Bad caster, good caster? Everyone could benefit from watching this

[afishinado]

I will add, the people I've taught to fly fish advanced the quickest when they decided to fly fish or not fish.

I agree ^

If an angler "goes both ways" so to speak, with respect to spin and fly-fishing, that's great for them.

But when someone doesn't bail and fly fishes through all conditions like wind, high water, low water, cold water, fish "not in the mood", etc. one learns how to FF under all conditions and become successful.......or just "happy to be out there"

 

[Nocktavius]

Though my above posts in this thread were jokes, I’m a bad caster from a technical perspective. I don’t care. I still have fun and (usually) catch plenty of fish still. No one else should care either.

In order of decreasing importance:

Presentation ( a drag free drift)>> wading ability and positioning > rigging and fly selection (for optimal positioning in the column) > casting

That trout 60 feet away from you is just as happy to refuse a bad drift as one that is 15-20’ away. And by the time you deal with 6 different conflicting currents between you and the fish, you’ve relegated yourself to 3 flat pools in a whole 15 mile stretch of river that are jam packed with retirees.

 

[Swattie87]

In order of decreasing importance:

Presentation (mending for a drag free drift)>> wading ability and positioning > rigging and fly selection (for optimal positioning in the column) > casting

That trout 60 feet away from you is just as happy to refuse a bad drift as one that is 15-20’ away. And by the time you deal with 6 different conflicting currents between you and the fish, you’ve relegated yourself to 3 flat pools in a whole 15 mile stretch of river that are jam packed with retirees.

I’m also not very good at those other things. Again, I also (mostly) don’t care. Fly fishing is fun for me. I like finding and exploring new places, I’m pretty good at that.

If I wanted to work more (I don’t), I’d just adjust more insurance claims instead.

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

When I "discovered" that Drift > Casting, I stopped beating myself up about my bad casting. I also wound up catching more fish/outing and - even better - fewer knotted/twisted tippets because I stopped trying to cast like a hero. The fun is in the past-time and not the precision mechanics of the method. Still... I don't turn down unsolicited advice from folks who can cast all the way across the river.

 

[dudemanspecial]

A lot of these comments are mixing good casting with distance casting.

Good casting is done at real fishing distances. Mending, line control and drift are all a part of being good at casting.

 

[afishinado]

A lot of these comments are mixing good casting with distance casting.

Good casting is done at real fishing distances. Mending, line control and drift are all a part of being good at casting.

Agree, beat me to it.

Casting with accuracy at "fishing distances" is most important. Accuracy also means landing the fly, tippet and leader as well as the fly line in the best way to begin your presentation. I agree, a good presentation is most important thing for success. And a good presentation actually begins with a good cast.

 

[poopdeck]

That video was about as boring as a river runs through it. At least the three minutes I was able to watch was before running from my iPad screaming. I’v never had a lesson, never watched a video and I never read a book about it. I have no idea if others cast like me or I’m all alone. I could not care less what others think of my casting. I throw my line out there and sometimes it comes back with a fish on it just like all those great casters I hear about. I’ll leave the marveling at your own casting ability to those who only fly fish. I just go fishing.

 

[krayfish2]

In posts #25 and #26, the phrases "real fishing distances" / "fishing distance" were used. If angler 1 belly crawls at the letort to get off a 6' cast at a fish they stalked for an hour vs angler
2 near Trenton double hauling it 80' to cover a pool during the shad run..... With almost 75' of difference, which is a "real fishing distance"? Just because a person doesn't get the opportunity to fish 60' or further away doesn't eliminate it from being a "real fishing distance". Sometimes you can not close the distance due to water depth / speed, sometimes making a few steps will spook the fish or sometimes you just say "wonder if I can get that fish from here".

Don't get me wrong, trying to fish across 4 currents isn't anyone's first choice but it's going to catch more fish than not taking a cast. If an angler is deadly at 58', I like the chance of them being deadly at 15'. Reverse that and I'm not so confident the accuracy will transfer.

Good mechanics are easy to pick up. General knowledge of fly casting... also easily accessible. No angler can ever be hurt by improving on those 2 things.

The thing that troubles most anglers in my experience is line control. That's the thing that takes the most work IMHO.

 

[dudemanspecial]

In posts #25 and #26, the phrases "real fishing distances" / "fishing distance" were used. If angler 1 belly crawls at the letort to get off a 6' cast at a fish they stalked for an hour vs an angler near Trenton double hauling it 80' to cover a pool during the shad run..... With almost 75' of difference, which is a "real fishing distance"? Just because a person doesn't get the opportunity to fish 60' or further away doesn't eliminate it from being a "real fishing distance". Sometimes you can not close the distance due to water depth / speed, sometimes making a few steps will spook the fish or sometimes you just say "wonder if I can get that fish from here".

Don't get me wrong, trying to fish across 4 currents isn't anyone's first choice but it's going to catch more fish than not taking a cast. If an angler is deadly at 58', I like the chance of them being deadly at 15'. Reverse that and I'm not so confident the accuracy will transfer.

Good mechanics are easy to pick up. General knowledge of fly casting... also easily accessible. No angler can ever be hurt by improving on those 2 things.

The thing that troubles most anglers in my experience is line control. That's the thing that takes the most work IMHO.

I agree 100%. My comment was more relative to what the other posters was saying about not being good casters. I feel like the narrative with a few of the posts was that being a good caster wasn't important at short range. I think that is just not true. In fact I would say its more important due to less time to mend and get your drift set up.

And lets be honest here.....the majority of waters in PA are not conducive to 80' casts. I am not saying there aren't any, but generally speaking most guys posting here are talking about fishing Penns and the like.

 

[wildtrout2]

I feel like the narrative with a few of the posts was that being a good caster wasn't important at short range. I think that is just not true. In fact I would say its more important due to less time to mend and get your drift set up.

I specifically mentioned the importance of accuracy on small streams in my previous post. On small, tight streams, you're often forced to be pretty close to the trout, when you have to make that first cast count.

 

[krayfish2]

I agree 100%. My comment was more relative to what the other posters was saying about not being good casters. I feel like the narrative with a few of the posts was that being a good caster wasn't important at short range. I think that is just not true. In fact I would say its more important due to less time to mend and get your drift set up.

And lets be honest here.....the majority of waters in PA are not conducive to 80' casts. I am not saying there aren't any, but generally speaking most guys posting here are talking about fishing Penns and the like.

Agree totally. If you can drop it in a coffee mug 7 out of 10 times from 20', you can murder it on 98% of PA streams. Lehigh, Delaware, Susky and other large waters often ask you to keep the accuracy and apply a lot more distance. While bass fishing is deemed simple compared to trout, a breezy day on the Susky makes 95% of people look helpless. 😁

 

[rancid waders]

This morning I had the 8 out in the yard, first since February and it felt damn good. Nothing replaces practice. Ever.

 

[tomgamber]

Nothing replaces practice. Ever.

That's what bluegills are for.