There’s No Such Thing as the Perfect Cast

There’s No Such Thing as the Perfect Cast

There is no such thing as the perfect cast. There are only casts that catch fish and casts that do not.

In trout fishing, how your cast takes shape doesn’t really matter as much as presentation, reading water and fly selection. The opposite is true in saltwater fly fishing, where the cast is critical. I’ve often thought that saltwater fly fishing and trout fly fishing are two entirely different sports played with the same basic equipment.

You may have heard the golf adage, “You drive for show and putt for dough.” The same is basically true with fly fishing for trout. Sexy loops might impress onlookers, but the fish don’t care how well you cast the fly; at least, not nearly as much as they care about how those flies are presented.

When I used to guide, I’d see so many people–from amateurs to self-professed experts–seize up and fail, often trading the perfect “could have been” false cast for the imploded “dammit” cast, simply because they’re paying too much attention to perfection in the air and not enough to perfection on the water surface.

The key is to relax. The cast is ultimately a game of feel, and your feel will be different from others. Find your own rhythm. Find your own stroke. There are guidelines and tips that can help you down the path of finding the cast that serves you best, but achieving that cast only comes with practice.

Definitely study the mechanics of good casting, and work hard to throw consistent, tight loops. Try to eliminate the tailing loops. Being able to throw a long, beautiful fly cast will never hurt you. But that’s not a prerequisite for being a good trout angler, no matter what anyone tells you.

In my experience, taking the pressure off yourself is the first step to becoming a good caster. Do that, and the cast will come to you, sooner rather than later. – Kirk Deeter

Castwork Profile: Rusty Vorous

The morning of our second day is slightly less windy. Rusty decides to give the Yellowstone another try. We start with a short float, then anchor beside a deep, sweeping run. Rusty wants to nymph the tailout. He grabs a rod and hikes downstream, occasionally turning over rocks in search of insect life.

Several minutes later, he is casting narrow loops of line deep into the wind and run. We just watch. Rusty uses an old Scott 7-weight Powerply rod. He prefers the softer “truer” action of the Scott to the stiffer, more mechanical, feel of many newer rods. He says most new rods simply reinforce poor casting habits and cause sore elbows. At present, it is hard to disagree with his logic, because he is pounding casts into the furthest reaches of the riffle, three times further than us. It is an amazing site, watching this diminutive silhouette double-hauling an entire fly line into a solid headwind.

We feel invited to a lesson. Rusty says the trick of a fly cast is the backcast. Legendary distance caster Steve Rajeff once taught Rusty that an angler should approach the backcast with the same effort and motion as throwing a drink in someone’s face. Accelerate with purpose.

He lets fly with a deceptively strong motion that unfurls the entire fly line, straightens the leader, and drops a weighted nymph into the middle of the Yellowstone.

“Sometimes I like to take a look at my backing knot,” he grins.

Read the entire essay from Castwork: Reflections of Fly Fishing Guides and the American West (2002).

Product Buzz

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Fly-fishing News

Check out the BONEDALE FISHING REPORTS fifteen and sixteen, featuring legendary guide, Kea Hause, from Colorado’s Roaring Fork valley. Hurricane Helene relief: Louis Cahill, of Gink and Gasoline, had considerable damage to his North Carolina home in the epicenter of flooding. You’ve seen his incredible photographic work in countless magazines, books and websites, and he’s given much to fly fishing over the years–if interested, reach out to help. Two films: Kakuhiro Nonaka has been making bamboo fly rods in Kyoto, Japan for 40 years; Hilary Hutcheson peels back the layers of her own identity, as she learns about The Tengu Club, the oldest salmon fishing club in the United States. The Mill House Podcast talks with Brian O’Keefe, iconic fly-fishing photographer, free spirit and “trout bum.” Kirk Deeter joins Tom Rosenbauer to talk about turning a fly-fishing passion into a profession. Copi Vojta of The Flyfish Journal writes about a guitar amplifier and carp: “a few sweet notes in the freshened air, a fish lazily inhaling your fly, or used gear transactions.”

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Blue Line Co.

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Flylab discount: 20% off all BLC flies.

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Madison River Fishing Company

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