Adjusting to a fast action rod

[speedbird]

I quite like my new Boost Blue. I can feel it load my rio outbound short much better than my Base, and while they still need improvement I am able to double haul, which i struggled to with the Base.

That said, I've noticed my casts have gotten a little shorter, from a 50-70 average down to a 40-55. Are there any specific considerations to keep in mind casting a faster rod?

 

[Scudley Do Right]

Also with a shooting head try for one false cast. I roll cast and one false cast that should be enough to get 30' out of the tip.

 

[ffb]

Took me a couple months but I finally got a friend to record a video of me casting. I attached a video of me with the OBS and one with my friends softer action scientific anglers rod fitted with a kit floating line. Funny enough I think I am casting the cheap line further, albeit with more false casts. Looking at the video, I am grossly underestimating the amount of false casts I make: I thought I was doing 2-4, looks more like I am doing 6-8!!! I also notice that I am bringing my front cast a little further than the back cast. Thank you for all the offers of feedback, I will greatly appreciate any and all that can improve my casting skills.

iCloud Photos - Apple iCloud

View, organize, and share photos and videos with iCloud Photos on the web. Changes will sync across your devices with iCloud.

share.icloud.com

First off, I am freaking terrible at teaching fly casting. So I apologize if I sound off some bad advise here. But I'll give it a shot.

I can't tell how much line you have out which would play a factor here but it definitely feels like you need to pause a little longer in between the forward and back casts. If you play that first video back at .5x speed, that's more what I'm expecting to see timing wise with a shooting head line. Acceleration on the forward and back cast is good though, you're loading the rod well. At .5x speed you can also see that you're really only getting a single haul in on the back cast and missing it on the forward cast for the double haul.

In the second video the arm/shoulder looks pretty stiff and most of your casting stroke is coming from your upper body/torso rotation. You'll wear yourself out pretty quick like this.

Overall I think some timing tweaks and loosening up a bit will really help here. Practice practice practice. I don't know if it would help but if you ever wanna link up sometime out on the boat we can see if we can iron it out a bit....and maybe catch some cutts.

 

[Kfish]

Yep pretty much what Ffb said, open up your arm more and move your elbow out. Ok to rotate your torso a little bit but seems like your torso’s doing a lot of work here, use your arm more.
Also slow down to let the line straighten in front and behind you so it’ll load the rod. With each false cast you will want to feed more line so your rod is progressively loading more and more to its peak then you shoot it with the final forward stroke.

 

[clarkman]

I do love the responses that start off with "I'm no expert, but here's what you should do..." FWIW, that's exactly how I often reply.... what you guys giving advice should really be saying is, "I'm a god damn expert, so pay attention!...."

In all seriousness, you've gotten loads of good advice on this thread. Hope you're figuring it all out. Someone said starting with a DT line for learning how to cast....yes! those shooting heads are a completely different animal (as I'm sure you've discovered by now). That said, for most of my fishing, I fish shooting heads. 1 (2 max) backcast, double haul, let fly.

agreed though, ffb's advice just above is super solid.

 

[Matt B]

Make sure your line goes straight through the guides without taking a trip around the blank. I couldn’t shoot line for sh*t yesterday and this was the reason, which took me way too long to discover!

 

[stillreleasing]

Practice with different rods… makes all the difference in the world. Also, an upcoming tropics trip will make you want to dial in your casting accuracy and double haul.

 

[Tom Butler]

Make sure your line goes straight through the guides without taking a trip around the blank. I couldn’t shoot line for sh*t yesterday and this was the reason, which took me way too long to discover!

Thank you, guess we're all human. That 4x is so small, and it was so windy (that's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it) I outright missed a guide. Tippet rings are great.

 

[Matt B]

Thank you, guess we're all human. That 4x is so small, and it was so windy (that's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it) I outright missed a guide. Tippet rings are great.

Like everybody, I make mistakes. My thing is I am not afraid to admit it!

 

[clarkman]

Like everybody, I make mistakes. My thing is I am not afraid to admit it!

LOL, yep join the club! Somehow, I've managed to break 2 euro rods over the last 4 weeks....just doing dumb things that people who break a lot of rods do (oh wait, now that's ME!)....

but I digress...

 

[ffb]

I do love the responses that start off with "I'm no expert, but here's what you should do..." FWIW, that's exactly how I often reply.... what you guys giving advice should really be saying is, "I'm a god damn expert, so pay attention!...."

That's my default for everything too. Lack of confidence on my part. That way if someone calls me out for giving bad advice I have an easy out

 

[krusty]

It only took me about 60 years of rigging flyrods to finally discover that looping the flyline over and taking it through the guides (instead of threading tippet) significantly reduced the chance of inadvertently wrapping the line around the rod, missing a guide, or having the damn thing zip back through guides and land on the ground.

Of course there was a time when I could actually see tippets.....

 

[albula]

Those who have taken the time and put in the effort to teach themselves to cast well can do so with any rod, fast action, slow action or in between. While they may prefer one action over another for specific applications they will cast any of them effectively. And will cast a 6 weight rod just as well with a 5 weight line or a 7 by making minor adjustments. It ain't rocket surgery. Ever notice how the finest casters always make it look easy? That is because they are doing it easy with no sudden acceleration or stopping of power application in either direction. As one of the most proficient casters that I ever had the pleasure of fishing with used to say, "A backcast ain't notten' but a forward cast going the other way." Mr. Kreh had a special talent of simplifying and stating the obvious and could throw a good bit of a fly line with no rod at all. In watching the video of your cast it is obvious that you are putting a shock in the rod by the sudden application of power in both directions. A smooth cast is achieved by the gradual application of power in both directions. As Lefty also used to say "Forget 10 to 2. You gotta be able to cast any time of the day." Slow down a little and relax. Casting is supposed to be fun.

 

[Chucker]

Took me a couple months but I finally got a friend to record a video of me casting. I attached a video of me with the OBS and one with my friends softer action scientific anglers rod fitted with a kit floating line. Funny enough I think I am casting the cheap line further, albeit with more false casts. Looking at the video, I am grossly underestimating the amount of false casts I make: I thought I was doing 2-4, looks more like I am doing 6-8!!! I also notice that I am bringing my front cast a little further than the back cast. Thank you for all the offers of feedback, I will greatly appreciate any and all that can improve my casting skills.

iCloud Photos - Apple iCloud

View, organize, and share photos and videos with iCloud Photos on the web. Changes will sync across your devices with iCloud.

share.icloud.com

Slow everything down. Watch your back cast and make sure you see that the line is straight before you start the forward cast. Practice the pick-up-and-lay-down drill with 30’ of line to help you get a feel of loading the rod properly.

You also need to let go of the 10 to 2 idea. That is only really relevant if you are using a very slow action rod. You need a wider arc to get anything out of a fast action rod.

 

[krusty]

Developing decent flyrod casting skills are often quite challenging for those who spent a lot of their life casting spinning rods which, of course, has absolutely nothing to do with flycasting....but muscle memory sticks around a long time.

It was helpful for my grandson to grass cast in a park using a sidearm cast so he could actually watch what the line is doing on backcast, and able to watch the flyrod load up as the line straightened out.

 

[Grayone]

Slowing down is always a good idea. Also, build some drift into the backcast. It will give you more time.

 

[speedbird]

Slowing down is always a good idea. Also, build some drift into the backcast. It will give you more time.

Slowing down definitely seems like a good plan. What do you mean by drift?

 

[Jake Watrous]

Slowing down definitely seems like a good plan. What do you mean by drift?

After you accelerate into the stop on your back cast, let your rod tip drift back a little. I do it by intentionally breaking my wrist, but I’ve seen a lot of folks move their forearm back.

 

[G_Smolt]

@Kashf - if yer in Seattle, I'll be in town (specifically, Alki, where I grew up) the last week in December and can meet you on a beach for a bit of instruction. I've been teaching flycasting for 20+ years and have helped thousands of folks improve their casting. I'm not gonna write it all out here because that sounds like unpaid work, but if you wanna meet me on an Alki beach I'd be happy to give you some feedback and some ideas/things to work on.

 

[O' Clarkii Stomias]

Most casting woes come from an improper initial lift and poor timing of the application of power in the backcast. Concentrate on casting the line behind you, and not up in the air.

 

[speedbird]

Most casting woes come from an improper initial lift and poor timing of the application of power in the backcast. Concentrate on casting the line behind you, and not up in the air.

Is casting off to my side a good idea? I tried that today and got substantially less wind/cast knots, and a better view of the line. I was getting decent distance (60ish feet with 2 false casts or 1 roll cast and 1 false cast) but wonder if that style is a little less efficient. I don't want to be too reliant on it as I bet it won't make me friends at a salmon beach