Practice, Just Do It!

By Bob Cheatham, 

FFF Certified Casting Instructor.

 

 

Does a golfer practice only when he plays a round, a tennis player practice during a match, a basketball team practice only in March, a fly fisherman practice only when fishing?  Practice is a word that seems to strike fear into fly fishermen.  Hopefully, some of the following tips will help you to look forward to getting out and practicing.  Although this was written with the neophyte and beginner in mind the principles can also be applied to the more knowledgeable fly casters.

 

     1.              Know what your goals are for your practice session and stick to them

                      Your goal can be anything from just a pickup and lay down to double 

                      hauling.

 

     2.              Don't work on more than two things in a session.

 

     3.              Don't try casting for distance.  Stick to casting 25-30 feet of fly line

                      when practicing.

 

     4.              Get some hula-hoops and lay them out for targets.  Try laying three

                      hoops out starting at 20 then 25 and 30  (they don't have to be 

                      in a row).  Having something to shoot for makes things much more 

                      challenging and interesting.

 

      5.             Don't fight it.  If you are having trouble with a cast and it just seems to

                      get worse the harder you try, then stop and have a beer.

 

      6.             Try false casting but not overhead casting like you would normally do

                      when fishing.  Do the false casting horizontally from left to right.  Start

                      with 20 of fly line and concentrate on stopping the rod and experiment

                      with the length of your stroke.  When you get proficient with 20 move to

                      25 then 30.  Don't skip ahead in length because things will change, such

                      as the length of your stroke, and you don't want a sudden change you

                      want it to be gradual.

 

      7.             Now that you have had a good time and learned something in the

                      process try doing number 6 and add a double haul to it.  It is much

                      easier to learn or improve your timing when double hauling with a

                      horizontal stroke rather than an overhead stroke because you don't have

                      to fight gravity.