Fly fishing: Do I need to practice casting before I get on the water for the first time?
Apr 20, 2021 19:27:07 #
Jwid
Loc: Lake Killarney, Ironton, MO
saw1 wrote:
Aren't you USUALLY better off practicing ANYTHING before actually doin it for the first time 
Really, how much time do you have fishing? If you have a place and time before your trip, practice. If not learn on the water, but you’ll have a better time on the water if you have a little skill.
Apr 21, 2021 08:06:05 #
LRak
Loc: ALBANY, Ny
Practice helps for sure, but don’t focus on huge false casts or distance early on. Focus on casting 45 degrees upstream within 25 feet, mending line and gently flipping it back when it reaches downstream. You’ll catch most fish at that distance.
Apr 21, 2021 08:06:18 #
LRak
Loc: ALBANY, Ny
Practice helps for sure, but don’t focus on huge false casts or distance early on. Focus on casting 45 degrees upstream within 25 feet, mending line and gently flipping it back when it reaches downstream. You’ll catch most fish at that distance.
Apr 21, 2021 10:13:33 #
Apr 21, 2021 10:16:44 #
Able Man
Loc: North Coast (Cleveland, Ohio)
Retired george wrote:
Definitely practice. Obstacles like trees will make your first day very difficult without practice.
Obstacles like trees, can be fished under, by using the "roll cast". (I don't know if they teach that online... We used to use it, up near the bank, sometimes, to get under low hanging limbs.)
Apr 22, 2021 07:46:47 #
Capt. Lou
Loc: PA
The very basic ingredient of fly fishing / casting is to make sure your outfit is properly lined ! Many fly rods perform better with different tapers / weights to fit your casting style !
If you have a fishing buddy ask him or local fly shop to evaluate your outfit by putting it in the hands of someone that can cast and make sure it works as it should !
Many lower end outfits suffer from line miss match , not always weight but horrible tapers !
You as a complete novice cannot recognize these issues get someone that can and that can get you started correctly !
If you have a fishing buddy ask him or local fly shop to evaluate your outfit by putting it in the hands of someone that can cast and make sure it works as it should !
Many lower end outfits suffer from line miss match , not always weight but horrible tapers !
You as a complete novice cannot recognize these issues get someone that can and that can get you started correctly !
Apr 22, 2021 08:34:09 #
FixorFish
Loc: SW Oregon
Short answer...OF COURSE YOU NEED TO PRACTICE !!
Saw1 said it best.
Casting a fly is nothing like a spincast, spinning, or baitcaster. Rather than a lure or baited hook, it's the LINE and your manipulation of IT, in tandem with the rod's action/power and your rhythm that puts the fly where you intend it to be.
Foolish to just head out naively and inexperienced, and expect anything shy of frustration and/or embarrassment if someone happens to be watching...... not to mention, you'll likely scare off every fish within a hundred yards of you.
Best is to find a "coach", check with your local flyshop, many give lessons or can hook you up with an experienced teacher or a seminar. Many are free this way......they want you as a customer, they want you to be "hooked" on buying gear for years.
Shy of that, watch some YouTube and hit the backyard or park. Practice by "landing" your chosen practice fly (a piece of bright-colored yarn is a good choice) in a marked 3'-5' diameter area from different spots, distance-wise and wind/breeze angles-wise.
Just be glad you aren't a 9 year-old who, in 1962, naively asked his great-uncle to teach him to flyfish and was shown the basics of casting and presented with a combo to take home and practice with..... to achieve the ability to put a very tiny split shot on the leader and "plink" a bucket 30'-40' away.......3 TIMES IN A ROW !! "Don't want to spend my fishing time getting you untangled", I was told.
Took me many, many hours in the backyard over a nearly 2yr period to achieve that seemingly impossible task, but I persevered.
At age 11, my Uncle Gene took me to the White River, not far from his home in Joplin (Webb City, actually) and made me into a lifelong fly guy......and "didn't have to pick you out of the bushes even once, each caught a couple, all in all, a really great day, wouldn't you say ?"
Yes....yes it was....R.I.P. Uncle Gene (aka "Brother Love", a hellfire and brimstone Presbyterian minister, who in his early years, had great "tent meetings" in the Ozarks that apparently inspired a Neil Diamond song, or so the family legend goes. (🎶"Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies and everyone goes, everyone knows....'bout Brother Love's show...🎶🎶) Even wore a necktie, suit vest and fingerless leather gloves and wicker creel while fishing.... the spot-on image portrayed by Tom Skerritt, the father figure (also a Presbyterian minister, of the same era !) in the film "A River Runs Through It")
Saw1 said it best.
Casting a fly is nothing like a spincast, spinning, or baitcaster. Rather than a lure or baited hook, it's the LINE and your manipulation of IT, in tandem with the rod's action/power and your rhythm that puts the fly where you intend it to be.
Foolish to just head out naively and inexperienced, and expect anything shy of frustration and/or embarrassment if someone happens to be watching...... not to mention, you'll likely scare off every fish within a hundred yards of you.
Best is to find a "coach", check with your local flyshop, many give lessons or can hook you up with an experienced teacher or a seminar. Many are free this way......they want you as a customer, they want you to be "hooked" on buying gear for years.
Shy of that, watch some YouTube and hit the backyard or park. Practice by "landing" your chosen practice fly (a piece of bright-colored yarn is a good choice) in a marked 3'-5' diameter area from different spots, distance-wise and wind/breeze angles-wise.
Just be glad you aren't a 9 year-old who, in 1962, naively asked his great-uncle to teach him to flyfish and was shown the basics of casting and presented with a combo to take home and practice with..... to achieve the ability to put a very tiny split shot on the leader and "plink" a bucket 30'-40' away.......3 TIMES IN A ROW !! "Don't want to spend my fishing time getting you untangled", I was told.
Took me many, many hours in the backyard over a nearly 2yr period to achieve that seemingly impossible task, but I persevered.
At age 11, my Uncle Gene took me to the White River, not far from his home in Joplin (Webb City, actually) and made me into a lifelong fly guy......and "didn't have to pick you out of the bushes even once, each caught a couple, all in all, a really great day, wouldn't you say ?"
Yes....yes it was....R.I.P. Uncle Gene (aka "Brother Love", a hellfire and brimstone Presbyterian minister, who in his early years, had great "tent meetings" in the Ozarks that apparently inspired a Neil Diamond song, or so the family legend goes. (🎶"Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies and everyone goes, everyone knows....'bout Brother Love's show...🎶🎶) Even wore a necktie, suit vest and fingerless leather gloves and wicker creel while fishing.... the spot-on image portrayed by Tom Skerritt, the father figure (also a Presbyterian minister, of the same era !) in the film "A River Runs Through It")
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