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Cast Glossary

8K views 24 replies 14 participants last post by  juro 
#1 ·
I am going to ask members to help build a cast glossary for the site. Each cast will have entries from members who describe the cast well, pictures, drawings and videos included. Here is the list I have thus far:

1) roll cast
2) jump roll cast
3) belgian cast
4) switch cast
5) curve cast
6) aerial mend curve cast
7) overhand cast
8) steeple cast
9) single spey
10) double spey
11) snake roll
12) circle cast
13) snap-t
14) sprial single spey
15) perry poke
16) cross-body overhand cast

any others?
 
#3 ·
Absolutely! In fact if this refers to the cast where the loop actually travels underneath instead of above, I watched Al Buhr do it with a spey cast in San Francisco and could imagine tucking the fly under overhanging willow trees like a bassmaster flip with that cast.

17) sidearm cast

Also, one from the striper guys...

18) the backhand cast

And in fact the cast is so different we need to include all of the 'reversed' versions of the spey casts:

19) reversed single spey
20) reversed double spey
21) reversed snake roll
22) reversed snap-t
23) reversed circle
24) reversed spiral single
25) reversed perry poke

Any more? Once we get the list complete, we can start the casting glossary page.
 
#5 ·
Absolutely!

26) Pile Cast
27) Parachute Cast
28) Reach Cast

also

29) Wiggle cast

(We'll have to sort these into categories later)

Many casts are variations on a theme, I think these are definitely casts - thanks BigDave!
 
#6 ·
Juro, if you're going to treat all these as distinct casts, rather than as variants or subsets of the basic overhead cast, I think you'll also have to acknowledge the underhand technique as applied to the various Spey casts.

Whether you classify underhand casts as distinct casts in their own right or simply as a modification that can be applied to the set of Spey casts is up to you. I favour the latter, though this won't please some people, particularly in Scandinavia. :devil:

As a further point, I think it would be useful to include something about hauling. Again, just about every cast can be made in unhauled, single or double hauled versions - you've just written about a hauled single handed single spey on another thread, for example. Rather than treat the hauled versions as distinct casts, how about writing something, covering both single and double hauls, that can be 'bolted on' to definitions of other casts, rather than treating them all separately?

BigDave, if you think that name is funny, how about a 'hauled reverse single hand underhand double spey'?
 
#7 ·
Gardner, good points.

Categorization might look like:

Primary Overhand Casts
- overhand cast
- backhand cast
- cross-body or reverse cast
- belgian cast
- steeple cast
Variations for Line Control
- curve or reach cast
- pile cast
- parachute cast
- wiggle or "S" cast
- aerial mend cast
Overhand Techniques
- single and double haul
- casting into wind
- casting with wind
- accuracy casting
- distance techniques
Two-handed Overhand Casts
- two-handed overhand cast
- two-handed reverse
- two-handed belgian cast
Two-handed Techniques
- "beach" cast
- snake start

Spey Casts
- strong/opposite/reversed single spey
- s/o/r double spey
- s/o/r snake roll
- s/o/r snap-t
- s/o/r circle
- s/o/r spiral single
- s/o/r perry poke
- s/o/r double perry poke
- s/o/r snake poke
Techniques and Styles
- Traditional Style
- Underhand Technique
- Skagit Technique
- Long Line Technique
- Greased Line Technique
- Single-handed versions of above with haul (turbo spey)
- Deep Sunk Line Technique

Roll Casts
- Static Roll
- Dynamic Roll / Jump Roll
- Reversed Roll / Jump Roll

Did I miss any?
 
#9 ·
Dana said:
beer cast
scotch cast
leg-in-a-cast
cast of thousands
how come I can't cast?
:chuckle:

Beer cast...
Whilst taking a moment to relieve bladder pressure, tip forward so that the bottle is low and straight toward the "dangle". Realizing the spillage, lift and pull back the bottle on a level plane and stop at 2 o'clock (last call). Ooops you are wetting your shoe, come forward with a smooth acceleration and stop at 10 o'clock (breafast already? where am I?). The beer will fly out smoothly all over your tent. I hope that's beer.
 
#14 ·
Classifying casts

Looking over Juro's list of casts made me start thinking about the best way to classify casts. It seems to me that the basic differentiator should be the way you load the rod. That would leave us with five major categories of cast (that I can think of, at least):

1. Casts loaded by tossing the line straight backwards (e.g., overhead cast).
2. Casts loaded by tossing a looped line backwards (e.g., traditional spey cast)
3. Casts loaded by driving the rod forward against the surface tension of the line in the water (I think this is how skagit style spey casts work from descriptions I've read, but I must admit I don't really understand skagit casting)
4. Casts loaded by driving the rod forward against the dead weight of the line (e.g., roll cast)
5. Casts loaded by pulling on the line with the free hand (e.g., bow cast)

Within each of these major categories, you can vary the cast in the following ways:

A. Moving the rod on the forward cast to alter the forward trajectory of the line (e.g., wiggle cast or curve cast)
B. Making motions to reposition the line prior to loading the rod (e.g., snake roll, double spey)
C. Using hauls to energize the line
D. Altering the plane of the cast (e.g., moving from overhead to sidearm)
E. Some combination of A through D

There are also technique differences . . . such as using a bigger or smaller arm motion or using more or less of the lower hand in a two-handed cast. I don't know if these technique differences truly change the cast or simply alter the way a particular cast is executed to provide the right amount of power or control for the particular casting situation.

Anyway . . . just an idea to restart an interesting discussion about casting types . . .
 
#15 ·
I've seen all casting divided into 2 broad categories:

  1. overhead cast: line is aerialized on both back cast and forward cast
  2. roll cast: line forms a loop beneath and behind rod tip on back cast

overhead includes all forms and presentation casts; roll includes "dead line" and "live line" roll casts such as spey casting and all variants (skagit, underhand, etc).

Juro, maybe we should make this a "video glossary" rather than just text...
 
#16 ·
Two basic cast?

I'm thinking (difficult for me) that there are just two basic casts with variations. The one common cast to both the overhead caster (generally single-handed group) and the two-handed (spey groupies): is the forward cast where the loop unfolds towards the sky with many possible variations. The other cast is the back-cast and this is where long rodder and short rodders differ. Overheaders backcast unfolds towards the sky, and speyers grip the water and the back cast unfolds from the water surface. The key is to learn how to control the "Tip-of-the-Rod" so each variation of the cast can be produced. Klem
 
#18 ·
Tuck Cast -- developed by George Harvey and popularized by Joe Humphries, a very usefull nymphing technique for rivers having pocket water. The weighted nymph is driven at 90 degrees directly into the water and drives it deep quickly.

Vertical rod forward cast + Curve Cast to Right -- Popularized and taught by Lefty Kreh and Ed Jaworowski. The forward cast is as normal with speed-up-and-stop while concurently twisting or torque is applied about rod axis with the casting wrist. The tip of the rod describes an arc and kicks the fly over at the very end of the cast only, the remainder of the line is straight. Much more accurate and predictible than the traditional side arm overpowered or underpowered to make the curve happen.

Vertical rod forward cast + Curve Cast to Left -- Popularized and taught by Lefty Kreh and Ed Jaworowski.

Syanora Sling - Developed by Mark Sedotti for casting shooting heads with 16" to 20" flies.

Messinger Cast - Developed by Tom Messinger and taught by Ed Jaworowski - rod horizontal pointed at fly,,,,down, up, down motion and bass bug will return directly toward caster (180 degrees) at a relatively slow speed,,,grab the fly in the air with reel hand,,,,very usefull to retrieve fly for removing weeds etc.

Stab Cast - Another Lefty Kreh technique,,,,in windy conditions the rod is cast side arm with the speed-up-and-stop when the rod is pointing directly at the target, the very small high speed loop is unique and close to the water. Tricky to understand and requires good timing, once mastered it is very usefull in windy conditions.

Skip Cast - Left Kreh ,,,The fly is cast side arm and with horizontal loop, the fly touches the water about 3ft short of target,,,,it then skips under brush or obstructions to final target. Very usefull in brush lined streams or in Florida mangroves and roots.

I have some additional casts that I must check my note book for descriptive details, and will post later.

Regards,
Fred Krow
 
#22 ·
Roll Cast Pick-Up -- Used with heavy sinking lines,,,,roll cast with the Lefty Kreh method,,,,,,rod horizontal to the rear, cast forward as normal (stop at 11:00 not with rod tip stopping down at the water as usually taught) the line will be pulled up to the surface and allow a conventional back cast. This may require two casts to bring up an extra fast sinking line to the surface. If used with floating or intermediate line, the line will be completely above the water's surface at the completion of the roll cast pick up,,,,then a back cast,,,,shoot line,,,,, and a forward cast is made. The objective of the roll cast pick up is to set up the line for a conventional back cast. Spey casters are very familiar with shooting line from a forward roll cast however, single handed rod casting techniques teach a very inneficient roll cast.


Water Haul - Old saltwater technique with heavy full sinking line, normally used when fishing from a boat. Make a roll cast pick up,,,,then back cast and allow the line to just touch the water,,,,the rod is now easily loaded into the single presentation forward cast. This minimizes any false casting with a heavy sinking line, one back cast,,,, water haul the forward cast to final presentation.


Change of Direction Cast (up to 90 degrees) - Another technique taught by Lefty Kreh. RH bank, fly is downstream,,,point rod at fly,,, rotate hand and reel 180 degrees clockwise (reel pointed at sky, rod is still pointed at fly, ref. Galway Cast with thumb on bottom) make pick-up (back cast) parallel to river,,,,when rod is vertical rotate wrist 90 degrees clockwise and change cast direction toward middle of river (90 degrees to bank) now complete the forward cast as normal. You have just made a 90 degree right angle cast in one continous motion.


Regards,
Fred Krow
 
#23 ·
MORE CASTS!?!?!?!?! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Now that is a list of casts :Eyecrazy: ! I can honestly say that I only use the forward spey, double spey, snap t and maybe the snake roll. A video would be cool to demonstrate the casts that some (ok, just me) may not have heard of. I am kind of a hermit spey caster and keep to myself. After reading the list here I think I need to come out and play a little more. :D

LoopHiTech
 
#24 ·
Several of the casts mentioned can be categorized as slack line casts but there are better and more accurate ways to complete slack line casts than the S cast. Probably the closest is the parachute cast but there is a slack line straight downstream one to the left and one to the right. Absolute must casts for tough spring creek fish
 
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