Preparation for Fly Casting, Fly Casting Tips.

Preparation for fly casting

PLEASE TAKE A LITTLE TIME TO READ THE LINK ON FLY LINES NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE.

First of all, connect the sections of your fly rod together firmly, making sure that the rod rings are lined up correctly (these are the small rings also known as eyes, located along the length of your rod used to guide your fly line when casting). Connect your fly reel to the reel seat located on the rod handle, making sure that the reel handle is on the left, (if right handed) when holding the fly rod, and visa versa if left handed. Although there are differing opinions regarding this, but this will allow you to play a fish without having to swap the rod from one hand to the other during the fight, when it may be necessary to wind in slack line, and therefore (in my opinion) reducing the possibility of a lost fish. The fly line, when pulled from the reel, should pull off from the lowest outer most part of your reel, and in the direction of the rod tip. Be aware at this point that the fly line must be pulled directly from the bottom of your reel, (as seen in the picture) when threading up your rod rings, and not over the top of any non moving parts, this is a very common mistake, and will not only damage your fly line over a period of time, but will also damage the non moving part of your reel by introducing unsightly grooves in the alloy, and will also interfere with the performance of your reel when playing a fish.

Make sure you have at least 75yds of backing line connected, and wound on to the spool of your fly reel at one end, and connected to the back end of your fly line at the other, prior to winding on your fly line. (If unsure about this when buying your fly line, most tackle dealers will set this up for you on request). Remember, the backing line is not only for playing powerful fish that may run long distances, but will also help to reduce memory coils in your fly line as your line will lay in wider more open coils on your fly reel, it will also assist you in the retrieval of your fly line, as you have now effectively increased the diameter of your spool. The last two points are much more significant on small arbor reels. The reel above is a large arbor reel, which will afford the angler a fairly constant drag setting when playing a fish, as the diameter of the spool will remain similar throughout.

When pulling line from reel, avoid gravel or sand. At this point, pull several turns of line from the reel, (about six arm lengths) and whilst still holding the end, or tip section of your fly line, dump it on the ground in front of you, (avoid gravel or sand).

Hold loop between thumb & forefinger when threading fly line. Double the tip section of your fly line, between your thumb and your forefinger, (approx half a metre from the end) you will now have in your hand a small loop of line, it is this loop of line that you will then proceed to thread through your rod rings. Begin by threading your loop through the first two rings of your rod, starting with the largest ring nearest your fly reel (Butt ring). Now place the butt (or handle) of your assembled rod, on the ground. The reason behind threading up the bottom two rings prior to placing the butt of your rod on the ground, is not always obvious, but if you now look at the distance between you and the butt ring, you will notice on most rods it is well below you, and is often accidentally missed out during the set up.

Use the rod blank as a guide when threading fly line. Now proceed to thread the doubled end of your fly line through the remaining rings by running your finger and thumb along the rod blank so as not to miss out any of the remaining rod rings. Using the blank as a guide makes it difficult to miss out a rod ring.

Do not try to reach the rod rings by stretching, at this point just simply lower the rod as you move along it’s length. By following these simple steps, there are also additional advantages:

because you have dumped several yards of line on the ground in front of you, when you now thread the fly line through your rod rings, your fly reel, (which apart from being a container for holding your line, is a very important piece of equipment when playing a fish) will not get scuffed, damaged or full of sand or grit from the ground, when pulling off line, owing to the fact that the line has already been pulled from the reel prior to threading up your rod rings.

Avoid standing on line when threading up.

Loop will stop at rod ring if you happen to let it go.

At this point, if you accidentally stand on your line whilst threading it through your rod rings, causing you to let go, it will not fall back through your rod rings, and have to be re-threaded as it would if it were not doubled over into a loop. This is due to the fact that it is now much thicker, and will become trapped in your rod rings as it falls. You can now simply carry on threading up without starting from scratch.

Finally, because your line has now become much thicker, it is also more manageable and more visible, especially early morning, or late evening when you are beginning to lose the daylight whilst tackling up.

After threading the six arm lengths of fly line that you initially pulled from your reel, up through the rod rings you are now ready to tie on your leader and fly. The leader is the monofilament section (or invisible link) between your fly line and fly, it is designed to make the connection to the business end much more difficult for the fish to see, and therefore give the angler a distinct advantage. The invisible link.

As you can see, the fly line on the left, is much more visible than the leader material which is just noticeable attached to it on the right. It is essential to choose the correct diameter, length and in some cases colour of leader material for the particular situation in which you may find yourself. The fishes vision is a wonderful thing, but that's another story.

Now, before we add our leader and fly, let me explain briefly about fly lines etc.

The fly rod we are about to cast with is a simple spring, and when preparing to practice any of the casts we are about to cover, we need to begin with approximately 10 yards of fly line out on the water to load that spring (this is a guide only). The reason behind this, is that when a fly line is manufactured in the factory, it is designed to have the correct weight to load or bend your fly rod during casting, concentrated within this short front section of your fly line. This makes it much easier to control, and much more manageable. The fly line is now that long flexible weight we require to make the spring work. For more (basic) information on fly lines, and how to choose the fly line rating that you will require to load your rod correctly during casting, see the following attachment on:

fly lines.

When practicing your casting, use a piece of wool to simulate your fly, this is just as effective, and also much safer.

So at this point, you need to know when you have the correct amount of fly line pulled through your rod rings and out on the water in front of you, (i.e. the aforementioned 10 yards) prior to executing your cast. To do this, the fly line can be marked prior to visiting the water, which can be done in the following way :-

1.   Lay out your tackled up fly rod and fly line on the lawn or any strip of grass.

2.   Measure or pace out approx. 10 yards of fly line “from your rod tip”.

3.   Try a couple of casts to see if you are happy you are loading the rod correctly

4.   Adjust to suit, then mark the fly line near your reel with a felt tip marker.

Now every time you visit the water, all you need to do is pull the line from your reel, until you reach the point where you have marked the fly line with the felt tip. You will now know exactly, when you have the correct amount of line pulled from your fly reel, and because you marked the line near the reel, (as above) it will always be at hand when you have threaded the fly line through your rod rings and you do not have to struggle to see a mark that has been applied near the tip of the rod as some people do. Many of today's modern weight forward fly lines now have a colour change incorporated in them that tells you exactly when you have the correct amount of fly line outside the rod tip to give you the required casting weight.

Thread the line through the rod rings, doubled over (as described earlier), and attach the required leader and fly. Hold your fly in the hand you are not holding the rod with, with the barb pointing away from you (for safety), then flick the loose line and fly onto the water in front of you. At this point you need to feed out the line you have pulled from your reel, through your rod rings, and onto the water in front of you.

To do this, use the grip that the water has on your fly line and fly, and move the rod tip from side to side, as if you were slicing sideways with a sword, or cutting the heads off the daisies (keep the wrist stiff, as this will help you to use the spring of the rod to more effect). At the same time, feed the fly line through the hand you are not holding the rod with, in this case my left hand. This can be done by making a tight downward pointing fist with your left hand, then just slacken it off slightly, to use as a guide to feed the line through. When all the fly line you have pulled from your reel has been fed out onto the water in front of you, and the mark on the fly line is at hand near your reel, you are now ready to set up the roll cast.