How to Fly Fish | Fly Casting 101

So why fly fishing you ask? Well our spinning lures and softbaits are designed to imitate other fish, or aggravate the fish to attack. Most of the time however, especially in our clear waters here in New Zealand trout are feeding on minute insects, insects and spinner or softbait just cant imitate, and and that is all they are often interested in.

Enter fly fishing…

The difference between fly casting and casting a spinner is that our flies are weightless, designed to imitate tiny insects and so we do not have the benefit of a sinker or weighted lure to bend the rod against, or send forward to make the cast. Instead, we flex the rod under tension against the mass of our weighted flyline, and the force we apply to the cast, and form a loop. This loop unrolls away from, and ultimately towards our target to straighten out and deliver our fly. 

Fly fishing can be as complicated, or as simple as you wish to make it, and often as your instructor makes it. Fly casting is really as easy as scratching your ear, and building an effortless, repeatable casting stroke is essential to fly fishing. The better you can cast the more fish you will catch and thats a fact. You’ll never win Wimbledon if you cant get the tennis ball over the net right? Check out the below video and familiarise yourself with the hand and motions involved in the basic overhead cast before reading on below.

Get started.

First, press play…

Right, now that we are all fly fishers, it’s time to talk about a few of the concepts which make fly casting work. 

The Line will follow the path of your rod tip. If your rod tip travels away from your target, and back towards your target in a straight line, all things given your cast will turn over efficiently, accurately and straight in the direction you want it to go. Likewise in the horizontal plane, if your rod tip travels in a straight line path, you will see a tight, aerodynamic U shaped loop. If your rod tip travels in a big circular path you will see a more open, circular loop. 

Now here are a few terms, and a concept I pitch to my clients to better get the, to perform sometimes confusing mechanics, easily. Follow me..

Casting Arc

The casting arc describes the Angular change of the rod butt throughout the casting stroke, the V your rod makes between the backcast, and forward cast. Your casting arc should match the flex in your rod to maintain a straight line path of the rod tip for a U shaped, effective casting loop. In general short cast required a small casting arc / angular change, and a longer cast, with a deeper bend in the fly rod required a larger casting arc ( a wider V ). Sound confusing? Don’t worry, read on… 

Stroke length 

Your stroke length is the distance your hand travels away from the target, and then again back to the target throughout your casting stroke. For a short cast you only need a short stroke to get your line moving, but for a longer cast, a longer stroke will be required to mobilise the additional length of your line.

Tip travel ( the visual cue ) 

This is a handy tip I find helps out clients who require more of a visual cue to get things right. Your tip travel is the distance your rod tip travels away from your target, and back to it again throughout your casting stroke. If your cast isn’t working and your loop resembles a big ballon look up at the distance your rod tip travels back, and forth… Then shorten that. Usually lots.

The simplicity of the ball throw

Now here’s the kicker, and one of my favourite tricks to get clients to understand all of the above. The ball throw. Almost everyone knows how to throw a ball and so I describe it like this. Imagine you are throwing a ball to me. On a short cast I’m standing right in front of you, and so your hand only needs to travel a short distance back and forwards to throw the ball to me. On a longer cast, I’m now standing on the other side of the field - you will need to pull back your hand much further, and throw the ball much longer to get it to me.

Much like your casting stroke: short cast, short ball throw. Longer cast, longer ball throw.

I find that the very, very vast majority of my guiding and casting clients immediately grasp this concept, and their casting arc adjusts automatically without mention. For those who don’t, I refer to the above tip travel visual to shorten, or widen their arc as needed.

Putting it all together - the Pick up and Lay down cast.

Begin with two rod lengths of line, plus leader outside of your rod tip, laid out in front of you. Start with your rod tip down at the water, holding the rod diagonally forward across the palm of your hand with your thumb running straight along the top of the handle. Pinch the line between the trigger finger of your casting hand and the cork of your rod. If the line is tight and straight from your trigger finger, and through your lowered rod tip to your fly, then you are ready to go. If not, strip in any excess slack line from behind your trigger finger keeping the rod tip low. 

Now lessssssgo!

Think acceleration. Think smooth. Think beginning slow, and finishing fast. Starting softly and finishing hard. Think lift, lift, lift and then flick.  

With a super relaxed hand, Smoothly lift your rod tip in a straight line towards the vertical, accelerating in speed as you go. As you approach the vertical and your line / leader junction lift from the water, simply squeeze your hand to accelerate your rod tip, flip it upwards, and send your line into the backcast. Think of it as a last moment integrated micro snap or flick, or tiny opening of the wrist to further flex your rod, and put it to work. Now relax your hand and wait, wait, wait. 

You must pause just long enough for your line to straighten behind you high and tight, but not so long as to let it drop and lose tension. General advice is short cast, short pause, longer cast, longer pause. Think of your backcast as an ‘up-cast’, stopping your rod tip in an upward direction and thus sending your line upwards and backwards, rather than just backwards. By the time it has unrolled and you’re ready to commence your forward cast it will have remained high, requiring minimal energy to pull it forward into your presentation cast. 

Now smoothly chop your hand forwards and downwards in a smoothly accelerating action, stopping the rod again crisply with a squeeze of the hand. Think, short cast, short ball throw, longer cast, longer ball throw. Now relax and let your rod tip follow your line all the way down onto the water. 

That’s it. You are now fly casting! Now get outside and set up a target, whether a dinner plate, hula hoop or a shoe at a set distance of 20 or 30’, and cast, cast, cast at that target. Build a repeatable casting stroke and strive to get your loops looking similar each and every cast. Now step back further from / or closer to the target, and practice repeatedly at this new distance. 

Additional advice.

• Keep your rod tip travelling in a straight line away from, and back to your target. The line will follow the path of your rod tip and the rod tip follows what your hand, arm, and body do. Keep your hand travelling in a straight line throughout your backcast and forward cast for parallel, efficient and accurate loops. This is known as your tracking.

• Keep your elbow low and relaxed throughout your casting stroke. Not only will this make the most efficient use of your shoulder, upper arm and forearm and reduce muscular and ligament fatigue, it will also ensure a higher backcast. Remember the line / rod tip / hand path relationship? A low elbow ensures your hand travels backwards and upwards in a steep path.

• Keep your within in an invisible rectangle off your shoulder for most trout distance casts to avoid reaching forward and blowing out your cast. Think lift, lift, lift, and then squeeze the hand to throw your line into the backcast. Relax, relax, relax as your line straightens high and tight behind you and then squeeze the hand as you accelerate the rod tip forward. Stop, and then follow through to the water with the rod tip.

• Practice makes perfect. Just look at the golfer religiously at the driving range. Short, regular 10 - 15 minute casting sessions in your backyard casting at targets set to 20’, 30’ and 40’ are more beneficial than marathon 2 hour sessions where you are likely to fatigue, and just practice bad habits. 

• Slow down and practise good form casting. Your hand doesn’t have to travel 100 mph and you really don’t need a lot of power. ( I prefer the term speed ) to deliver a fly at any distance. Less is more, so work on your technique, start slow, finish fast and crisp ( accelerate to a crisp stop ) and keep it smooth. 

• Follow the Manic Tackle Project YouTube Channel for more videos on fly casting, fly fishing and a lot more fishy stuff.

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