Fly Fishing Casting – Overhead casting

The art of fly fishing casting may look extremely difficult to the beginner angler, but with a bit of practice it is not that difficult to become a good fly caster. It is important to know how to cast with fly fishing, and it doesn’t matter what equipment or fly collection you have – if you can’t cast properly, you will not be successful. You need to be good enough at fly fishing casting to be able to land your fly at a specific target location on the water’s surface. The fundamental fly fishing casting techniques required by the novice angler are described within this article.

It is recommended that the beginner learn fly fishing casting from a fishing instructor, but there are plenty of books, DVDs, and online guides that teach fly fishing casting. The two main fly fishing casting techniques used today are the overhead cast, and the roll cast, and all other fly fishing casting techniques are variations of these two techniques. The beginner will start with the basic dry fly fishing method where a floating line is used which floats on top of the water. It is far easier for beginner anglers to see the fly line and detect a strike on the line when dry fly fishing. Also, using a bulky fly fishing vest can impede your casting stroke, and beginners are advised to use a smaller fly fishing chest pack or lumbar pack – there are a wide range of cheap Fishpond pack models to choose from for the beginner angler.

When practicing fly fishing casting it is important to ensure you practice in a location with enough clear space, such as a open field. If you want to practice 45 feet casts, it is important to have 45 feet of open space behind you as well as in front of you. For 45 foot casts also check that you have 20 feet of space on either side of you. Wear glasses or protective goggles and a hat for safety. It’s also recommended that you use a fly with no hook (called a yarn fly) on your fly fishing line. For your fly casting practice sessions, place targets out in front of you, then you must try to hit these targets when fly casting (hula-hoops can be used).

Overhead Cast

This is the most commonly used fly fishing casting technique, and most beginners should start using this technique. This technique has two sequences, the back cast, then the forward cast. With the back cast, you are lifting the fly line off the water in front of you, and up over your head until the fly line is behind you. Before the fly line touches the ground behind you, initiate the forward cast sequence. Bring the fly line back over the top of your head for the forward cast – the fly should land as near as possible to the target you were aiming for when you initiated the cast.

Roll Cast

The roll cast is used when you have obstructions behind you, such as bushes or trees, that prevent you from doing the back cast using the overhead casting technique. As the roll cast technique does not lift the line too high, it is also ideal for fishing in windy conditions. The technique for performing a roll cast is also fairly simple. Lift the fly rod up vertically until it just passes the one o’clock position, which is just past your ear. This causes the fly line to slide back on top of the water’s surface, without the line lifting off the surface. Once you are in this position, you just perform a firm forward cast to finish the cast.

For more information about saltwater fly fishing gear, take a look at the news feed for Fly Fishing Elite (Feedcat.net).

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