Casting Clinic
Early-Season Casting Primer
By Bruce Richards

The season is upon us, at least for those of us in northern climes who have limited fishing opportunities through the winter. If you’re like me, you haven’t been casting through the winter and are a little rusty. I find that casters who have a good understanding of the mechanics of casting are able to get up to speed much faster than those who try to rely on remembering what they have to do to fix those pesky tailing loops when they reappear. Here’s how it all works . . . in a nutshell.
The fly line goes where the rod tip directs it. Seems obvious, and simple enough, but many casters don’t understand how this really works well enough to use that knowledge to improve their own casting. To make a “good” loop the rod tip must travel in a fairly straight line from the beginning of the stroke to the end. It must also travel fast enough to propel the line with the speed needed to get to the target. The most common loop problems we all encounter are big loops, and tailing loops. Here’s what causes them and how to fix them.

Ready
Good loops are made when the rod tip travels in a straight line, as seen in Figure 1a. If the rod tip travels in a big, upward arcing path, the loops will be big and wind resistant ( Figure 1c). If the rod path is a downward arc, tailing loops result (Figure 1b). How the caster positions the rod and applies power determine both the tip path and the loop shape.
When a cast is made the rod bends, obviously. This fact is important, because without rod bend line speed would be dramatically reduced. The fact that the rod bends also makes it easier for us to keep the tip path straight. Another term you need to know is “rod arc”—the angle change of the rod from the beginning of the casting stroke to the end. Rod arc must be matched to rod bend to control the path of the rod tip.
If the rod arc is quite wide, as seen in Figure 1c, the rod tip starts and finishes the casting stroke at a low level. If the rod doesn’t bend very much, as in a short cast that doesn’t require much line or power, then it will pass through the middle part of the cast higher than at the start and stop points, creating a big upward arc and a big loop. This is the most common casting mistake instructors see, and it’s easily cured.
The instruction to “don’t use your wrist” is common in fly casting. In reality, it is difficult to make a good cast without bending your wrist some. Most beginners (and rusty intermediates) bend the wrist more than necessary when casting. When the wrist is bent, the rod arc increases, as seen in Figure 1c. If the cast is short to medium in distance, there won’t be a lot of line out of the rod, and a lot of power won’t be required. The things that cause the rod to bend are: 1) power applied, and 2) resistance (line out of the rod). If the rod arc is quite wide, power will be applied over a longer distance, which means that rod bend will be limited even more. Lots of words, but the net result is that if the wrist bends too much, the rod arc is great, and big loops result. This instruction is simplistic, but works: If your loops are too big, bend your wrist less.
If the rod arc is quite narrow (Figure 1b) then the rod tip starts and stops higher. Assuming the same amount of power, the rod bend will be the same. As you can see, the rod tip passes through the middle part of the stroke lower than at the start and stop points, although at the same level as in the other two strokes. The same amount of power is applied, but over a shorter distance, which bends the rod more.
When the rod tip travels in the path shown in Figure 1b, tailing loops are thrown. These are the loops that cause “wind” knots. This commonly happens as a result of over adjustments made to cure big loops, but can also be caused by a couple other things.
First, when casting into the wind everyone knows (or senses) that they need to cast harder. All else being equal, casting harder means more rod bend, which means the rod tip will be lower in the middle of the stroke than at either end. This duplicates the situation seen in Figure 1b and causes tailing loops. The wind doesn’t cause wind knots directly; it is the caster’s improper adjustment for the wind—more power, same rod arc—that is the real problem.
If the rod arc is properly adjusted for the rod bend, as seen in Figure 1a, then the rod tip passes through the middle of the stroke at the same height as at the start and stop points, and a good loop is formed. This assumes smooth rod acceleration, but it’s still possible to throw tailing loops with the right rod arc if power is applied improperly. Make sure you accelerate smoothly from slow to fast to prevent this. If you keep increasing your rod arc and still get tailing loops and wind knots, odds are your acceleration is abrupt. Think SMOOTH.

Aim
Just making good loops doesn’t guarantee you’ll be able to deliver your fly to the target effectively; the loop must be aimed right too. There are two dimensions to aiming when fly casting. Obviously you must be on target laterally, left to right. The keys to being consistently on target laterally are: 1) throwing good loops consistently, and 2) practice. There is no shortcut to this; practice is the key. Countless hours of practice aren’t necessary, just a few with the right technique are enough. There is no sense in practicing the wrong thing. If you aren’t sure your loops are good, have a friend who knows fly casting take a look. Better yet, search the Federation of Fly Fishers web site (www.FedFlyFishers.org) for a certified casting instructor—they are experts at analyzing and fixing casting flaws.

Fire
Once you know you’re throwing good consistent loops, and know you can throw them in the direction you want, you need to adjust the trajectory of the loop—the plane of your cast—so it opens just above your target. If you throw your loops too high above your target, the fly has a long way to fall and any slight breeze will carry it off the mark. Adjusting the trajectory is easy.
As you can see in Figure 2, the loop travels in the same plane as the rod tip path. We want to make the same loop as seen in Figure 1a, but we want the front loop aimed low toward the water. If you compare Figures 1a and 2 carefully, you’ll notice that they are exactly the same except for the plane. If you make sure that your hand ends up lower in front of you and higher behind you, you’ll have loops that are lower in front and higher in back. An easy plane adjustment. The more the plane of your hand motion changes, the more the plane of your loops change.
Following simple these tips will help you to throw consistently good loops, hit your target, and catch more fish this season.