How to Fly Cast Part 3/3

Here we are in the river setting itself, and we showed you in the meadow how to make the cast and the false cast and presenting the fly and so on. But in a river situation, lot of things change. You don't have a big open meadow to do all your practicing. A lot of times you have obstructions behind you, like I have here, where it may be difficult to make backcast and so on. But the first thing that I am going to do before I get into some of the other little specialty casts is, when you are actually presenting the fly to the fish, what's very important is that you don't make these casts and splash them down hard into the water, like this, that's going to alarm and alert the trout, and you are not going to catch any fish. So the thing to keep in mind is, when you are making those false cast; and I am accelerating to that stop, I am going to stop the rod and allow the fly to just gently come down to the river. I will try it again. Just like that. I am stopping the rod and allowing the fly to come down. Stopping the rod, line coming down. That's critical to your success for spooky, spooky fish. Now, the other situation that you guys can see here is, I am having a difficult time making a backcast. Before in that nice big meadow, we were able to make these big beautiful long casts, without any obstructions, but this right here, this is real life, this is what we run into every single day on the river. Those of you who may fish in the North Woods of Wisconsin, piled with trees everywhere, you don't have the luxury of making those nice false cast all the time. So I am going to teach you a cast that's very important, called the roll cast. The roll cast, the reason that I show it here instead of in the field, is a roll cast uses tension to help make the cast work. And what the roll cast is designed for is this situation. I am standing here up against all of this stuff, I can't make a good clean backcast. So what I am going to do with the roll cast is I am going to have a little bit of line out; let me get started here, I am going to have a little bit of line out. I am going to hold that line tight in my left hand, and I am going to lift the tip up slowly and smoothly, just like this, until my line stops. Now, you can see it's a two-part cast, the line is kind of bellied behind me, behind my ear, like this, and all that I am going to do is I am going to accelerate hard to a stop on a front cast. So it's basically a smooth stroke backwards to a stop, and accelerate hard forward. And that's going to allow me to deliver the fly without the backcast. Well, you use this cast all the time, and a lot of those small streams, where you can only pick your way down the river because its lined with trees, this is a perfect situation for sneaking up, making the cast to the fish, maybe take a step or two downstream, slow and smooth, accelerate hard to a stop. The angle that we have here is really quite nice to show that roll cast to. So you can see how it actually rolls out. That's what the name is all about, the line rolls back out. I will do it one more time, so you can take a look at it. Alright. The other cast that I am going to quick touch on is something that's called a steeple cast is. What the steeple cast is for is, I have this high bank here, and say a real tall grass, what I am going to do is I am going to just lift the rod up high; see how I bring my arm up, and bring the cast back down, arm up, cast down. This will allow you to get up and over obstructions. So instead of just shooting the line right behind your shoulder, I am kind of shooting it up into the air and back down, up into the air and back down, and that will allow you to present that fly to the fish as well. Now, the casting, as I had said earlier, is the single most important component of catching fish. We can show you what flies to use, we can't make the cast for you. So it is absolutely mandatory that you guys get out there, learn as much as you can. I would highly recommend getting in touch with a qualified casting instructor who can help you out and take you to the next level. And keep your education going, keep learning, take classes. Go out with a guide. Do as much as you possibly can to better yourself as a fly caster. That is my key to you, and we will see you on the river. You are ready Derril?