Hi Jessica. Time to learn how to properly cast a fly because we've been out
fishing before and it was a little dangerous sometimes
okay. So first things first: here's our rod. It's nine and a half feet long and
we have a floating line on and you want to learn how to cast using a floating
line because you can feel the rod load. So the rod is this long nine and a half
foot flexible laver, that when it flexes and when it bends it
loads energy and then when you come forward or back the energy is
transferred to the fly line and that's what sends the fly line shooting out
there; it's the energy that gets built up in the rod. So, casting is not
brute strength; it's all about letting the rod load and then the rod energy
carries the line forward. So, we've got a six weight rod. We have a
weight forward six floating fly line on it and the first thirty feet of this fly
line is heavily weighted. It's still floating but there's more weight up
front and that's what we need the rod to load in order to make it cast.
The first cast we want to learn is called the roll cast. We need about
thirty feet of line out. 25 - 30 feet. In order to get it out you just strip
the line off the reel and then you make snakes in the water and the drag on
the water will get the line out. So we get enough line out, about there, and a
roll cast is the simplest cast to learn. You slowly bring
the rod up, you stop just past ninety degrees - there's ninety degrees right
there - wait for the line to stop, and then we're gonna drive the rod
down to the ten o'clock position and drift it down to the water like that.
See how the line rolls out so it's back, stop, wait for the line to stop. I'm
gonna power to ten and drift the rod down. That's all there's to it and the grip on
your rod you're not trying to kill it. It's fairly loose. Thumb should be
either right on top of the cork or just to the side. So the way when you're
casting, you're just gonna, you can put everything underneath here,
pinch it underneath your fingers. It's up, stop pass 90, wait for the line to stop,
drive to 10, and drift it down. And if you could cast that far - which is 30
feet - that's far enough to catch fish. You can have all your fingers on, it doesn't
matter. And this hand's nowhere near it, and so you're bending your
wrist as you come forward, and come back and keep going past 90. Stop. And now
power to 10 and drift down. We're done. We can go fishing. Do it again. Everything's slow.
Bend your wrist. Stop. Wait. Now power forward. There you go- it's perfect.
So you can strip a bit more line off and yeah, pull from the bottom. Yeah, a few
more. Okay, that's enough. and then swivel it out. Yeah. there you go.
You want snakes on the water. Do it again.
Perfect. One more time. Remember: you have to stop at 10 and then
you drift down. Perfect! That's all there is to it. So you've got the roll
cast down pat. When we add.. if we were fishing with a strike indicator we
add an indicator swiveling the fly it gets a little more awkward, but basically
it's the same. You can do the roll cast with all that gear on there now. And then
the next cast after you've mastered the roll cast, it's all
about timing. Wait. Stop. Flip it. Drop. And then the next cast is called a pick up
and shoot cast. So we strip a bit of line so we're gonna do the roll cast
pick and then pick it up. Forward and shoot. Let's see how much further you can get.
Strip some line there. Oh.. there. When you do that roll cast you're gonna come
forward, back, shoot it forward. It's gonna level, it's going to straight out hit
the water, and then you're gonna pick it up and you're gonna come back and the
rod is only going to go back to 1 o'clock. 2 o'clock max, so not three
o'clock or lower. And then forward to 10 o'clock again and stop. So roll cast and
back, pick it up now. Back. So you got the right idea, I'm just gonna show you
what- it's all about loading the rod now. So when we come back the line's
gonna be in a u-shape. It's gonna be like this. And just as that 'U' straightens
out, that's when you're gonna come forward. So you can look, you could turn
your head and see it just as it straighten and come forward. Just the 'U'
straightens out and we come forward. And see, there's no
effort in my... no strength required. Look forward, come forward, stop at 10, and
drift down. so again you're going to do the roll cast, 1 o'clock, 10 o'clock, let
it go. Starting with the roll cast, yeah.
Perfect, back now. Perfect! Whoa! One's good, but you did two.
That's fine. See what you just
did, those last two, that's called false casting and that's
how you get more distance, you get more line there realized. So do that again.
And then I think we're ready to go fishing.
Perfect. See, that's great. It's pretty simple. It just takes practice. Always
want to practice with a floating line. It's much better to be on the water
At one of our public fishing docks or on the shore of a learn to fish
pond; as long as you're casting on water. You can do it on grass but you don't get
the same resistance on grass as you do on water and it's a lot easier on your
fly lines. Ready to go fishing? Okay.