Practicing on a rare warm February afternoon

Boston got a warm day in the upper 50’s (Fahrenheit), so I took the opportunity to get some quality casting practice in over at Jamaica Pond. The warmer weather not only made standing by the water more tolerable, it also reduced the memory¹ stuck in the line and I no longer had to worry about frost building on my on line if it sat still for half a minute.

I was far more successful this time around. I worked on my timing, increasing the pause between the backwards and forward motions, and the rod speed during the movement. With this, I had a few casts where I was able to manage the line well and get some distance. More often than not, though, my timing was off and the line would land in a crumpled heap. I didn’t expect to catch any fish today for many reasons other than my poor fly presentation (e.g., the spot I was in was very shallow, the pond was stocked before winter, it was the middle of the day, I saw no rises on the water), but I doubt I had many casts that would fool a moderately intelligent trout anyways.

This was very valuable practice though. I found that after my last practice sessions, I was able to queue in on more detailed aspects of casting tutorials or videos of fly fishermen. I was watching how they managed line, the timing and pace of their casts, and other details that I had struggled with. I’m sure I’ll have an even better reference after this session.

Some questions I have for more experienced fly fishermen:

1. What rig should I use to practice casting? I’ve been using my black Wooly Bugger because it’s easier to see and with the Parachute Adams when I dared try a lighter fly.
2. When I’m practicing, what should I be trying to do? What features should I track to determine how well each cast is?

Since no one reads this blog, I’m hoping to be able to answer these myself in the future when I have more knowledge and experience.