“I’m hosting a quiz show, but I never considered myself a game show host.”

Maury Povich

If Maury Povich has taught us nothing, it is that timing is everything.  This is as true for matters of paternity as it is for fly casting.  He also taught us that a man with one testicle can father 17 children, being with a Transvestite is an honest mistake that could happen to anyone, and beauty is just a make-over and generous camera angles away.   I’m personally just waiting for the Maury Christmas special where Maury rides a camel with Jack Hannah to visit an obese baby and tell Joseph that, “You are NOT the father.”  Instant Classic!

Efficient fly casting has physical components: good positive stop, slack management, smooth acceleration, keeping the rod in a level plane.  Some of these we have covered already.  Today I want to talk about two tactical considerations: timing and drifting.

Quick question:  You make a back cast and the line is traveling backwards in a nice tight loop.  When is the MOST efficient time to start the forward cast?

1. After you feel a tug from the back cast
2. Before the back cast is fully straightened out – in a Candy Cane shape
3. The Exact Instant the back cast straightens out
4. I can express myself however I want

If you answered 4 congratulations you are moron…probably a public school teacher.

1. Is wrong because by the time you feel this tug much of the energy is already lost.  See most of us think that what we are pulling against is the mass of the line.  This is only partially true.  When we initially load the rod for the forward cast after the back cast we are pulling against the force of the back cast.  Isaac Newton – smartest guy ever – said that this force is equal to the mass multiplied by the acceleration.
2. Is incorrect for exactly the opposite reason 1 is…if the line hasn’t fully straightened then the curved length’s mass is not something we can pull against.  Furthermore that Candy Cane is slack…slack has NO place in your cast.  Just think if that section is two feet – then the first two feet of your forward cast does nothing more than remove that slack from your cast (Keep this in mind when we get to drift.)  Now I will say one thing to your benefit (see I can be nice)…you are obviously well-read, since the vast majority of fly casting advocates this.  This is because this will keep you from messing up a short cast, and the added time can be used for accuracy.  I use a cast like this when I am casting short – 20’- 40’ but this is not an efficient way to cast.

Obviously, 3 is the answer, but think about it…doing anything in the right instance is pretty close to impossible.  Imagine that the biggest fish you ever did see just appeared 90’ from you, are you really going to trust perfect timing (considering ALL the variables that go into a cast) in order to make that cast?

Luckily we don’t have to.

One of the best techniques to secure perfect timing is what I call the “catch cast.”  A more fitting name would be “Allowing line to slide through your fingers on the final back cast then pinching it to start the forward cast with perfect timing”  I suppose I could make up some snarky Acronym but honestly I just don’t feel like it…I’ve been eating a lot of Kraft dinner lately.  I love Mac and Cheese but I think I need like vegetables or something I mean it’s getting pathetic.  My diet for a year has consisted of Lucky Charms, Wendy’s, and either Uncle Ben’s rice pouches or Kraft dinner.  The part that bothers me is, no word of a lie, I am a certified genius…really high IQ…and I’m basically dying because I’m too stupid to care for myself…I mean leave me out – what does this say about the future of mankind?  Hmmm, that would probably be a good article; I’ll leave this here as a little insight into how I come up with this crap.

The catch cast is easy to perform; the only physical difficulty comes from having to pinch down on the line as it is moving with some force.  Like so many other things, practice is the key.  It really doesn’t matter how much line you allow to shoot, but it should only be on the final back cast.

Actually let me address something right now.  A fly cast should be one back cast one forward cast – no more.  True the ideal standard of a fly caster is some dude in tweed making like 60 back casts to throw a dry fly 20 feet.  This is retarded.  With the MARK (remember that) in your hand and the line under control, a good caster needs to make one back cast, and then one forward cast to send a 5/0 herring pattern 100’.  Now the key to that description is “line under control” very often most of us will strip in the line right to the leader, especially if we are using streamer patterns.  You will need to work the line out beyond the tip again and then use some technique to get it under control.  My preferred method is to shake the tip (snicker) and with the MARK in hand make a roll cast to get those 30 – 40 feet of line straight out in front of me.  Then I can make a back cast motion to get it off the water (in high winds I’d just make a water haul – more on that later,) a forward cast to get it under control, and then finally one back cast and one forward cast.

Now this may seem picky, and it probably is, but keep in mind the less you have to do the less opportunity to screw up, and with heavy flies or air resistant flies the hardest part of a cast is the transition from back cast to forward cast, so it makes sense to eliminate as many of these as possible.  Finally, if you ever want to use a shooting head (and many new lines are essentially shooting heads) the one back cast rule will be one you are thankful for.

Now a few words describing drift.  I personally blame Lefty Kreh – specifically his little handbook – for delaying my understanding of the concept of drift.  Actually, I really don’t this is just an example of why you should seek out multiple sources of instruction, I fully suspect there are people reading this now who will be confused by the words I use and find the book that confused me enlightening.  Kind of like how the Hoff is huge in Germany.

Anyhow here it is – Drift AFTER the positive stop.  Drift is basically repositioning the rod to allow you to have a greater arc for a back or forward cast.  In the case of the back cast the positive stop should end so the back cast is high aiming either straight back or at a slightly upwards angle.  Once the positive stop is made you can reach back as much as you are comfortable, and if you excuse the catch cast, your timing will be perfect.

The drift allows you to make a longer casting arch, to accelerate the rod further, and ultimately generate more force.  What you don’t want is to drift so much that you come out of your casting plane, accelerate too quickly so over this longer period you gain nothing, and finally remember that the positive stop is still the most important component…don’t forget to release the energy that you created.

No drills this time, regrettably but next time we work on the double haul and what I consider the ultimate teaching drill.  Keep practicing the back cast, and don’t forget that you can pantomime a casting motion with out a rod and still gain valuable muscle memory.