For those considering a fly-casting class.

[tjm]

I'll bet Papaw taught you a lot more than you realized. The key to teaching kids that kind of stuff is to let them 'invent' it.

The Lefty thing was just a fluke really, I saw a sign for a "fishing expo" or "outdoor expo" and turned in. Wasn't seeking fly rod instruction, but the guy was there and I knew who he was, so I watched his show and afterwards chatted a few minutes. The casting fault hadn't really bothered me often because I didn't use that cast when fishing. My aerial casting is generally leader only in places too small for roll casting. I never did learn that bow cast either and I have never really been any place that I thought it would help

[fishinwrench]

5 hours ago, fshndoug said:

I can say that saltwater flyfishing requires more skill than most freshwater applications

What?    like how to levitate 10 feet over the water, type of skill ?   

Cuz when you're wading a flat, 150 yards from dry land, and a 12' shark starts chasing the bonefish you just hooked...... you'd better know how to Flip a Pallet !

 

[tjm]

 I'm not sure how how salt water requires any more skill than any other fishing, long aerial casts are helpful but other than that the salt I fished when I lived by the Atlantic was mostly luck of being at the right place when the fish were there. Follow the tide chart and wade a long long ways and start blind casting. The stuff about I've read about Gulf/Keys fishing sounded similar but more often using a guide and a boat to sight cast, but it's still a matter of being in the right place at the right time. The skill might be in predicting where in the zillion square miles of ocean that gamefish and the baitfish are going to be on a given tide, but that's most often on the guide, isn't it?

[netboy]

The saltwater fly fishing along the lower Texas coast where I used to live did require much more casting skill than fishing a river for trout. It was mostly wade fishing in very shallow water and sight casting to redfish that were either tailing or cruising in water so shallow that their backs were out of the water. It was very similar to bonefishing on the sandy flats, but I think the reds were even spookier than the few bonefish I have caught. Once you see a redfish or a pod of fish, you need to wade into position to intercept them as they were always moving. Next you need to place your fly a couple feet ahead of them so as not to spook them. All this with the prevailing winds that usually are blowing. Also, it did require a fairly long cast as they would spook if you got too close. 

[FishnDave]

16 hours ago, BilletHead said:

    P.S I do manage to catch some nice fish though anyway you look at it  . 

That's the goal, right?  I may not be good at it, but I figure as long as I'm catching fish, I'm doing it "right enough". 😬

[fshndoug]

Netboy knows what I am talking about.

 

[tjm]

4 hours ago, netboy said:

as they were always moving.

That's what I meant about the luck of being in the right place.  You cast straight to some place in front of the fish and it might find the fly. Not like casting across multiple  currents with aerial mends  precisely placing the fly so that the thread of current will carry the fly to the rising trout. I've watched spinning rod anglers wading  the salt 1/4 mile from land and casting a long long ways farther than a fly line catch fish when the fish came to that area and just spend the afternoon casting when the fish went someplace else.  Luck. Or skill at predicting the travel routes.

They say that in western  places that are "technical trout waters" you must cast more  60' with leaders over 16' and land the fly in a 10-12" circle with enough tippet slack to get a prolonged  drift, and enough mends that the line doesn't create drag or go fishless. I've never fished Silver Creek or Henry's Fork or the other so called technical streams and I can't cast like that, but I can appreciate the casting skill of those who do. On the upper Delaware the guys all claim 60'-70' casts and leaders no less than 18' .

[netboy]

6 hours ago, tjm said:

That's what I meant about the luck of being in the right place.  You cast straight to some place in front of the fish and it might find the fly. Not like casting across multiple  currents with aerial mends  precisely placing the fly so that the thread of current will carry the fly to the rising trout. I've watched spinning rod anglers wading  the salt 1/4 mile from land and casting a long long ways farther than a fly line catch fish when the fish came to that area and just spend the afternoon casting when the fish went someplace else.  Luck. Or skill at predicting the travel routes.

They say that in western  places that are "technical trout waters" you must cast more  60' with leaders over 16' and land the fly in a 10-12" circle with enough tippet slack to get a prolonged  drift, and enough mends that the line doesn't create drag or go fishless. I've never fished Silver Creek or Henry's Fork or the other so called technical streams and I can't cast like that, but I can appreciate the casting skill of those who do. On the upper Delaware the guys all claim 60'-70' casts and leaders no less than 18' .

Here is a picture of some reds on the prowl. We had very little tidal movement in the Laguna Madre so the reds would move into the wind blown current. Pretty challenging fishing, but exciting when it all came together. One bad cast into the middle of the pod and they were gone... a good cast out in front of the pod and they were fighting for your fly.