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The Overhead Cast
Step 2

 

Step 2.

The next stage of this analogy, is to now imagine that you are about to draw the number 7 with your rod tip or thumb (I will be talking a lot about thumbs when covering other casts). To achieve this you must send the rod tip upwards and backwards from it's low starting position just above the water surface, and up the leg of the number 7 to a position just past the vertical as shown on the diagram above.

This should be done by starting slowly, and progressively building up speed, making sure that the fastest part of your cast is at the very end of the stroke, (as with all casts at this stage). This will help you to bend the rod progressively, and by imparting a stop at the end of the stroke, it will also allow the rod to unload like a spring and deliver the cast upwards and backwards, so that by the time your fly line has unrolled in the air behind, it will then be parallel to the ground and ready to be delivered into the forward cast.

At this point, (the stop) allow for a short pause for the line to fully unroll in the air behind, and then deliver the cast to it's target. This is done by drawing the rod forward again, (almost using the rod as a lever) with a progressive acceleration, and as before, make yourself believe that your thumb is travelling across the top of the number 7 (i.e. in a straight line path). By bringing the rod tip to a definite stop high above the water it will allow you to achieve reasonable distances with little effort, it is only at a point after the stop, when the rods spring has unloaded and projected the line forwards, that you may then lower the rod tip to allow for a nice presentation.

This is a good technique in normal conditions, and will help to prevent the caster (especially a beginner) from delivering the line in a heap on the water. The cast will alter slightly into an oncoming wind, so by rolling the above template forward slightly this can also be achieved efficiently.

See Step 3:

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