Beginner Casting... HELP!

[Wave Loudly]

Let me pick your brains. The guy that was teaching me to cast the long rod is not available, finding someone that can deal with teaching a blind person to do this type of thing isn't easy. So, I need some advice.

The way I was practicing was to use a bit of bucktail tied to a hook that I cut at the bend. (This seems to work better for me than the yarn becaue it sounds and feels more like the real thing.) I hit a pond, small one on the grounds where my wife works. I spend half the time casting into the water, trying to get the sound of what feels like a good cast in my head, and the other half of the time casting out on the grass. When doing the lawn cast, I set the rod down, follow the line to see how it went. When I have a sighted person that can spend some time, normally a non fly fisher (aka the wife), I get a description of the results. I'm getting prtty good, I think, at 30 feet or so. (give or take 10 feet on any given session.) I'm sure this amuses folks looking out office windows, but I don't really give a damn if it is going to get me self sufficient. What do you think of my using a "sounding board" as a target? I was thinking of a square of plywood, say 2X2 foot, and mounting a smaller squre of metal flashing within it. Then, if I hear the "tink" of metal, I'm on a pretty precise cast, the "tunk" of wood would mean I'm in the neighborhood, and nothing would mean "try again schmuck". I thught it would help save the time of walking to the end of the line after each cast.

Next question, when I'm using a Clouser prctice fly, the last lesson I had, he had me working on an "eliptical cast", and I seem to whip it into the back of my legs now. Since there's no one around to tell me what I'm doing, maybe you folks with more experience know what I'm doing/not doing. Casting the weighted fly is important to me because I think I'm going to need it on a trip in April. (I'm getting ahead of myself, let's start with what I've got, then I'll get into that.)

Thanks!

[OneMoreCast]

Dude... if you live around Md I'll teach you to cast. I think it is awesome that you are interested in the sport. I live in Annapolis.

[gottaflylee]

Wave Loudly, were do you live? I would love to help you if i can. The board thing sounds like a great idea. I thnk you will make a better caster than most sighted people.
What kind of Fly fishen are you looking to do? Salt or Fresh,stream or pond?

[Wave Loudly]

I live in Hampton Roads area of VA, fish the salt. I do some of my fishing here, and some in Key Largo. Depends on who I can fisn to go fishing with as to what I fish for and how, but in these waters it is Stipers and Fluke here, from a boat mostly. Keys trips are not oftern enough (in my book!), but I can intensify my fishing because of the oportunities there. Can walk to a dock, father in law lives there with small boat for backcountry and reef fishing, and I charter a boat as often as the wallet allows for beyond the reef trolling, and jerking some fish from the deeper wrecks. Casting from the boat is not something I'm worried about right now, figure I can drop the flyy and let it sink or drift to where the fish are. I'll save the folks I fish with from diving for cover when they see me break out the fly rod until I am comfortable with my casting. Seems to me that half the battle with the fly rod is being comfortable with it. So, I'm concentrating my efforts on fishing the dock in KL. Mangrove Snapper and Grunt hang there along with small cCuda. (Though I have caught Tarpon at night, but I'm not ready for them on the fly by myself just yet.)

The pond I cast at is just a place to prctice, though I have taught a few Sunnies to fly when they hit my practice fly just as I snatched it up for the back cast. (They make an amusing sound as they fly through the air passed your ear, after you figure out what you just did!)

Oh, if it helps, I'm fishing a 9 wt, one reel loaded with floating line, the other loaded with sinking. (Have yet to practice chucking the sinking line, have that for dropping on the reef the next time I get there.)

I hope this info helps you get an idea on what I am trying to do and hasn't bored you to sleep on your keyboards!! LOL

[gottaflylee]

Ok wave, I'm going to try and talk you through a couple of things to help with your casting. I teach a little different from most but I have good results from my students. The goal here is to get you casting 50 to 60 plus feet in a short time.
Ok, someone may have told you this already but lets start here. In order to cast a fly with a fly rod you must get the head of the fly line out of the rod. That's about the first 30 to 33' of the fly line...that's what is called the weight forward part of the fly line. To find this feel the fly line starting from the leader. You will notice that it starts thin, a short taper, four feet or so, then it will build in diameter- thickness, keep going till you find it tapering down. That whole section is the weight forward part of the line. It is what carries the fly. With fly fishing the fly line carries the fly, unlike spin fishing where the lure carries the line. Mark this with a short piece of paper tape. This is where you should start...where I would like you to start, with all that 30' of line out of the rod. Take the fly off the line and leave four to six feet of the leader on . The leader does not have to be fancy for this, a piece of 20 pound will do nicely. To start out I want you to do nothing but try to keep that 30' in the air for at least 60 seconds. Ok I know that you want to hear the fly going by you but what I want you to do is learn to feel the line. Learn when it is all the way forward and all the way back. This will help you get more distance now the road. If someone has taken you passed this stage, let me know. I'm just going on what you posted already. When you feel comfortable with this let me know and we will go on to the next step. If you really want to get good @ this quickly you need to practice twice a day for fifteen minuets a day. I tell my students a cup of coffee in the morning and a beer or two in the afternoon. Most of the people that take my class with me are casting 60 feet or more in a couple of weeks. So if you want to give it a try and let me know when your ready for the next part, let me know. Capt. lee

Anyone else that is a beginer fly caster and wants to try this, let me know. Also we can do a Q & A one night if you want.

[gottaflylee]

Wave, one more thing. Right now don't worry about where the line is landing right now, Lets get you casting distance and then we'll get you into putting is where it needs to be.

[Wave Loudly]

Thanks gottaflylee! My first problem is unsolvable, that is a place to practice within walking distance. (Trees in my yard, open spaces in walking distance are filled with shool kids.) So, practice sessions are about as complicated to plan as actual fishing trips, but that's something I have to figure out.

I can get that 30 feet of line in the air, and keep it there as long as my arm holds out. My trouble starts when I go beyond that, and try to "present" it, or as I like to say get it to lay down where I want it to be, and know that it is there without having to ask someone. I spent a great deal of time waving the rod, getting that line out of the rod, feeling the rod load and unload. (I made it a point to ask a lot of questions about the "feel" of the cast from my instructor, and I ask that uestion of every fly fisher I can get to bend the ear of. Everybody has a different way of feeling and expressing the feel of a fly rod. So, I always hope tocatch a little more info from each person. I don't think I will ever stop asking that question.) My trouble really starts when I try to get beyond that thirty feet, and when I add a weighted fly into the mix. But, I may be starting off wrong, picked up a bad habit uring my practice and don't realize it. I try to forget about spinning gear when I grab the fly rod, two different beasts, but habits are habits.Let's see what your next step is for someone with the head of the fly line in the air pretty good, and we'll see if I can figure out my wrong doing....

Oh, and the Q&A sounds like a great idea if there are other beginners out there that want to gifure this out.

[Wave Loudly]

Missed your second post there gottafly, joys of screen reader software.... Going for distance first? Ok, I've been approaching it a bit backward... I like to know where things are, then heaving them further away from me... But, I'm willing to try anything to get confortable with it.

[flatbottom]

This is a great post. If you don't mind, I will follow this every time a new post is made. Thanks wave and lee. flatbottom

[Wave Loudly]

And yet another question... Concerning getting that line out of the rod and in the air, I get that done fairly quickly, but as I go beond my 30 or so feet, I only let out what I'm comfortable with each stroke (I believe this is called the false cast, but not sure of the terms yet.). I then tend to take an extra "false cast" if I feel uncomfortable with the way the line feels in the air, then let more out as I feel I'm back in control and start my "presentation" part of the cast. Is this a bad habit?

flat, I'm putting this out for others to read, comment or jump in with questions. Maybe it will help someone else, maybe it will help me, or it may just be entertaining to some. I learned to tie via another board and made a great friend that way. He helps me on the casting bits too, but I've found that learning this way has one big advantage to use. That is that different people can say the same thing different ways, and sooner or later you'll find one that clicks and makes you say "OH, NOW I GET IT!" So, as far as I'm concerned the more the merrier.