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Most common casting problems you see

10K views 33 replies 19 participants last post by  juro 
#1 ·
When you are watching people cast (at a show, on the water, etc) what are the most common problems you see?

I would have to say that the answer depends on the region and the fishery. For instance most striper fishermen have a lot of creep in their cast.

I define "creep" as the rod coming forward during the backcast and before the application of power such that the rod is already forward before the cast begins. This has the effect of cutting the stroke to a very abrupt forward poke, which can not leverage full power of the rod and thus limits the available energy in the cast.

Thoughts?
 
#27 ·
My Mistake...

when referring to a lazy "S" configuration of the flyline on both the back and forward stroke. In fact, before the flyline straightens out on the backcast, it does look like a lazy "S." You are correct on the forward cast configuration appearing to be a sideways "u."

An excellent aid to depict flyline form and to commit to muscle memory is your "boa" or the Fly-O sold by Joan Wulff.

This is a welcome addition to the forum and not readily available elsewhere.

Juro, good Job!

Simms
 
#28 ·
Here is a frustrating problem that I often encounter in my casting:

My cast hooks to the left instead of going straight out (I'm right handed). In the worst instances the leader will end up 90 deg. to the line. I try to keep rod motion in a straight path as best I can, but that doesn't seem to help. There seems to be too much kinetic energy in the cast which ends up dissipating itself by turning left. To try to stop it I will sometimes place my right foot forward instead of my left. This reduces upper body rotation making the cast somewhat straighter, but its not the total answer.

Any ideas?
 
#29 ·
There are a couple things I can offer, passed on to me by the wonderful casters I have known or things I've cooked up myself.

1) push your thumb in the direction you want the line to go. keep it on top, not to the left or right - but right up on top of the hand as you finish the cast. This also helps control tailing loops.

2) practice keeping the hand in plane by standing next to the wall and rotating the arm like a windmill an inch or two off the wall a few times, then make casting motions where your knuckles are but an inch or two away and equidistant the whole time, keeping your thumb on top so you can point it at the target in the end.

3) throw a fly line without a rod for a while. Nothing makes you straighten your stroke like a 10-15ft length of flyline cast with your bare hand. For a real eye-opener, add a haul on the backcast, and forward cast if you can. The backcast haul is easy, but my point is check out the impact that move has on the line speed.

4) Look at your hand when you finish the cast. Do you see your fingernails? You shouldn't unless you turned your hand in a palm up vector during the cast.

5) Cast a short line, about 25-30 ft, perfectly straight using the absolute minimum energy possible that will still carry the loop. Then add line, keeping things perfectly straight as you add only the minimum energy. Then put the whole head out there, and keep things going perfectly straight. Finally, drift back a little and accelerate a little quicker on the forward stroke, hitting it mostly at the end. That should reach about as far as you could ever reach with more effort and less straight-line efficiency. Try to throw the other half of the loop - the half past the wedge and attached to the fly - like a javelin through the air, straight fast and true.

Hope these help.

Juro
 
#30 ·
I will comment on my faults:
1. not letting backcast straighten
2. i get a wobble in the line on the forward cast.'
3. not a tight enough loop
4. tails

I've been fly fishing for 12 years and just recently decided to work on my casting since i never had a need for distance.

Once I started to learn about good casting, my casting has gone to hell. I used to cast a good distance with my old 8 wt, now i have problems with 50 ft. on a new, good rod. :(
 
#31 ·
One of the things that I don't see enough people doing is watching their line during the cast. They have no concept of what's going on with the line and rarely form tight loops or make very effective casts to fish that are further out than they typically can reach, and they don't really have a feel for the line loading the rod. I think that actually looking at the back cast, at least from time to time and whenever you change patterns to one that is much more/less wind resistant to the one you've been fishing (unsuccessfully :hehe: ) for the last two-hours, or whenever the wind changes direction and/or strength significantly, can really help maximize casting efficiency.

I'm guilty of overpowering my forward cast from time to time, evident when I relax and unload the line to the same distance that I previously attained by trying to launch it to the moon.

As an aside, I seem to have fewer problems with my cast when I'm casting side-armed; I've always been that way. Casting directly overhead, or even a few degrees off, just isn't as effective for me. I'm not sure if it's a more natural motion for me than overhead casting, it just feels better and casts farther.
 
#32 ·
flyfisha1 said:

As an aside, I seem to have fewer problems with my cast when I'm casting side-armed; I've always been that way. Casting directly overhead, or even a few degrees off, just isn't as effective for me. I'm not sure if it's a more natural motion for me than overhead casting, it just feels better and casts farther.
I totally agree that sidearm (or three-quarter) casting is much more comfortable than overhead casting. For some reason, I'm also much less likely to get a tailing loop when I drop to a sidearm cast. The only time I go directly overhead is when I want pinpoint accuracy (or when there's an obstruction that I need to get my backcast over). I tend to aim a bit better when the cast is overhead, but I get the best distance with a three-quarters cast.
 
#34 ·
I'm sure that physics supports better aim with a more vertical path of the rod, for one thing the path of the hand is aligned with the eye and where the hand goes the rod follows. When I take the overhead cert test I will be using a vertical stroke for accuracy tests for sure.

But as an avid sight fisherman I rarely cast with a vertical rod position because it's harder to get as fast of a load into the rod for me with the upright angle in time to make the connection with the cruising fish, not to mention potential collisions with stainless hvy hooks and weighted eyes to right the hook on very shallow flats, etc.

By harder to get a load I mean that when walking around in the water, holding the line in the hands or when casting after one shot to take another, I find it easier and more natural to throw the necessary backcast with an outward angle to get things going to get enough momentum going to put the fly where it needs to be. After years of sight fishing I have become 'accurate enough' with a 45 degree cast and have avoided the vertical position for fishing saltwater.

Accuracy with spey casting is another topic entirely. To use a very vertical path you usually need to set the anchor closer, thus you would use a shorter line and probably more of a Scandinavian technique. For most of my fishing I prefer a longer line and traditional technique, and I am finding that you can get pretty accurate coming off the anchor placed a rod length away and to the front just by paying close attention to the angle of aim and having a smooth stroke to the correct release point for the target.

When two-handed overhead casting it's quite a bit easier to use a (near) vertical path of the rod and you can create a tremendous amount of power for accuracy at distance with a little practice.

Interesting discussion!
 
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