No doubt the title of this episode alone makes you mad. Here we have been urging you to practice and giving you all sorts of information about fly fishing but we haven’t suggested HOW to practice until now.
What’s even worse is that this is very intentional, very, very intentional.
Some of you are new to the sport of fly fishing and you have needed some time to get to know a fly rod. It is a different animal, to be sure. It whippy and flippy. It doesn’t cast like other rods. It is terrible to cast when you only have a little bit of line out the tip and all of the stuff you have read from this source make it sound like a breeze. But, most likely, you have concluded that fly casting is not as easy as falling off a log. Actually, it is, but you have to come to that realization after trying hard to make it hard. Good grief. Ah, but now you are ready to learn HOW to practice.
Others of you have some experience. Some of us have a little but some of us have a lot. The suggestion to practice some was a stroke of genius (in our dreams, but at least you thought it was a reasonable idea since you hadn’t touched you fly rods in months and needed a good excuse to go outside for a while). Perhaps, some of you (not all of you, of course) found that your casting wasn’t quite as good as you remembered it being. A bit rusty? Sure. So, you practice some more and it still doesn’t match up. You were a good caster and now? Well, it must be casting on the grass (always worse than on the water), or old Arthur Ritus paying a visit, or ….. Or what? Let me see what the that paper from the club has to say.
So, here we are. A lot are ready for some help learning HOW to practice.
There are two goals in practice. First, since fly casting is all about technique, it is important to work on our technique. Second, since the ultimate goal of fly casting is to make the fly go where we want it to go in those last 40’ (or more or less), accuracy matters.
I- Technique
We’ve already said a lot about technique. The second offering focused on Lefty Kreh’s principles of fly casting: getting the slack out and the end of the line moving before we make our back cast (which involves keeping our rod tip down close to the water); accelerate our back cast or forward cast slowly before what Lefty calls a Hurry Up and STOP; keeping the rod tip in the same plane throughout the back cast and the forward cast; keeping your elbow inside your wrist; don’t rush your forward cast; use you line hand to haul faster to get more distance, not your rod hand, because higher line speed is the only way to make a longer cast; and don’t bend your wrist (or, being realistic, bend it as little as you can) because the less you bend your wrist, the tighter and thus more efficient your loop will be.
That’s a whole lot to remember. The point is, we want to get to the point that you don’t have to remember all of that. We want to practice until our old muscles have the muscle memory to do it automatically. Hence the need to practice. But how, you ask?
A number of years ago, the Club had a guest from Myrtle Beach who was a casting instructor certified by what is now FFI- Fly Fishers International. He was an amazing caster and showed us a simple exercise that puts it all together. To this day, it is one I use several times a week, especially if I find that my casting has suddenly gone to hell in a handbasket.
The exercise is very simple. Get a rope (or draw an imaginary line) that is over 60’ long. Stretch it out straight and stand beside it more or less in the middle. If you are right handed, have it on your right side. If you are left-handed, have it on your left side. Stand roughly perpendicular to it at a slight angle. Stand back from it far enough so that you rod tip extends a foot or two beyond the rope. If you are a golfer, think about standing there and making sure the face of your club is going to swing so it actually hits the golf ball. But instead of bringing the rod back behind your head as you would a golf club before you swing into the ball, pretend your rod/golf club has suddenly become a squeegee. You need to move the squeegee (rod tip) back and forth on the other side of the rope. Never let your rod tip cross the rope. Now, make a back cast and turn around to see what it looks like. It should be extend straight back and not even touching the rope. Next, cast your squeegee (oops, rod) for a forward cast. Look at it carefully. Does the fly cross the rope? Is the line in a straight line? Are there lots of squiggles in the line.?
What you are going to do is cast your rod backwards and forwards along the line. There are four things you need to do when you do this:
1. Watch the line on the back cast and make sure it stays on the side of the rope opposite where you are standing. If your cast crosses the line you are casting like a windshield wiper and not a squeegee. So, keep the line as parallel to the rope as you can;
2. Let the line on the back cast (and then on the forward cast) fall to the ground so you can get a good look at it to see how straight it is and if, in fact, it crossed the rope. Notice as you make the back cast and watch in unroll how long it takes to unroll. This will give you an idea of the timing between your back cast and your forward cast. Here’s something else new: this instructor told us that with 30’ of line out the tip of our rod (you did mark your line, I assume), from the time you start your back cast to the time your forward cast is almost finished, you have time to say, I love living in North Carolina. Whether you do or not, say it and your timing will improve and your back cast will have time to unroll before you make your forward cast. Remember, if you hear a Snap or a Pop you are treating your fly rod as a bull whip, which it is not.
3. After you have examined at length the back cast, make a forward cast. Let it fall to the ground, too. The same questions apply. Does it stay on the other side of the rope? Is the line straight? Was the loop in the line tight? Did the fly end up in line with the line itself?
4. This exercise helps you experience several things. We have mentioned the length of time it takes for the back cast to unroll. But it also encourages you to keep the rod tip in the same plane by keeping it a few inches off the ground near the rope as you go backwards and forward in a squeegee-like back and forth motion. And it gives you the ideal opportunity to work on the double haul.
The first part of the double haul is easy- the one on the back cast. It is easy because your right hand is going back with the rod and at the right moment (ah, yes- the right moment) you go left with your left hand- not too far- just a foot or so (12”-18”). You move your left hand just as you are getting ready to STOP with your right hand. It seems so natural. As soon as you make that haul, move your line hand (left hand) back towards the reel so you will be ready for the forward cast. If done correctly, the line in you left hand will flow freely back up the rod toward the tip, dragged by the back cast. You are ready for the forward cast once your line hand is back in place and your timing chant says it is time to go forward.
It’s the second part of the double haul that will drive you to drink, as if you need an excuse. In this case, your right hand with the rod is going forward. And now, your left hand, which conveniently (and extremely importantly) found its way back up to close to the right hand as the back cast unrolled, now has to go forward in tandem with the right hand and, again at the very right moment just as the right hand is about to STOP the left hand has to give a little jerk (maybe 2’ or 2 ½’) and let go of the line so it can shoot out toward the target. It’s technique and timing. But once you get it, wow. The line takes off and you stand there and watch in amazement. It helps if you can make a circle with your left thumb and index finger after releasing the line after the double haul and let the line run (shoot) through it. This allows you to stop the line at will, break up some snarled line before it gets to the str ipping guide and it means your hand is on the line ready to strip the line to give action to the fly- you don’t have to take time to find the fly line, which would be the case if you simply gave the jerk and then let go of the line.
The main benefit of doing this ground exercise is that it puts meat on the bones of fly fishing. Lefty would ask people at his clinics if they ever turn around to look at their back cast? Well, no, was the usual response. That’s a good thing, Lefty would say, because it sure is ugly. You get to look at your back cast and see it laying on the ground.
So, this ground exercise can be a great way to practice the double haul since we are letting the line fall the ground and don’t have to worry about keeping it in the air. By keeping it on the ground, we can turn around and watch it unroll. We can see how long it takes to unroll completely. And we get to feel the extra acceleration of the line on both the back cast and the forward cast when we make our hauls.
One observation and word of warning. We need to practice this ground exercise for 10 minutes. But we are too anxious to get into the air so, on average, someone who has been asked to do it for 10 minutes is back to failing around in the air after a mere 30 seconds. The hard part is continuing to do it for 10 minutes. Most folks will make two casts and go airborne. This is stupid. Do it for 10 minutes. See what the line is doing. If you quit too soon you aren’t watching your back cast and forward cast. And you aren’t learning.
Did the line stay straight on the other side of the rope? Did you have a tight loop? Did the fly land where you wanted it to land? If you said no to any of those questions, you are not ready to quit the exercise and go to the air. You are trying to learn and train your muscles to do the same thing over and over again. If you don’t practice for at least 10 minutes, do you think you learn this stuff by osmosis? Our muscles need repetitions and we need to burn this technique into our brains and muscles so they can do it without thinking.
II Accuracy
This is something else that needs a lot of muscle memory. Folks who hunt, are military snipers or just target practice have it pretty easy in a way. At the rifle range, they know the target is 50 yards away or 100 yards away or whatever. They can set the telescopic scope on their rifle to adjust for range and even wind (with a bit of experience). YouTube showed a military sniper hit an enemy in the head from 2 miles away! And the target was standing behind a prisoner we wanted saved. The sniper blew the enemy’s head off! Talk about precision.
But we’re out on the flats or in the marsh or even in a farm pond. I’ve never seen a fly rod that had a telescopic sight on it, much less a range finder. You see the fish and you have to cast- now. Too short and the fish never sees your fly. Too long and you may well “line” the fish (have the fishing line touch its back) and have it head to Cuba. On our south-facing beach, if you go straight out to sea you go through the center of Andros Island and land in Cuba! It has to be just right and you need to be able to make that cast immediately, without even thinking about it. And don’t think you will make false casts until you get the range just right. The fish is going to see the false casts (or their shadow) and spook. You need to make the cast now!
Guess what? You know what’s coming- it takes practice- lots and lots of practice. If you marked your line like we recommended, you have a general idea of how much line you have out. But how far is the fish? 20’, 30’, 47’, 62’? You don’t have time to think. There’s only time to cast and let you brain do the calculations in an instant.
So, how do you practice for that? You get some hula hoops or you pick some leaves in the grass or some bubbles on the water and you try and hit something with every practice cast. You want to get to the point where you don’t say to yourself, Gee, that’s 40’ and I’ve got 32’ of line plus a 9’ leader out of the tip of the rod, so I need bring in another foot of line and then not shoot any line on the cast. You don’t have time for that. You just need to make the cast. Plus, if the fish is moving at all, you need to take that movement into account. And you don’t want to hit the fish in the head with your fly. Our fish are too nervous for that. So, you have to put the fly just off to the side or a little bit in front. Of course, the fish will always change direction or another fish will get in the way and you will line it and it will explode, scaring all the other fish. As the saying goes, that why we call it fishing instead of catching. But you will have done your job well. It’s the stupid fish that didn’t play by the rules.
The good news is that with time, your brain will figure it out and you’ll be able to put the fly where you want it without even thinking about it. You are ready for the last 40 feet and you are beginning to get a sense of how easy a/and enjoyable fly fishing can be.
As I like to say, The hardest thing about fly fishing for me is remembering how easy it is. A bit of real practice and you will understand. That’s a promise.
So, focus on technique. Use the ground exercise. Did I tell you I use it 4-5 times a week for up to 10 minutes at a time? It helps get your casting stroke and timing back in sync and the same casting stroke can be used no matter which casting style you employ: sidearm, over the top, cross-body or casting backwards.
Do it for 10 minutes to get your casting stroke in shape and then practice hitting targets like leaves on the grass or bubbles on the water (or turtles at the Woodlands Pond).
So, now you know how to practice!
Don’t forget to check out the resources of Fly Fishers International at www.flyfishersinternational.org.
Also, Google this and other topics of interest and go to YouTube for seemingly endless videos.
Comment from Dean Gayther: The recommendations concerning “practice when not fishing” are spot on. Just too much to focus on when fishing. I fought this concept (cause I like to fish more than practice). Practicing on the grass IS the way to improve – finally wised up!
