Tag Archives: how to

Gentle Casts

How to fly cast gently.

One fly casting technique that proves itself very valuable in the saltwater world is learning how to lay down the fly and line gently. Producing gentle casts can mean great catching and less spooking of the fish you are stalking.

The real challenge though is performing these gentle casts while your eyeballs are popping out of your own head in your excitement! Staying calm and not rushing the cast produces more hookups than trying to rush and hitting the fish too hard.

Here in this clip you can see David does a great job maintaining his composure. This pod of redfish are tailing along the spartina grass edges. You can hear us whispering to each other as he makes 3 casts in order to get the crab fly in the right spot.

On such a calm day you can be sure those fish would have spooked had the fly been too heavy or if he had cast “down” at the fish. Communication on the skiff in the moment is also key to our success.

Landing the fly softly is achieved by aiming your casting loop about eye level above the fish. When presenting the fly, be a little more gentle on the final forward stroke.

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David learned to keep his feet quite and got to work with several schools of healthy reds

To do this, stop the rod tip early in your forward cast. Leave it up a bit longer than usual as you let the weight of the fly line gently pull the rod down. It would go from the 1 or 2 o’clock position down in front to the horizontal position.

With a little routine practice, you can use your line hand to feather it all down slowly. This will help the fly line lay out straight and gentle. That way the fly lands right and softly. For those redfish, you want to be able to move the fly on the first strip. Then you will be able to set the hook properly. And that hungry redfish will then gulp down your crab fly. Fish on!

Book your fly casting lesson (off water) and then lets take it to the fish and put what you learned to the test!

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Big Fly Combat Missions – Fly Line Control required

While average size baits in the 2-5inch range seem to be prolific most of the year, quite a few large gamefish can be caught using a technique which is extremely effective when larger baitfish are present, thus making it possible to use the larger flies which can produce some very large fish. Line control during casting is the most critical key in success and it will most certainly get your heart beating when a huge predatory fish lunges out of the darkness and swallows your 7-9 inch fly in plain sight!

Although the typical approach to fishing these seriously big flies on weighted fly lines is the typical dredging technique where the fly and line is simply laid in the water (not really cast) and allowed to sink as the boat drifts away but this standard big fly technique can be slow-paced and most anglers can find it boring.

The other technique which I call the “rifling method” incorporates more of an extended & intense workout with breaks in between fishing holes… It is a seriously active technique in fly fishing, which requires a good strong casting arm, a mean double-haul and an ability to maintain line control in a way which has the fly line land straight with line tight. This is necessary because this technique draws instinctual bites from huge predatory fish and they will move on it within the first 15 seconds the fly hits the water and explains why it is necessary to have the fly moving back toward yourself as soon as it hits the water. The difficulty is solved by making the cast complete in 1, 2, 3 powerful strokes and distance isn’t a problem with these heavy sinking lines as long as line control is maintained. Casting parallel or at slight angles to these ledges and breaks in terrain is the key.

Big fish regularly prowl the deep & dark edges along shallow sandbars and other hard breaks along underwater terrain. It is on these second and third points of an estuary where large baitfish are ambushed violently.

Sitting in deep water close to the most vertical shoreline with a steep slope yet one that flattens out enough on the top edge to hold a few feet of water is important. This is a perfect location for big fish to sit in the dark shadows down below and look up onto the edge of a carving shelf and when it sees helpless baitfish it races up and grabs the fly and heads back to the deep to reposition its food for better swallowing.

Deploying these tactics can bring a huge rush of adrenaline to the sport and is certainly exciting in locations where big fish roam the oceans, gulfs, bays and estuaries frequently. Give it a try next time the variables are right (location/large forage present) and let me know how it turns out! I can think of a dozen species where this combat technique would produce very large results during several periods throughout the seasons! Give it a whirl and worst case there is nothing wrong with a little strength training!



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