couple of feet of flyline on the water. Make sure that the fly is still in front of you at all times (otherwise its not a roll cast any more). If we make this little upwards flick more positive (harder stop) we can force a pointed D-loop (where then point runs down the D-loop), which has the benefits of being both dynamic and sexy!

• With this last technique we have started to create a really effective cast. One clear advantage that the jump-roll has is in its ability to keep large amounts of line in the air, clear of the water, where it gets stuck. (Another advantage is that because we use a positive back stoke this cast helps to lift leaded flies to the surface — although if you are a Kiwi you may have to roll cast several times to get your nymphs up… ).

Ideally we want about 2 feet of flyline tip on the water, as our anchor. An effective way of placing this line on the water is to dip the tip of the rod as make the backcast (in other words, an S-shape stroke — but mirror flip the S and then rotate it 90 degrees…) — remember that the line goes where the tip of the rod goes.

If we make the tip-dip too soon we get to much line on the water, too late and the tip misses the water and travels behind us.

If we dip too forcefully the end of the flyline lands in the right place but folds back on itself, sometimes tangling the leader, and always reducing the forward cast’s efficiency.

• The theory behind stopping harder on the forward cast, is that we can get that tip-snap we needed so much in our overhead cast. For me pulling back on the tip of the rod as I stop the rod can work really well (It’s almost like the flickcast in reverse — a later technique).
• Hauling is effective in the roll cast and most competent flyfishers do it naturally (once they have learned the double haul), however it should be remembered that the most effective time to start the haul for those tight fast loops, is at the beginning of the power-snap. If you are having to roll cast into the wind the forward haul can give you that extra bit of tip speed that you need.

You can also put a short haul into the backcast where it helps to form that sexy pointed jump-roll D-shape

You can also haul just as the flyline is straightening out on the forward cast to help straighten the leader into the wind. So I guess in theory you could end up with the triple-haul jump-roll cast. Which is quite a mouthful.

Shooting line is quite possible with the roll cast:- just remember to cast above the water on the forward cast and not onto the water.

A useful ’trick’ is to shoot some line into the backcast:- either to get a larger D-loop or because you retrieved to much. Also along the same track; when only a small amount of line is outside the tip you can get more there by drawing a large circle directly in front of you with the rod tip, releasing some line into the circle — this only works if you initially keep the tip of the line stuck on the water: so start the circle slowly building up speed as you go. If you are casting off the right shoulder draw the circle clockwise and then you can go straight into the roll cast. For the left shoulder we go anti-clockwise, obviously. This cast can also be used as a single spey variation, as we shall see in the next chapter.

Spey casting outline

Put quite simply:- a spey cast is a roll cast preceded by a bit of line repositioning. There is nothing more frightening to it than this. There are many alternatives to the traditional single and double spey casts. Most of which I cover here, although it is quite possible to invent your own variations, as we shall see. Three circumstances commonly present themselves where a spey cast, or one of it’s variations, is required:

• First let us imagine we are in a river situation, our line is on the dangle (lying directly downstream) and we want to roll cast across the current. One requirement of the roll cast is that there is sufficient line in the D-loop; if we were to simply lift the rod backwards we wouldn’t be able to form this D, because the current is constantly washing the line downstream: problem 1.

Problem 2 is that even if we could get some line into the D-loop, any remaining line on the water is pointing in the wrong direction and this doesn’t help!

Problem 3 is that if the wind is blowing upstream we are going to end up either: hooking ourselves (if we attempt forming a D-loop on the downstream-side), or getting the rod to cross over the line on the forward stroke, tangling us (if we try to put the D-loop on the upstream-side).

• Often spey casting is regarded as purely a river cast, and sometimes purely a double-handed rod cast. This is pure fallacy:

Take the common stillwater situation where we want to roll cast our line with a change of direction: if the caster wishes to cast his line to the right of its current position, he must roll cast of the left shoulder — otherwise the rod crosses over the line, if he wishes to the left then he must place the D-loop to the right shoulder. Ok, we’ve been there and covered that, but what if he cannot place the D-loop on this chosen side because of an awkward wind: you certainly don’t want to put the line between yourself and the wind. So what you have to do is relocate the line — if you can’t cast to the right-hand side of the line, move the line; put it even further to the right than you want to cast, and then you can cast to the left of it’s new position. It’s an exercise in lateral thinking and its a spey cast.

When we are boat fishing, on the drift, we often end up with the line at 90 degrees to the direction of the drift: the double-spey is the obvious choice to get it back out in front again.

There is a rule in spey casting, which we can also apply to roll casting in general, it is this: when casting across the wind always, always keep the fly downwind.

The double-spey (off the right shoulder)

This is the procedure for the double-spey cast (off the right shoulder):

• Our starting position is on the dangle and it is our intention to cast (up to) 90 degrees across the river (you can do more but there are better ways of achieving this)
• We will say that, for this example; we are right-handed, we are on the true right bank (looking across the river it is flowing left to right) and there is a down-stream wind (remember we want to keep the fly downwind)
• Move your feet: stand facing square-on to the direction you want to finish the cast and rotate from the waist: so that your shoulders are square-on to the downstream direction (this is the best way to learn — once you know what you’re doing you can hang out of trees, hop on one leg and generally break all the rules)
• Lift the rod as you would in an overhead cast
• Then, without stopping, take the tip of the rod around to the left side of the body, turning from the waist as you do, so that the rod is pointed almost directly upstream and the tip is about a foot from the surface. We want the fly to remain downstream, ideally just downstream of the direction we want to cast (if we cast upstream too hard and the fly lands upstream of our intended direction, all we do is let the current carry it downstream a little bit. If on the otherhand we do not get the fly close enough to our intended direction, we are going to loose too much energy on the forward cast, and so we have to roll the line back downsteam and start again)
• Now we want to switch the line which we have taken upstream around to our right shoulder and put it into a D-loop. So we sweep our rod back downstream and up into our roll casting position. This rod movement we use is often called a half-moon dip. We lift the tip, dip the tip, and lift the tip up into a sweeping movement. The line will follow this movement and end up in a large D-loop off our right shoulder

We are now in our traditional roll casting position… you know the rest!

The double-spey (off the left shoulder)

The rule for this cast is: keep the fly downwind. Scenario: true left bank, downstream wind.

Everything as for the right-shoulder is now reversed. You have two ways of executing this cast: you can either cast with your left hand, or use the right hand — if you can use the left: then use the left, otherwise the cast is slightly more awkward. If you have to cast using the ‘wrong’ hand, good tips are: rotate your grip on the rod so that the back of the hand is on top, and emphasise the waist movement.

Make a lift, sweep the rod tip upstream to your right, switch the line downstream using the half-moon dip, hit the roll.

If you find yourself practising these casts on a stillwater, put the wind behind you and alternate the casts, so that you cast right shoulder, left shoulder, right shoulder etc. and remember to reposition your feet for every cast (this really helps).

Casting further with the double-spey:

You can make the double-spey more efficient by either shooting line and/or hauling. There are three places you can shoot line:

• upstream: at the end of the upstream stroke, try shooting a couple more yards of line, which you will then send back round into the D-loop (as you start sending greater amounts of line back into the D-loop you will have to start finishing the switch with a more pronounced upwards flick (which will give you a pointed D-shape))

For seriously big D-loops you are going to need (a) a double taper line and (b) to lift the arm as you send the line into the D — if you lift the arm into the stop, you must then drop the elbow to get your thumb level with your ear before you start the roll cast (otherwise all you will end up doing is casting the line down on to the water, immediately in front of you, with an impressive, but not particularly effective, crash)

• into the D-loop itself: it is possible but the timing has to be precise
• into the forward cast; as in all roll casts

The obvious place for the haul is in the forward cast just as we are building up to the stop. However, you can put short hauls into all parts of the cast: the lift, the upstream reach and the switch. Frankly I have never found all of these to be absolutely necessary — but you never know…

The single-spey (right shoulder)

OK so now we’ve got an upstream wind. What’s the rule? Keep the fly downwind. So that’s where we’ve got to put it; downwind which in this case is upstream.

This is the scenario: true left bank, on the dangle, upstream wind, we want to roll cast across the current (up to 90 degrees — once again more is possible but there are better techniques available). Here’s what we do:

• move your feet and face the direction you want to cast, now turn from the waist and face the line on the dangle
• make the lift, and then immediately, without stopping,
• sweep the rod upstream rotating from the waist, drawing a rising-crescent with the tip of the rod, finishing with a little flick of the tip.

The fly will lift off the water, travel upstream fairly close to the water and ‘kiss’ the water surface upstream and slightly out from us. We are aiming to place the fly so that it is slightly to the outside of the final roll casting direction. If it lands downstream of this angle we must STOP everything and roll cast the line back down river and start again, otherwise we will hook ourselves.

The further upstream of us that the fly travels — the less efficient the cast; remember that with the roll cast we want the rod tip to be travelling almost directly over the flyline. Some instructors recommend kissing the water surface with just the fly and leader, others recommend putting down a couple of feet of fly line — it all depends on what sort of roll caster you are: the more power you apply early on in the forward stroke — the more line you will need on the water.

If the line doesn’t kiss the surface we have failed to dip the rod at the start of the rising crescent. If the line lands and then flicks over itself we have dipped too much. If it doesn’t travel upstream we have either been to gentle, or dipped to early. If we cast the fly too far up with the double-spey it doesn’t really matter: we can let the current carry it back downstream to our chosen position. With the single-spey we don’t have this option, because if we pause too long our D-loop sags and we end up with too much line on the water.

• Hopefully the sweeping stroke has done it’s job and we have a correctly positioned fly and a nice D-loop. Now all that remains is the forward stroke on the roll cast.

The single-spey (left shoulder)

Here’s the scenario: true right bank, line’s on the dangle, upstream wind, we want to roll cast up to 90 degrees across the current. The rule is: keep the fly downwind — but you knew that right?

You have two options: cast with the left hand or cast with the right and suffer a slightly awkward stroke (remember to rotate the wrist so that the back of the hand is on top).

This is the procedure:

• move the feet so they are pointing in the final casting direction
• make the lift
• switch the fly upstream, by sweeping the rod tip through a rising crescent motion. Make sure the fly lands upstream of our final casting direction — otherwise roll the line back downstream and start again.
• hit the roll cast
• lower the rod tip
• If you are casting off the wrong shoulder (ie using you right hand) you can choose to start the forward stroke with the thumb in front of your nose, or, with the thumb besides the left ear, or stick the right elbow out and level with the shoulder and angle the tip over the left hand side.

Casting further with the single-spey:

As with any roll cast we can cast further by getting more line in the D-loop and/or hauling:

• To get more line in the D-loop you could start with more line downstream — haven’t got enough there? Lift the rod upstream feeding some line out through the tip, and roll cast downstream (this is the quick way, the slow way is to shake some line out of the tip and wait for the current to straighten it — but don’t try this with leaded flies!).

When it comes to getting greater lengths of line in the D-loop it becomes important to finish the upstream sweep with a small flick — this will also give you a pointed D-loop. As more line is used you will find yourself having to lift the hand in order to sweep the line into a large D-loop. At the most extreme you can end up with you rod-arm fully extended, pointing at about 45 degrees behind you. You cannot start an effective roll cast from this position — you must drop the elbow to put the thumb between the ear and the shoulder — it’s the drift reappearing wearing a new disguise.

It is possible, although timing is more crucial, to shoot line into the D-loop after the upwards sweep. Practice this with the more straightforward jump roll to get this timing.

• As before it is possible to put little hauls into all the components of this cast. Pay particular attention to the forward stroke.

Sunk lines, leaded flies and the spey-cast:

Under these circumstances the spey cast will have to be proceeded by a downstream roll cast in order to lift our sunk line or leaded fly to the surface.

Fishing with the spey-casts

Obviously the style of spey casting we have discussed so far has been applied to river scenarios and at first sight would appear somewhat limited in their application, in as much as we are fishing purely downstream. Of course salmon fishers fish this style for much of the time, but what use are these casts to trout fishers? Well I use these specific styles of spey casting under the following circumstances:

• skated sedge
• leaded lure
• down and across with sunk lines in fast rivers
• down and across traditional wets or nymphs with floater

It is also important to note that fish often follow the fly on the dangle, one way of hooking these fish is to pull in a yard or so of line before making the lift. Even if you remember to do this, you are still going to get takes while you are actually making the lift. I have found that the best way of hooking these fish is to continue lifting and get the fish to hook itself… at least it works for me!

The spey cast as I have pointed out before also has uses in all fishing environments and with certain modifications we can use these casting techniques to cast upstream as well as down and across, as we shall see.

The switch cast

Historically the switch cast predates spey casting. Basically the switch cast is exactly the same as the single-spey, but with one small difference: the fly does not kiss the water on the backcast. This small difference loses many yards on the cast, however it should also be pointed out that it also makes for a more delicate cast. So if you are casting to a fish only a short distance away then this is the cast to use. This said, now the Switch Cast is most commonly used to refer to the Jump or Dynamic Roll. Don’t you just love us flycasting instructors?

The snake roll

Also known as a corkscrew cast this achieves a similar objective to the double-spey and, at least as far as I am concerned, has all but superseded it, principally because it is quicker, but also its more straightforward. However this is not to say that the double-spey is now completely redundant:- for small changes of direction the double-spey is more effective. One advantage of the snake roll, is that it is very easy to cast angles greater than 90 degrees. Another advantage is that this cast completely avoids those irksome situations, where we fail to make a good upsweep of the rod in the double-spey and end up with a dogleg of flyline, on the water, at the start of the roll cast.

This is the basic snake roll: (right shoulder, right hand)… downstream wind, true right bank:

• Turn and face at 90 degrees to the direction of the dangle… move those feet!
• With the rod pointing downstream, draw an anticlockwise circle with the tip of the rod, speeding up during the last half, finishing up with a firm stop with the rod angled backwards at 45 degrees.

Or, perhaps, a better way is to draw an anticlockwise spiral, increasing speed, up to the stop, so that once we have stopped we are in the starting position of a roll cast.

• What we are trying to achieve is for the line to lift off the water and for the fly, and a couple of feet of flyline, to land about half a rod length downstream, pointing in the direction we want to cast, with a nice D-loop being formed with rod and line.

If the fly doesn’t come to within half a rod length we have drawn too small a circle. If more than a couple of feet of line lands on the surface we have put too much force into the start of the circle. If not enough line is in the D-loop we have failed to speed up enough during the second half of the circle.

• Now it’s a roll cast.
• To snake roll off the left shoulder this is what we do: downstream wind, true left bank:
• Move your feet to point in the intended casting direction.
• Draw your circle or spiral in the clockwise direction, off the left shoulder.
• Hit the roll.

Longer snake roll casts:

Our two ways of casting further with roll casts keep reappearing; we can haul and/or get more line in the D-loop. However with regards to this cast and the ‘more line in the D-loop’ option, we can get something really sexy: the double snake roll.

• In getting more line in the D-loop the easiest technique is to start off with more line downstream, outside the rod tip. As you progress, you are going to have to lift the hand, in order to form these large D’s. Remember that if you lift the hand to form the D, you must then lower it again before you make the roll cast, or to put it another way drop the elbow!

As with all roll casts you can shoot some extra line into the D-loop.

As you start using greater lengths of line one circle will not be enough to gather the fly up to within half a rod length. This is when you draw two circles! The second circle must be noticeably larger than the first or you will get into some unbelievable difficulties… in other words draw a spiral.

It is possible to draw three or more circles, but I’ve never found any practical need for more than two.

With regards to the hauling you can haul as you stop the rod into the back cast, which help to form those dynamic pointed D’s, but the most effective time to haul is during the forward stroke of the roll cast.

Overview of presentation casts

Overcoming drag (where the fly is caused to drift differently than it would if it wasn’t attached to any line; which basically means that the flyline is travelling at a different rate to the fly) is one of the most challenging aspects to fly casting. Drag problems occur every time we cast across a river. Although some anglers suggest that drag is not a problem with subsurface methods, this is most definitely not the case. Although, there are circumstances when drag can be used to our advantage, such as swinging nymphs out of a current — a great taking zone, on the whole drag is artificial and should be avoided at all costs.

Often there are several solutions to the same problem; it’s always interesting to see how different anglers cope given the same set of circumstances — it tells you a little about there psyche, sort of a Freud of the river banks (“Ahh, so you did sleep with your mother!!!” — that sort of thing).

Getting the fly to land first: Tuck Cast

• The most obvious question is not “how?” but “why?”… well there are two situations where I’ll use this cast:

• The first is when fishing ‘pocket-water’. Boulder strewn rivers often contain so many varying currents that they present a bewildering puzzle. A simple solution to give ourselves that little bit more drag-free time is to land the fly before the line. So long as we can get fairly close to the pockets (and we can often get right up behind them) we can chuck the fly into position and attempt to keep the line off the water — of course the line will land eventually, but hopefully drag will have been delayed long enough for the deception to have been completed.

• The second has nothing to do with overcoming drag; rather it is all about creating attractive ‘plop’ noises. If we cast our fly to land first it is quite easy to overpower the stop and get a nice ‘plop’ sound. Just like little bugs dropping off branches in high summer. Also useful for the cicada splash.

In order to get the fly to land first, the technique used is to cast the fly straight over the top of the rod with a slightly overpowered overhead cast, so that when the fly line straightens the extra energy causes the fly to flick downwards. There is an important refinement on this technique; it is how we apply the extra power: instead of stopping harder, stop the tip normally and just as the line is unfurling on the forward cast, lift (or pull back) the rod tip.

Although you can shoot line with this cast, you will have to feed the line through your fingers so that you can stop the line before you lift the tip.

Obviously you don’t follow through immediately with the rod tip to the surface as this would negate all we have set out to achieve.

Casting a wriggle

So when you first learn to cast the instructor tells you to straighten out the line, and now that you’ve learned to cast straight he tells you to mess it all up again. Son-of-a-bitch.

There are a few different techniques used to create a wriggle in the line:

• The wriggle cast (or snake cast) just has to be the obvious first choice. This cast depends on shooting ‘S’-shape wriggles down the line on the forward cast. Here’s how to do it:

• Make your normal overhead cast and stop the rod

• Shoot some line and as the line is shooting out waggle the rod from side to side (a ‘waggle’ is of course a big wriggle)

• Lower the rod

It is very important that you shoot the line as you make this cast, otherwise the fly bounces back and you end up in a right mess.

The application of the wriggle cast can be taken a stage further in as much as we can choose where to place the wriggles:

• If you want to form wriggles at the end of the line: waggle early
• If you want to form wriggles nearer the rod: waggle late

We can also choose how big the wriggles are:

• For a few big wriggles make really big waggles — reach from side to side: you can even extend your arm
• For lots of small wriggles make smaller waggles — or is it wriggles

This cast works better with a double-taper line, and after a few beers.

The snake shoot, for want of a better name, follows exactly the same principles as the wriggle cast, but instead of waggling the rod tip, we draw large circles. I can’t think of any major benefits but it’s more fun.

The bounce back cast is where we overpower the line just as the leader is turning over: give the line a short sharp pull, either with the hauling hand or the rod tip, and the leader will straighten out and then bounce back on itself creating slack line in the leader.

The low backcast, as you know (!), also creates slack line. We spend much time, effort and money in learning how to cast properly, and now we have to relearn what initially was seen to be a fault! The low backcast works, of course, because it forces a high forward cast, which straightens out at an angle above the horizontal and descends in nice attractive wriggles. The lower the backcast: the higher the forward and the more slack we create. Which neatly brings us to:

The Pile cast

also known as dump cast and puddle cast (esp. in US where Pile cast is genenerally reserved for the fly-first cast) an extreme application of the low backcast used to create large amounts of slack line almost at our feet, really useful for those tricky downstream casts. This is the procedure:

• Make a low backcast
• Make a high forward cast, shooting plenty of line
• Before the line has even had a chance to straighten out — kill it, follow through to the water
• You will end up with more slack line than you could ever possibly imagine needing…

A variation of this is to kill the cast with a circular movement of the rod — useful if you are in mid-cast in a boat and a fish rises half a yard in front of you!

• Creating slack as a solution to overcoming awkward currents can generate a completely new problem: “so the fish takes my fly and now I’ve got ten yards of slack line between me and it — what now?” is a fairly typical question.

There are two answers here: number one is don’t put so much slack out there in the first place, and number two is under those situations where you messed up and you thought you were going to need ten yards of slack, but actually only needed a couple; you have the roll cast in reserve.

The parachute cast

This cast means different things to different people, to some people the parachute cast is the same as the pile cast. However I give this title to a completely different cast. Either way it doesn’t matter, this is the technique to which I subscribe the name:

• A fish rises, say, some two yards in front of us (yes this does happen!)
• We want to cover this fish (obviously) but a traditional overhead cast is not going to work, since our rod is three yards long
• So what we do is perform an overhead cast with a short line but instead of following through after the forward stop, we keep the rod in the stopped position and the line straightens and gently ‘parachutes’ to the water, leaving some 5 yrds of line in the air between the rod tip and the water.

A couple of points: we can take more line out of the cast by extending our rod arm after the stop and whether or not the fish takes our next movement is a roll cast.

Although the example described above is at first sight primarily a boat fishing encounter, I frequently use this cast while fishing the lake margins in the early hours, or when stalking lake trout in New Zealand (fish which can cruise notoriously close to the edges), and also on rivers; it’s a really useful cast for casting over shrubbery, or downstream where it leaves you some slack line with which you can play around.

But there again it is my philosophy to get as close to the fish as possible: if I can creep up to the fish and dangle my fly in front of their noses without casting any line, then that’s what I’ll do, because you can’t get any better presentation than that.

And here’s another little rule I’ve picked up: never cast across a current when you can solve the problem by wading across it.

The reach cast

This is a more precise cast than the wiggle cast achieving exactly the same objectives. The only advantage a wiggle cast has over the reach cast is in it can be used to cast downstream. There are two ways of making a reach cast: the aerial mend and the non-aerial mend. Here’s how we do the non-aerial mend:

• Perform your overhead cast stopping the tip of the rod in the direction you want to cast, then start the shoot
• Reach the tip of the rod right over to 90 degrees in the direction we want to throw the slack line (generally upstream)
• Lower the rod tip to the water as the line lands
• Grip the line and bring the rod back in line with the fly
• You should end up with a nice curve of the line

Of course once you have practised this you can then start to anticipate the line landing, and instead of lowering the rod in our ‘reach’ position we can bring it back in front as the line lands — this, of course, is our aerial mend. For some casters drawing a question mark with the rod tip works well.

Aerial mending creates less disturbance on the water.

As with the wiggle cast you can choose where to place the curve: the earlier the reach the further down the line it travels.

With a weight-forward line the aerial mend is not so effective if you try it with an overhang.

Mending Line

It is probably appropriate, while we are on the subject of mending line, to consider the how to mend line effectively while it is on the water. It is really quite simple: we draw a circle with the rod tip, clockwise to mend to the right, anticlockwise for the left. The intention is to pick some line up and flick it back up into the current (although downstream mends do have a use too — mainly to speed up the fly, but sometimes if our fly is in really fast water and we want to give it some more slack). There are a few other important points:

• If we are trying to mend the line without moving the fly we will need some slack line to play with. You can either use existing slack line — from say, a wiggle cast, or create some, either by shaking the tip while feeding some line, or shooting some line into the mend (which I really only find effective for short distances).
• It is possible to mend using other techniques, for example you can roll cast or flick-lift some slack down the line.
• It is best to be anticipate the need for a mend and perform it in advance.
• When casting down and across a river with a sinking line and the intention of getting the fly deep, you may have to make a reach cast followed rapidly by a couple of slack-line roll casts in order to get that deep drag-free drift. Don’t limit your options to just one type of mend.
• Sometimes we can mend the line with the intention of moving the fly, — say, for example, to induce a take to a sedge — to do this simply make your mend without slack line!

Curved casts

The main use for a curved cast is to present the fly to the fish without lining him. There are other uses for us gallant flyfishers such as casting around bushes and other interesting obstructions, or perhaps to set us up for a curved retrieve (I have used curved casts on stillwaters in order to bring my skated sedge around it’s own little corner…)

The curved cast puts a small curve into the leader and if we are a little more forceful: the tip of the flyline. It should go without saying that if you are going to make effective curved casts you need a well designed leader construction — if you’re not already using knotless tapered leaders you jolly well should be to have read this far…

For this cast I want you to imagine a loop travelling in the horizontal plane. If we overpower the loop it kicks over at the end. If we underpower the loop it fails to straighten properly. So lets use this:

To curve the fly to the left of the flyline either:

• side cast off the right hand side over-powering the stroke, or side cast off the left hand side under-powering the stroke

To curve the fly to the right of the flyline either:

• side cast off the right-hand side under-powering the stroke, or side cast off the left hand side over-powering the stroke

It is important not to shoot the line during the overpowering stroke as this reduces the effectiveness of the kick.

To overpower the stroke you can do one of several things: stop harder, give a little haul as the line is straightening or flick the rod tip back on itself as you make the stop (but change the plane slightly so that the line and rod don’t clash together).

With practice curved casts are not restricted to side casts, it is quite possible to send a horizontal loop of the top of the rod in an overhead cast: just draw a horizontal U or V-shape with the tip of the rod at the end of the forward stroke.

Bow and arrow cast

This is a short line cast, useful for really overgrown areas. Here’s what we do; we get hold of the fly with our free hand and trapping the line with our forefinger of our rod hand we force a bend into the rod, then sighting up our target with the tip of the rod we release the fly, and out it flies to our chosen point. Not a long cast by any means: but a really useful one.

One of the difficulties posed by this cast is how to hold the fly, bend the rod and not hook oneself. There are three solutions that I know of:

• the most obvious is to grip the fly at the bend of the hook — a bit like a fly vice does — which is fine for large flies…
• another, is to hold the fly with a pair of forceps, or pliers: this is my favoured way
• the last method is quite practical, and especially useful if you don’t have a pair of pliers, and is this: take a six inch length of 10lbs leader material (if you don’t have any 10lbs you can double up some 5 lbs — use your imagination) and tie one end to your thumb. Next make a loop with this line and trap it between your thumb and forefinger, and use this loop to hold the fly. Lift the thumb and bingo.

You can increase the power of the bow-and-arrow cast with a little wrist snap with the rod hand.

The important thing is to practice this cast before you use it, and substitute a piece of wool in place of the fly for the first few attempts!

The steeple cast

Quite a few casts go under this heading: for some it is any high back cast, for others it is a pile cast, it doesn’t matter: we’ve dealt with these. For me a steeple cast has a vertical back cast, and this is how we do it:

• first we imagine taking our casting plane and rotating it by 90 degrees so that we are now facing it

• we lift the upper arm to so that it is pointing directly in front of us at right angles to the body. The forearm is at right-angles to the upper and is angled across the front of the body (like a shield), pointing slightly downwards so that the tip of the rod is touching the water surface

• we rotate the wrist so that the palm of the hand is pointing forwards and the reel facing skywards

• we are now in the starting position for the steeple cast — with practice we can set this position up smoothly without pausing and then:-

• rotate from the elbow to create a lift, to just above the horizontal, followed smartly by

• an upwards flick

The finishing position for the upcast is: upper arm pointing directly in front, forearm pointed vertical, palm facing forwards. Its really another 90-90 position and kind of awkward.

What we do next is absolutely critical: drift;

• drop the thumb to the ear

• angle the rod slightly behind

• rotate the wrist to that the thumb is behind the rod

Now make a forward cast, aiming as high as possible.

It’s not easy, it’s not always pretty (in fact, unless you practice it fairly regularly, it’s downright ugly), but sometimes it’s all you’ve got. Generally a roll cast will do the trick — but not always; I have fished in front of cliffs where roll casts have been impossible because gorse bushes and overhead casts have been impossible because of, well cliffs, and the steeple cast was all that I could do.

Ten yards is a long steeple cast.

The tension cast

This is a very simple cast, which I am including for the sake of completeness, shown to me by some Kiwi guides as a means of getting clients fly fishing, without the problems of learning fly casting (which when you are only getting paid for a couple of hours, and fish catching is expected, does kind of makes sense) and it goes like this:

• The line is on the dangle
• The angler faces the fish
• And then slowly lifts the rod and flicks the tip forwards

Pretty basic — but hey, don’t knock it, it gets people fly fishing and that’s got to be good.

The rotating thumb (Galway Cast)

Sounds like a Hammer production movie, but what I am really thinking about here is a means of directing a backcast with great accuracy. This is what we do:

• stand at right angles to the intended direction of cast (open-stance)
• rotate the forearm from the elbow so that the thumb is below the rod instead of above it and the palm is facing outwards — or to look at it from another perspective; rotate the rod so that the reel is pointing skywards instead of downwards
• make a backcast
• during the pause rotate the rod 180 degrees, so that when we make the forward cast our thumb is behind the rod once again

This I find produces a very accurate backcast which can be sent between trees with confidence. It is also useful for sending high backcasts over dam walls, hedges and other obstacles.

Applying flicks

Up to now we have purely dealt with two types of cast: the overhead cast and the roll cast — every type of cast can be regarded as being one or the other, except the flickcast.

In order to understand what I mean by a flickcast I want to give you the following example:

• with a fairly short length, say eight yards, of line outside the rod tip and lying directly in front make a lift as if you were going to perform a side-cast, but
• as your rod tip draws level with your shoulder, swiftly sweep the rod tip under the flyline, stopping hard
• the line will lift off the water a travel directly behind the caster — if it doesn’t then not enough force has been applied to the stop

Another way to look at this cast is to draw a clockwise semicircle off the right shoulder (anticlockwise off the left) speeding up during the second half of the stroke.

Once a basic feel for this flick has been acquired the following should be noted:

• The diameter of the drawn semicircle determines the width of the loop. The smaller the diameter; the narrower the loop.
• Instead of drawing U-shape semicircles, you can draw V-shapes.
• The line will travel diagonally opposite to the direction of the flick and therefore, can be used as change of direction for up to 90 degrees.
• With shorter flick casts, it is possible to follow the loop around behind you with the tip of the rod, after the stop, in order to take out the slack line.
• With really powerful forward stokes you can lift the entire flyline of the water and send virtually all of it behind you. Even with a weight forward. No other cast will do this.
• This cast does not fit into either the roll cast or the overhead cast mould: with both of these casts the line travels in the same direction that the rod unbends; with the flick cast, the line travels in the opposite direction.

OK so why do you need this?

Boat fishing:

• A fish rises just to upwind and to the side of the boat — you can catch fish appearing behind you, immediately without any complicated manoeuvres.
• A fish rises to the right of you — same cast. So long as the change of angle is greater than 90 degrees this cast will work. You can take more line out of the cast by making a larger semicircular stroke.

River fishing:

You are on the dangle (true left, upstream wind in this example) and you want to put the fly upstream and across the current. Here’s what to do:

• Make you flickcast so that the line is lying directly upstream
• Wait fractionally for the fly to drift downstream so that it will be positioned in line with the roll cast
• Switch the line around the body with a half-moon dip
• Hit the roll
• Follow up with an overhead (if required)

Or perhaps you are fishing a small stream and have no room for any conventional cast. Try this:

• Point the rod downstream and wiggle some line out through the tip ring until it is lying straight.
• Make your flickcast upstream to the fish, and as the line is straightening gentle follow it around with the rod tip, to take out the slack

You can also use this cast downstream (assuming that you can get the line lying fairly straight in the upstream direction), but under these circumstances I would recommend not following the flyline with the rod tip to take out the slack, but rather using the slack line to your benefit.

Another circumstance springs to mind when I use this cast: it is when I have covered a lie in a river and now I find that all my line is racing downstream to some obstruction (such as a logjam). Here to get out of trouble just make your flickcast upstream, and all your line will neatly clear the water and come back to your feet.

Once a feel for this cast has been acquired, you will find yourself (like with hauling) feeding it into other casts. Such as the single-spey. Try this for example:

• Make your lift
• Make a small flickcast angled slightly downwards
• Switch the rod tip around to the shoulder
• Hit the roll

Well it looks sexy! And it has the advantage that the flyline tip can be placed very accurately when setting up for the roll.

Instead of casting the line off to the side of the body, it is possible to cast it into the body. I don’t recommend this as it seems to me to be particularly foolhardy; but this is one method used for catching the fly.

NB: Although I have principally applied these techniques to the application of a single handed flyrod, they are all (with the exception of hauling) exactly the same casts one would use with a double handed rod.

I hope you have found these pages useful:- please visit the rest of my site!

This is the Sexyloops fly casting manual by Paul Arden, reproduced here unabridged at the request of this site’s owner; the diagrams and photographs are the author’s own. © Paul Arden / Sexyloops — the authoritative version, and the rest of his writing, is at sexyloops.com.