9. Casting

THE MECHANICAL PROCESS OF "THROWING THE FEATHERS "

LEARNING TO CAST

THE best way to learn how to cast a fly is to go a-fishing with some experienced fly fisherman and follow his instructions and example. Next best is to join a casting club and learn how from the “old hands “always found in such organizations and who are always glad to help a beginner. The least desirable way to learn is from printed instructions although they will help if the novice is so situated that he cannot secure the services of an instructor.

A stretch of clear water with ample room for a good back cast is the place to learn fly casting but a lawn without obstructions will do. Do not cast on a road or other bare ground or you will ruin your line.

THE THEORY

The theory of casting a fly is simple. One has a long, more or less pliant rod to act as an instrument of propulsion to throw out a line, leader, and fly or cast of flies. The motive power is furnished by the caster's forearm and wrist, aided by the spring of the rod and supplemented by the weight of the line passing backward and forward through the air. Reduced to mechanical terms the rod is the lever, the fulcrum being the hand and the counterweight the reel and reel seat.

GRASPING THE ROD

The way one grasps his rod has more to do with good casting than the beginner would believe. The natural way would be to wrap the fingers around the handle with the thumb over the fingers; the correct way is to have the thumb pointing along the rod. This is more important than it seems because it gives the muscles of the wrist free play and the thumb serves to give both force and direction to the cast. The first or index finger is sometimes used the same way to give the thumb relief after much casting.

THE OVERHEAD CAST

The overhead or over-the-shoulder is the cast most often used, the others being modifications of it improvised to meet extraordinary conditions. It is the cast for everyday fishing and for accuracy. In learning this cast the novice should anchor a barrel hoop or other target in the water, or if he is learning on the lawn, spread out a newspaper, about twenty feet away. The target should be kept at this distance until he can hit it regularly. Then it may be moved forward five feet at a time. Distance in casting comes naturally; accuracy can be learned only by practice.

The overhead cast consists of three distinct parts:

Note thumb extended along rod; line may be “pinched “to rod as shown when sufficient line is out; otherwise it is held in the left hand.the back cast, the pause and the forward cast. Let us consider them one at a time.

THE BACK CAST

The novice caster should first assume a natural, easy position, and not a stiff pose. The rod, with thumb extended, should be pointed straight ahead, being held a little above parallel with the water and about fifteen feet of line should be lying stretched out straight in front. With the left hand pull a little line from the reel, between the reel and the first guide and this should be held in the left hand at all times so that the cast can be lengthened when desired and to give the angler instant control over a hooked fish. Now take in the slack of the extended line by pulling a little of it back through the guides and then start the back cast.

The back cast is made by lifting the rod smartly and forcefully. This movement is executed by the wrist and forearm only, the upper arm and elbow being held close to the body. This is important and some instructors place a book under the arm of the young caster to make him keep his elbow in, the object being to teach the novice to use his wrist and forearm only which makes the spring of the rod do most of the work and gives the line an upward, as well as a backward, direction thus helping to produce the much-desired high back cast.

In making the back cast the rod can be brought straight back toward the right shoulder or it can be directed toward the left shoulder to throw the line over the left shoulder in the back cast and over the right in the forward cast. This is a very pretty and very smooth cast much used by fly fishermen of the old school. Tournament casters use the straight backward and forward cast.

The back cast ends when the rod reaches the perpendicular or when the thumb lying along the rod is pointing straight up. This brings the active rod tip slightly behind the perpendicular, which is correct.

THE PAUSE

The mistake most often made by the novice is to assume that the forward cast immediately follows the back cast. He forgets the pause and thereby “bunggles “his cast. The pause is a very important stage in the process of casting a fly. Its object is not entirely to permit the line to straighten out behind, and thus avoid snapping off the flies, as most writers claim, but to permit the back-traveling line to exert its weight and force and put spring in the rod tip for the forward cast.

Some writers on fly casting tell us to start the forward cast when we “feel the line pull from behind “but in casting a short line, as the novice should, he is not likely to feel any “pull “so should not wait for it.

The relation of the pause to the back and forward casts can be kept in mind by counting “one “at the beginning of the back cast, “two”at its finish, “three “for the pause and “four “for the forward cast, slowing the count as each subsequent cast is extended. People with a sense of rhythm learn fly casting quicker than others.

The Forward Cast

If the pause between the back and forward casts is too long the rod tip straightens, (loses its spring), the line falls and the cast is “killed.”If the pause is not long enough the rearward action of the rod tip is not completed and the reaction of the tip gives little assistance in the forward cast. The too-short pause does not permit the line to straighten enough behind which is proclaimed by the leader cracking like a whip lash and sometimes the fly is snapped off. If the pause is correctly timed the veriest novice knows it as the line seems to shoot forward, in the forward cast, as if propelled % some unseen force, which, indeed, is what happens  the complete reaction of the rod tip being the force.

The forward cast then must be timed to start immediately after the pause and is a strong, forward sweep of the rod, increasing in force as it goes forward, aided and directed by the pressure of the extended thumb. It ends with the rod in about the same position as at the beginning of the back cast or a little above parallel of the water. The rod is then in position to manipulate or retrieve the fly or hook a rising fish.

When casting ordinary lengths it is safest for the young caster to keep his elbow in and use only the forearm and wrist but when a long cast is attempted the upper arm may be put into use. Thrashing, however, should be avoided  make the rod do the work. This point was well brought out by F. M. Halford, the famous English dry fly fisherman: ". . . In throwing a long line the upper arm will come into use in addition to the wrist and forearm, as the angler will have to feel the line of the backward cast through the arc of a larger circle. The force required to propel various lengths of line without over casting or under casting (the first of these terms meaning the use of too much, and the second of too little, power to extend) and only just extending the line, varies directly with every yard of line used. This adaptation of the power to cast, of cause to effect, constitutes the secret of how to cast well."

". . . It must always be remembered that hearing much sound proceed from a .rod making a cast is an indication of too much force being used. The late Mr. Marryat said: * A silent rod and a whistling line mean good casting' but he added that when throwing against a wind a slight l whoosh ' of the rod is often heard. It may be laid down as an axiom that nine anglers out of ten put too much energy into their casting, and forget to allow the rod to do its fair share of the work."

In recapitulation, the important phases of casting are: extending the thumb in grasping the rod; keeping the elbow and upper arm close to the body; ending the back cast with the rod perpendicular; correctly timing the pause.

EXTENDING THE CAST

In learning to cast, the novice should, from the beginning, learn to use his left hand to hold and manipulate the line stripped from the reel. To extend the cast the caster merely lets go this stripped line near the end of the forward cast and it “shoots “through the guides or, if he learns a high back cast, he can pay out some of this line on the back cast like the dry fly fishermen do it. This is repeated until the desired length of line is out. From this it will be seen that the big difference, from the fishing standpoint, between bait casting and fly fishing is that the fly caster fishes the near water first.

PRACTICE

When first taking up casting the beginner uses muscles that are not accustomed to such work so his periods of practice must not be too long at first; as he progresses he finds it less tiring and he also notices that, as he gains in skill, less effort is needed to get out a reasonable length of line.

FOR ADVANCED PUPILS

When the young fly fisher learns the mere mechanical process of casting a fly he may believe he is a full-fledged fly caster. At this stage of his education accuracy and delicacy mean little to him and fly fishing strategy less.

As soon as the novice has learned how to make a cast and how to extend his cast he should devote considerable practice to obtain good casting “form.”That is, he should learn to cast easily with no suggestion of awkwardness or muscular effort; his back cast should be high and his forward cast ending with the line well straightened out in front, not full of kinks which not only looks bunglesome but frequently prevents one hooking a rising fish in anything but the swiftest water.

The young caster should learn also to drop his fly and only the smallest amount of line and leader on the water. By this I mean that he should not “slam “the fly, leader and line on the water. Raising the rod tip slightly at the end of the cast helps in this respect.

A good plan, while practicing or fishing, is to imagine that you are casting into a big glass jar full of clear water, the edges of which are about four feet above the surface of the stream. Try to picture in your mind a very large, wary fish lying in this jar looking out at you so you must keep your upper arm and elbow pressed close to your side and cast with the forearm only to make as little movement as possible, to avoid scaring the fish. Imagine you are casting into the jar over its high edge. This will make you stop the forward cast while the fly is some distance from the water, letting it fall mostly of its own weight.

More important as a fishing essential than good casting “form “is accuracy. I wish I could devote several pages to this subject in order to impress the beginner with its importance but little can be said  accuracy is something to be practiced and a day on the stream usually drives its importance home. Accuracy is much more desirable than the more spectacular ability to handle a long line. In actual fishing the average cast is thirty or forty feet while fifty or sixty feet is con-idered a long cast.

OTHER CASTS

While the overhead cast is the most used there are modifications of it that are useful under certain conditions. One of these is the wind cast. It is made the same as the ordinary cast except in the forward cast which is made with a strong outward as well as downward motion of the casting hand. It is far from being a pretty cast and is tiring to the arm and wrist but is useful when working against a heavy wind.

The side cast is analogous to the “side swipe “of the bait caster. It is made with the rod held about level with the waist during the entire cast. The back cast is brought back a trifle behind the caster, the pause is necessarily short, as the line is only a few feet above the water, and the forward cast is made by a strong forward sweep. It is used mainly for casting under overhanging trees and brush and to avoid being “hung up “on the back cast.

The Spey cast is also used under the same circumstances. William C. Harris described it as follows: “With the line at full stretch down stream and the hand grasping nearly the extreme end of the butt, the rod is raised so that as much of the line is cleared from the water as possible, then a forward stroke is made sufficiently strong to lift the entire line from the water and to cause the fly to alight a short distance in the rear of the caster; then placing the rod well back, as in the forward cast of the ordinary method a strong switch of the rod to the front will cause the line to roll out rapidly; the leader and flies, as the line goes out, making a leap as it were and alighting on the water."

A favorite cast where there is no room for a back cast is the roll or switch cast. With fly, leader and line on the water the rod is raised almost to the perpendicular. Then it is swung back over the shoulder, a slight pause is made and the rod is swung smartly forward, causing the line to roll out and carrying the fly forward. Line is stripped from the reel and permitted to “shoot “in extending the cast. This is a good cast when in “close quarters."

Other casts are known and an angler often will improvise one to meet some peculiar condition. It is a good plan to learn how to execute the overhead and side casts with either hand  useful to rest a tired casting hand and sometimes necessary to avoid a “hang up."

Tournament Casting

Tournament fly casting is a pretty game that has done much to improve casting and fly fishing tackle. Casting clubs are usually found in the larger cities, the casting pools being located in the city parks.

The events most often practiced are the light and heavy tackle accuracy and distance fly casting; dry fly accuracy and casting the salmon fly for distance.

In the light tackle events the rod is limited to 111/2 feet in length and 53/4 ounces in weight, except in the dry fly accuracy, the limit in length being eleven feet. In the accuracy fly targets are 3 rings, 30 inches in diameter, set at forty-five, fifty and fifty-five feet respectively from the casting platform.

Five casts are made at each ring, successively. If the fly falls inside of or on the rim of the ring it is a perfect cast. “For each foot or fraction of a foot, the fly falls outside of ring a demerit of one shall be made. The total of such demerits divided by 15 and subtracted from 100 shall be the percentage score.”Perfect scores have been made but the official record of the National Association of Scientific Angling Clubs is 9914/15 held by George Chatt of the Anglers' Illinois Casting Clubs, Chicago.

In the distance fly events the contestant is allowed ten minutes to make his cast. The official N.A.S.A.C. record for the light tackle distance fly was made in 1915 by H. C. Golcher of San Francisco, the cast being 116 feet. The heavy tackle record of 134 feet is held by W. D. Mansfield of San Francisco.

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