Today we continue our series of weekly posts straight from The Little Red Book of Fly Fishing – a new collection of 250 nuggets of fly fishing wisdom from Kirk Deeter and the late, great Charlie Meyers. We’re lucky enough to have gotten permission to post some excerpts from the book – read on!
Our tip for the day is about keeping the casts to a minimum.
If you find this kind of this useful, you can pick up your copy of The Little Red Book of Fly Fishing right here.
The Woody Hayes Rule of Casting
Legendary Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes once explained why he closely embraced the “three yards and a cloud of dust” offensive philosophy this way: “When you put the ball in the air, three things can happen, and two of them are bad.” Whether or not the coach actually said those words (the quote has also been attributed to Duffy Daugherty and others), it got me thinking about the obvious correlation with fly casting.
While beautiful long loops might be pleasing to watch, they usually don’t do a lot for you on the trout stream. False casts spook fish. And all casts have the potential of developing line-weakening wind knots, which occur when an angler cannot control his line. Why not let the current do the work instead? Let the water stretch the line behind you. Lift your rod tip high, pause, then unfurl a pinpoint cast by directing the rod tip where you want your fly to land. The angler who learns how to roll cast, improvises with short mends, adjusts the fly line with the help of the current, and learns to let the water help him set up the next cast is going to be much better off than the one who tries to throw the Hail Mary on every play. While you might not beat that school up north every time you play, you’ll commit fewer turnovers, and win your fair share of games.
Don’t forget the Woody Hayes Rule of dealing with lowholers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEVJyf0ft3I
On hauling: I have noted that a lot of instructors show how to double haul but fail to mention that the haul does not begin until the rod passes the body. The sequence of casting is quite rapid with a number of factors blending together. Many fly casters that search to make their loops tighter, will be pleasantly surprised to find this simple adjustment will, along with drift, tighten there loop and increase distance.