easy tips to teach a friend how to cast?

[yellowstoner]

When I take brand new clients out, the very first thing I tell them is for the first week you're out fly fishing to lock your wrist entirely. Absolutely no motion from the wrist will help keep the rod where it's supposed to be (10 oclock to 2 oclock). Once they're ready to incorporate some wrist action, the analogy I give them is that it's like trying to fling an apple that's stuck on the end of a stick. It's all about the loading. If that doesn't click I tell them it's like trying to fling paint off of a paint brush.

Unlike others on here I would say my casting is typically 70/30 false casting over roll casting. I prefer traditional casting (especially with dries) because it disturbs the water far less and for me is far more accurate. On a 30' cast I can put a dry in a pie tin 8 or 9 out of 10 casts with a traditional cast, rather than probably 3 or 4 roll casting just due to the line flopping on either side.

[neckdeep]

I prefer traditional casting (especially with dries) because it disturbs the water far less and for me is far more accurate. On a 30' cast I can put a dry in a pie tin 8 or 9 out of 10 casts with a traditional cast, rather than probably 3 or 4 roll casting just due to the line flopping on either side.

Roll casting/single hand spey isn't about accuracy. It's simply a means to get the line out when an obstruction behind you prevents an overhead cast. I think we all prefer tradtional casting though, I must admit, I have a quiver of oddball roll/spey casts I developed that allow me to effectively fish tight pocket water in canyons that would drive most flyfishers to tears and every time I use one of those improvised cast and in-air mends to make a really tough presentation....it's just way more satisfying than a traditional cast because its like I solved a tough puzzle. Also, roll casting is way more effective for deep nymphing in swift current because it is easy to make an arcing "chuck" that lands the fly, weight and indicator in the same spot (in a vertical plane) and it gets down as fast as possible. A horizontally extended leader dropped by an overhead cast will drag and the fly sinks much slower causing you to either miss the big bottom hugging fish or compensate by putting on too much weight. I used to out fish one friend 3 to 1 simply because he wouldn't roll cast his nymphs. He learned. Nothing educates like having someone using the same fly rip fish after fish out of water you just worked!

[yellowstoner]

Roll casting/single hand spey isn't about accuracy. It's simply a means to get the line out when an obstruction behind you prevents an overhead cast. I think we all prefer tradtional casting though, I must admit, I have a quiver of oddball roll/spey casts I developed that allow me to effectively fish tight pocket water in canyons that would drive most flyfishers to tears and every time I use one of those improvised cast and in-air mends to make a really tough presentation....it's just way more satisfying than a traditional cast because its like I solved a tough puzzle. Also, roll casting is way more effective for deep nymphing in swift current because it is easy to make an arcing "chuck" that lands the fly, weight and indicator in the same spot (in a vertical plane) and it gets down as fast as possible. A horizontally extended leader dropped by an overhead cast will drag and the fly sinks much slower causing you to either miss the big bottom hugging fish or compensate by putting on too much weight. I used to out fish one friend 3 to 1 simply because he wouldn't roll cast his nymphs. He learned. Nothing educates like having someone using the same fly rip fish after fish out of water you just worked!

Don't think you need to sell me on the virtues of roll casting. Unless I'm fishing in a slot canyon or on pebble creek normally I'm wading and making traditional casts just fine. I don't think that roll casting nymphs is generally "better" since I almost always use a double-nymph setup and the current tends to tangle nymphs if you roll cast them (just my experience here). Instead of roll casting those nymphs, try stopping your last front cast at noon instead of 10 o'clock. This will stack the tippet on top of the fly line and drop the nymphs JUST like you're describing with your roll cast. All with less water disturbance AND increased accuracy. This was something I learned from one of our old-timer fly fishing guides and boy does it work like a charm. Will people around you think you don't know how to cast since the line isn't reaching out like it 'should'? Yes. Will you catch more fish? Yup.

I think a WHOLE lot of flyfishing is just hours spent on the river. My cast is far more open in the 15-30' range than it 'should' be, it's also off canter at about a 45 degree angle to my body. I'm the first to admit it's not the prettiest cast in the world, but it catches fish just the same. I find that I can more accurately pick up and lay down with a single back/front cast when I open up my loop a bit on the back cast initially (think spey cast).