Fly Casting - Part 2

Step 1 - Lift and lay down

Assuming that you are going to practice on the lawn, pull line straight from the reel about 12 to 20 feet and lay it on the lawn in front of you. Too much line out and it is hard to handle, not enough line and the rod won’t load up. (With a weight forward line, you need a bit of length so the weight helps you load up.)

We are only going to lift, let the rod load backwards and then punch it forward. For a start we won’t be doing any false casting. (That is, casting between lifting the line from the water and landing back on the water.) We will just get used of lifting and laying the line back down on the grass, with one cast.

The line needs to be pulled straight on the grass with no "S" curves in it. You need the line straight for a good cast.

With the line laid out on the grass, hold the rod in your right hand (if you are right handed). Stand with your feet spread slightly apart. Have the rod tip a couple of inches from the grass, straight out in front of you. It helps to think that your wrist angle, is a hand on a clock face. (The clock face is to the side of you.) Pointing the rod to the ground is roughly about 8 o’clock.

Your left hand should be holding the line firmly so no line slips out.

Now, in one swift motion, lift the rod tip up backwards from 8 o’clock and stop it firmly at 2 o’clock. The motion should be enough to lift the line up and backwards. With the wrist stopped at 2 o’clock, the line should continue going backwards and bending the fly rod. Pause for a brief second and wait until the line is loaded up. (The rod is flexed backwards, ready to go forward.) When the fly line is fully out horizontal, punch the rod forward.

Now stop the rod forward about 9 o’clock. (This depends on how much line you have out and how forceful your technique is.) The motion of the line will then move your angle to about 8 o’clock again.

Now you should have the line straight out on the grass again.

So lift it, stop it, pause it (loading the rod) and flick it forward. Lift it and lay the line back on the ground. Don’t worry about shooting extra line out.

To simplify things, just pick up the line, pause it and lay it down. Pick it up, pause it, lay it down. Pick it up, lay it down. Pick it up, lay it down. Just one cast, up down. Up, down.

Practice this until you get the feeling of the rod loading up. This is great practice for your timing on your back stroke.

Step 2 - Lift and shoot down

Once you have mastered picking the line up and flicking back down on the grass, we will practice shooting some line out. We are still not going to do any false casting yet.

To shoot the line out, we will follow the same technique as above. The only difference is that now you pull the line down with your left hand on the back cast (This will help load up the rod more.) and on the forward cast we let the line go.

Lets go over the whole lot again.

With the line laid out and the tip of the rod a couple of inches from the ground, (about 8 o’clock) lift the rod tip up backwards and stop it firmly at 2 o’clock. At the same time with your left hand pull the fly line down towards your left thigh.

With the wrist stopped at 2 o’clock, the line should continue going backwards and bending the fly rod. Pause for a brief second and wait until the line is loaded up. (The rod is flexed backwards, ready to go forward.) When the fly line is fully out horizontal, punch the rod forward. Now with the left hand release the fly line.

Now stop the rod forward about 9 o’clock. (This depends on how much line you have out and how forceful your technique is.) The motion of the line will then move your angle to about 8 o’clock again.

Practice this again and again, until you get the timing and feeling of picking up the line and shooting it out. Each progressive cast you may get a little bit more length of line out. This will make it harder to pick up. If there is too much line out, just wind some in and start again.

To simplify again, pick up the line, at the same time the left hand pulls down the line, pause. Punch forward, now the left hand release the line.

Good, now we know how to shoot a bit of line out, the next step is to learn how to false cast.

False Casting

In this exercise we are not going to cast properly, not yet anyway. We are just going to learn to get the feel of the rod and fly line again. This time we are going to keep the line in the air.

Lay out some line on the grass again, standing in a balanced position. pick the line up from the ground in one swift motion. Flick back the rod angle and stop it at about 2 o'clock. Pause for a brief second, until the rod loads up.

(The left hand during all this can remain stationary holding the fly line if you like.)

Now punch the rod forward. This time we are not going to lay the line down again, but stop the forward motion at 11 o'clock angle. Pause until the line is straight out front. Now flick back until 2 o'clock and repeat. Forward to 11 o'clock, pause, back to 2 o'clock, pause.

Repeat forward and back and try to keep the fly line in a tight loop. The fly line should be horizontal off the ground, back and forwards, back and forwards, etc. As you continue to flick the rod back and forth, keep your wrist firm and stop the rod sharply after each flick.

Practice this and see how long you can keep it in the air for. Make it a game and challenge yourself to see how long you can keep the fly line in the air.

After a while try not to look at the rear cast and just feel the rod working.

If you get tangled or the fly line starts touching the ground at the front or back, just stop and start over again. There is no rush.

The Cast

Now we have learned to lift the line up and lay it down, also lift the line up and shoot the line down. As well, we have learnt how to practice false casting by keeping the line in the air.

Now we are going to put it all together, by lifting the line up, false casting at the same time, shooting some line out and then shooting the line out on the ground.

With the line laid out and the tip of the rod a couple of inches from the ground, (about 8 o’clock) lift the rod tip up backwards and stop it firmly at 2 o’clock. At the same time with your left hand pull the fly line down towards your left thigh.

With the wrist stopped at 2 o’clock, the line should continue going backwards, bending the fly rod. Pause for a brief second and wait until the line is loaded up. (The rod is flexed backwards, ready to go forward.) When the fly line is fully out horizontal, punch the rod forward. Now with the left hand release the fly line, so it slides through your hand.

Stop the forward action of the rod about 11 o'clock and briefly pause. Wait until the fly line is fully extended, now flick he rod back to the 2 o'clock position. At the same time with your left hand pull the fly line down towards your left thigh.

We just repeat the actions another one to two times. That is on the forward cast we shoot the line out. On the back cast we load up the rod and with our left pull down beside our leg. Try to keep it to around three false casts or less. Although it's tempting to try and get as much line out there, the more you cast, the more chance you have of getting tangled.

To finish of the fly cast we stop the rod forward about the 9 o’clock position (This depends on how much line you have out.) and let go of the line in your left hand and let the line shoot out.

To sum it all up. Lift the line, pull back on left hand, pause. Punch forward, let line run shoot out, pause, flick back at the same time with the left hand pull it down. Pause, punch forward, let line run shoot out, pause, flick back at the same time with the left hand pull it down. Pause, punch forward, let the fly line go with the left hand and shoot to the ground.

Congratulations, keep practicing and remember it can take a bit of effort to learn, but it will be worth it.