Casting

[MikeA]

I was wondering how many of you actually enjoy casting. I came from a conventional gear background and though there’s plenty of skill involved in casting gear and getting the lure into the right location it’s just different.
There’s something so satisfying about casting a fly rod that when done right it defies explanation. Often when I’m daydreaming about fishing I picture myself in a wide shallow riffle with tall limestone cliffs in front of me, and  river bank dotted with giant sycamore trees behind me. More often then not the dream is of me casting a line to a far away seam created by a fallen tree or rock pile and hitting the mark just right. Rarely does my dream include me catching a fish. (Imagine that, that’s no dream that’s reality )
Just being in the water and casting a line in Gods great creation is usually all it takes for me to be satisfied in my little make believe world. The sound of the line being pulled off the water and the sight when all the excess water on the line, fly, and indicator, atomizes in the sunlight as it’s snapped in the opposite direction on the back cast. These are the sights that I replay over and over.
 Nothing else matters while your line is in the air except timing the rod stroke so that your fly lands in just the right spot. The modern world and all its problems just fade away while you move your rod in rhythm with the song of river. 

[Steve H]

Mike, I have really been enjoying casting more and more. I think that comes from some good teaching (thank you) and focusing of being more technically correct in my casting which in turn, helps my fishing (note, I didn't say catching).

The more I fish, the more I learn, the more I learn, the better I get, in turn, I enjoy life and the world more.

[RonS]

My short answer is yes, I enjoy casting. The long answer you provided for me better than I could have said myself. Thank you.

It's about grace and rhythm and timing. It's not about stress and brute force.

When it's right, it's like bowling a strike, hitting a golf ball perfectly. Dusting a clay pigeon double. Immediate reward. Immediate satisfaction. It's a good thing.

[grumpy]

well, how else are ya going to get the line out

Grumpy

[TimM]

Just being in the water and casting a line in Gods great creation is usually all it takes for me to be satisfied in my little make believe world. The sound of the line being pulled off the water and the sight when all the excess water on the line, fly, and indicator, atomizes in the sunlight as it’s snapped in the opposite direction on the back cast.

Oh come on Mike. I've been in the boat with you enough to witness more than one of your, well, hissy fits is what you call them, over a tangled line or missed strike.  Hard to square that response over seemingly nothing in my book, with your "A River Runs Through It" prose here...and imagine that...here I am a lowly, despicable "gear fisherman" and I don't think anyone here has ever witnessed me "going nonlinear" as my family describes it.   It's all gear man...it's just a matter of what kind of gear and none is inherently superior to another relative to the quality of experience. The quality of the experience originates within the fisherman not the gear.

 



JUST PLAYING WITH YOU MIKE.  I've enjoyed every fishing trip we've shared.

Tim

[MikeA]

well, how else are ya going to get the line out

Grumpy

I can get the line out there with a Zebco 202 Grumpy.

[MikeA]

Fly casting from the back of a boat with "line catchers" everywhere, in an open bay with 20mph winds blowing can get a fly person a little on edge. Watch the weather take a nasty turn the day you arrive after driving 800 miles to do it and....  I mean hey, I didn’t give up, and finally got used to it without hooking you or me with a big ole clouser. That's an accomplishment in itself. 

Like I said There IS something about the fly cast that makes it more enjoyable to me.
I've never stood in my yard and cast conventional gear for an hour. I do this almost weekly with my fly rods and I bet alot of the other fly fishermen here do the same. It's the prettiest way I know to get a lure from point a to point b.


I'm not implying that one way is more enjoyable over another to anyone but myself. I enjoy it more. The challenge, even when it pisses me off sometimes is what keeps me coming back for more.
 

[TimM]

Fly casting from the back of a boat with "line catchers" everywhere, in an open bay with 20mph winds blowing can get a fly person a little on edge. Watch the weather take a nasty turn the day you arrive after driving 800 miles to do it and....  I mean hey, I didn’t give up, and finally got used to it without hooking you or me with a big ole clouser. That's an accomplishment in itself. 

Well...actually I was thinking about a July afternoon on the Caney when seemingly out of the blue a fly box was launched from the front of your boat off your toe when I wrote that Mike.   

Whatever though..it matters not. Like I said I was mostly just yanking your chain a little bit...and venting a little work related frustration myself.   

Cast away all with your weapons of preference!

[Mike Hill]

It's funny, I've never given much thought about casting.  Probably the reason I have only one or twice stood in my yard practicing.  So far in my flyfishing journey, I've viewed casting much as I view a vehicle.  For me a vehicle simply gets me from point A to point B with the added necessity of carrying something to my job or for our business.  Satellite radios, power seats, shiny paint jobs, rag tops, even to some extent A/C, etc.... are of very minor importance to me as well as what people think about my rides.  Casting, I guess, is the same for me.  As Mike said, it gets the lure from point A to point B. in the most efficient way possible.  The only technique that I have tried to make fit a standard mold is my batting swing - it is rather standard.  Much of the rest of my life doesn't fit a standard but not for any other reason other than certain things work better for me the way I do them.  My thinking is if it works who cares how it looks or if it fits someone's standard.  If swinging a rod underhand while hanging with one hand from a tree while whistling the theme song from Andy Griffith works best for me - that is the technique I will use even though we are supposed to set up a metronome so we can get our four part rhythm going while we set the rod through a 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock arc with a stiff wrist.  My contention is, that the reason I may not be as accurate as another has less to do with the lack of use of a technique and more to do with not as much practice.  Maybe that is why I have never seriously thought I should take up aviation or skydiving!

However with all that being said, give me some cane and casting takes on a whole new thrill.

[MikeA]

Mike why would anyone want to cast with a piece of Grass? 

BTW I was all smiles as I typed that. 

[Mike Hill]

Didn't your fingers hit the wrong keys and meant to type CLass instead of GRass.

 

Anyhows, if people trust their life to bamboo by building multistory construction scaffolding from it, it ought to be good for rods shouldn't it??  I don't think I have ever seen any scaffolding built out of carbon!!! 

[icthus]

I enjoy casting in the water as long as there is a chance that I catch something.  I admit I spend time in my front yard practicing, mostly because I dont want to do chores around the house.    When I first began I would read about casting, go out and practice, read more about casting, and cast some more.  I love the sound of the line as it cuts the air first thing in the morning.  I love hearing others reels warming up as the first line is pulled.  Come to think of it, I like casting, infact I have a couple of pictures in my fishing room of me just casting.

Something I never thought of,

Icthus

[Caneybuff]

"When it's right, it's like bowling a strike, ..."

yeah, good analogy Ron, but when I bowl a strike, I can't remember what I did to make it happen.   More in my case I might compare the feeling of a really good cast to hitting a baseball right on the screws, (back in my younger days) and the whole rest of the world disappears right there... and yes Mike it's the stuff of really good dreams .... but the sad part is that I've seldom bowled a strike, seldom did I smack a homerun when I played ball, and I seldom make a cast as beautiful as Mike described ...  although I get to see several of my fishing buds make casts that make my rod suddenly seem like a 2x4 in my hand .. But, I can usually cast to where I want the fly to be, if I can wade out far enough or the boat captain moves in a bit closer.

and my dreams consist, too, of gin clear water over a cobbled river bottom where there are stacked huge beautiful trout that refuse to take a fly.

but, I do love casting a fly rod, especially a grass rod, and I hope one of these days I will do it right consistently...  thank goodness I don't dream of tangles and knots .. guess I don't need to dream of those, I get to see plenty of them when I'm awake.