New Member Needing Some Pointers

[ness]

Man, I typed out a pretty long response last night on my phone, only to do something to make it all go bye-bye. So, here we go again:

Lawn casting is a good way to get the touch and timing down. By all means do it. Mark off a spot about 40-50 feet away and put a target there. Try to gently lay a fly on the target. I use a thimble -- you may want to start with something bigger That's gonna feel like a short distance, but you ultimately don't need the huge casts -- you need accuracy, and a fly landing on the water without a big mess of line and leader around it.

The stroke should be more like a hammer swing, not the old Brad Pitt 10 and 2 thing. Start behind your ear and come down. Don't try to power it out there with a big swing at the shoulder. The line should be in a vertical plane above your arm, in a u-shape turned on its side, and then line, leader and fly should land in a straight line to the target. The trick is to get all the timing and feel down. If your line is snapping, you're not letting it extend behind you long enough to straighten out and load the rod. If it's ticking the ground behind you or whacking you in the back of the head, your starting the forward cast a touch late.

Get on moving water as much as you can. You'll want to translate what you did on the lawn to the water, but the water will be pulling on your line. I'd say start with a wooly bugger like Dennis said, and cast it about 45 degrees upstream then let it drift along with the current until it swings below and behind you. You'll get strikes at any time, so watch where the line enters the water for any movement. Let it hang in the current straight behind you for a few moments. A lot of strikes come right then. Pick it up and do it again.

You might have fast current close to you, then a slower current farther out where the fly is, or vice versa. The 'mend' Podum mentioned is a quick flip up or downstream with the portion of the fly line closest to you. The idea is to negate the pull of the current on that portion of the fly line so that the fly on down the line floats with the current. You want it to float as evenly with the current as possible. You want it to float as evenly with the current as possible. You want it to float as evenly with the current as possible.

You could add a strike indicator to help you detect bites with the wooly bugger. That also helps you judge the speed of the water. You could also tie on your scuds, or really any small nymph, and work on that technique. Nymphs are more naturally presented very near the bottom, so a split shot will help get them down. You could also get some dry flies -- get them to move with the current as naturally as possible, with mends as needed.

This right here is important: Presentation trumps fly selection. Do yourself a favor and get a few of the flies recommended here and learn to fish them. They really will all catch fish. Then ignore anything you hear about this fly or that being hot, and work with what you've got.

You've fished the parks, so you know the game there. For the non-park experience, find the fish and do the above. Fish need food and protection, so look where there's deeper or broken water, or some kind of cover like a rock or a log. They love to be right at the edges of fast and slow water where they can hang in the slower current and swing out for food when needed.

[Lancer09]

I disagree with the hammer swing comment, but agree with everything else. There is a reason that casting instructors forever have had people hold something to their body with their elbow, it works.

However I'm not a proponent of that and self taught, my elbow was dancing all over the place when I learned to cast. The single thing that helped me the most was that I could let my elbow travel forward and backward, but never change elevation. Think of your elbow as if it was on a shelf. It can move forward and backward but can't drop below the shelf. Anytime you drop your elbow you slow down your fly line which is pretty much the opposite of what you want to do.

[ness]

I disagree with the hammer swing comment, but agree with everything else. There is a reason that casting instructors forever have had people hold something to their body with their elbow, it works.

However I'm not a proponent of that and self taught, my elbow was dancing all over the place when I learned to cast. The single thing that helped me the most was that I could let my elbow travel forward and backward, but never change elevation. Think of your elbow as if it was on a shelf. It can move forward and backward but can't drop below the shelf. Anytime you drop your elbow you slow down your fly line which is pretty much the opposite of what you want to do.

I was self taught too, and managed pretty well for years. About 10 years ago I fished with a guide out in CO who is a FFF certified casting instructor. He's the origin of the hammer analogy. He worked with me on my cast and it helped a lot. Broke some old habits.

I don't think we're too far apart in what we're saying. Sounds like your motion is more hammering a nail to the wall, mine is more hammering to something lower. The bigger point is to keep the shoulder out of it. A hammer motion naturally keeps the elbow at your side.