Diagnosing Your Cast | The Principles of Fly Casting | Analysis and Diagnosis

ED JAWOROWSKI

Analysis and Diagnosis
To diagnose any cast, observe the loop in the line as it unrolls. It usually provides all the information you need to improve a cast. Note the loop shape, size, direction, energy/speed, and angle relative to the rod tip.

By shape I mean symmetry, which is more important than whether the loop is wide or narrow. Asymmetrical loops belie inefficiency. In terms of size, tight loops are more desirable than wide loops, most of the time.

You can determine the direction or trajectory of a cast (straight, downward, upward) by comparing the location of the tip when the rod starts to load with its location when the rod straightens. Simply connect the two points.

As for energy, a line must travel with enough energy to turn over the required length of line, leader, and fly, but no more than needed. If the line and leader fail to carry the desired distance, the rod lacked load and a faster hand acceleration and stop are required.

Finally, the angle between the rod and the line when the rod starts to load is critical. For short casts, the angle may be approximately 90 degrees but should be progressively larger, up to 180 degrees with the rod and fly line forming a straight line, for casts that require maximum rod load. If you understand and accept these ideas, you can diagnose your casts, and decide how to remedy them.

Once you determine what part of your cast needs to be fixed, practice just that element. Decide first what you want the line to do and where you want it to go. For example, for a longer cast, continuously speed the hand over a longer distance and do not stroke downward. It's easier to achieve this by canting the rod more to the side when conditions permit. Repeat this forward stroke endlessly, casting the line off the ground behind you, until it feels comfortable and natural.

If you are casting into a wind, stroke so the rod tip directs the line straight into the wind when it unloads. Don't chop down toward the water. The easiest way to achieve this is to start your forward cast with the rod well to the rear. If you want the line to hook to the

right or left, the rod tip must snap straight in that direction. To make this happen, make a quick turn of your hand just before you stop. Practice these and all other strokes over and over. Try to master them one at a time, casting with your rod and arm in different positions: overhead, side arm, over your opposite shoulder, short, long, downward, and upward. Through it all, keep your body and arm as loose and relaxed as possible. Tension restricts movement.

Remember, don't start with instruction; start with physics. You can only use, or abuse, the principles. They explain why casts work and why they don't. They tell you what you have to do to make certain casts, as well as what you are doing wrong in others. So when someone asks me, for example, whether the wrist should bend, the elbow move, or the rod go beyond 1 o'clock, my answer is always "maybe."

Creating Slack
Sometimes good-looking casts don't travel as far or as fast as we expect and the cause is overlooked or wrongly diagnosed. Often it's because casters unknowingly unload the rod while they are trying to load it by not moving the line hand.

The solution is to let the line hand move back with the rod hand on the backcast and lead the rod hand during the forward cast, so there is no appreciable difference in the distance between the hands. It is most efficient to have the line hand move away from the rod hand while the rod hand is speeding up. That's how hauls work. [For more on this topic, see the on-line article "Learning the Double Haul" by Lefty Kreh. The Editor.]