One of the great fly fishing skills is knowing where to put the fly. The greatest frustration in fly fishing is knowing where to put the fly and not being able to put it there!!
The above image shows me delivering a nice cast to target, having identified that magical nervous water. It has not always been that way.
We all have to start somewhere. For me that was a small stream holding wild browns. If that sounds idyllic, it’s not when your casting is inconsistent, your wrist thrashes around, your timing is off, the line is out of control. In wild places, this means your fly spends more time in undergrowth than water. When it lands on water, it’s often with the grace of a house brick! Frustration was the word.
Having overcome my casting issues on stream (or so I thought) I caught an increasing number of beautiful browns. When I started to visit a couple of lakes, I found catching trout patrolling margin areas great fun. I was also successful regularly. However if a fishery is busy, trout generally move further away from banks. You guessed it, my self taught, small stream casting technique was not up to the job. At around 40 feet I’d tail the loop perfectly every time. Argh, the frustration!
This is where we come to a fork in the road! On one side we fail, give up and drop out. The other way leads to life long learning, enjoyment and ultimate success. When I want to do something, the latter route is always going to be my chosen path!
I’ve said before, I like finding things out for myself. That can be a very slow route for some things, though highly rewarding if time is on your side. It dawned on me that I needed help, I followed much of my strategy outlined here in order to, in this instance, transform my fly casting.
This single action combined with subsequent practice made all the difference to my enjoyment of fly fishing, my success and creating a platform that ultimately led me to now.
If you can identify with some of the above journey, I hope you’ve found encouragement to move forward with your fly fishing. Modern learning methods mean you can shortcut the learning curve more than ever. If you would like know more, join me here.
The video below is an example of a fantastic adaptation to deliver your fly to where it needs to be.
Have fun!
SJY