Earlier in the week, I protected this Sunday morning for practicing my fly casting. Lately, I have been putting in some hours on the grass along the Charles, but today I chose to bike to Jamaica Pond and get some practice casting on the water.
I tied on an elk hair caddis and got to flailing my stick at the water. I got better with time, but was clearly struggling. Every now and then, a cast would feel and look good, but most often, the line would drop in a pile.
Eventually, a fellow angler walked by and, taking pity on my obvious naïveté, offered to give me some guidance. I handed him the rod and he immediately began casting with ease. He had perfect control of the line, both backwards and forwards. The loops were tight and clean. The line would settle gently on the surface, fully extended. He made it look so effortless, as I watched rubbing my tiring shoulder.
His advice was that I was dropping the tip of the rod to low on the back cast. Keeping it higher would allow the rod to load properly under the weight of the line. Of course I wasn’t immediately an expert fly caster, but this drastically improved my form. I was able to cast straighter and further than before. When I remembered to keep the tip higher as well as “start slow, finish fast” on both the backward and forward motions, I actually performed some good casts.
I practiced for an hour or so longer, accompanied by a few bluegills swimming amongst my feet, nipping at my sandals. When the rain picked up, I called it a day, but I was happy with my progress and grateful for some generous feedback.