We’ve given an awful lot of different casting advice to our guests at Andros South over the years. We could write a book!
That being said, there are some issues that we see over and over, and some advice that we give over and over.
If we had to pick our top 3 casting tips for anglers chasing bonefish on the flats, this would be the list.
- Speed is more important than distance. If you’re set up right, bonefish will be swimming towards you most of the time. Once you’ve located the fish and he’s within casting range, you need to get the fly there fast. Minimizing the number of false casts is critical – in most situations one false cast should be enough, and five false casts will mean the fish swam right by you. Cast aggressively, and get the fly there fast.
- Yes, double hauling helps a lot. Speaking of casting aggressively, yes, a double haul is pretty helpful on the flats. You’ll catch bonefish without a double haul, but if you’ve got time to brush up on one casting skill before your trip, work on your double haul if it’s not working well already.
- Don’t drop your rod tip when you deliver the fly. We see this syndrome on the flats all too often – an angler makes a couple of beautiful false casts, complete with a nice tight loop, then decides it’s time to deliver the fly and comes forward hard, thinking “I’m really going to punch it”. That attempt to apply power at the last second results in a much longer casting stroke; the high stop of the rod tip is lost, the tip of the rod drives the line down, and a gigantic, weak, wind-blown loop forms. When you deliver the fly, do it just like you did on those false casts – stop the rod tip high and don’t try to overpower the rod, and that nice tight loop will launch itself out there, no problem.
Get these three things right, and you’re going to put your fly in front of an awful lot of bonefish.
On South Andros, at least.
Awesome tips on casting. Thanks!
Excellent advice !! exactly what I’ve been trying to convey to my clients for years..Thanks for the re enforcement
So true, so true, but (regarding #3) I think I’ve noticed that the problem isn’t stopping the rod tip low, but actually bringing the rod hand too high on the backcast and then dropping it down. This means the elbow changes planes during the cast, resulting in a messy squiggle of line and a failure to turn over the leader. The same thing happens when people crouch during the last cast, as if all of a sudden the bonefish will see them. This crouch accomplishes the same thing–the elbow changes planes during the last forward cast. That equals failure.
In fact, I teach my guests (if I need to) simply stand up and fish and to point the rod straight out the end of the cast to deliver the fly. Then–as the line is going out–to follow the line down and put that tip IN THE WATER. You feel so many more bonefish that way, because there’s no slack in the line. Also, if you leave the rod tip high at the end of the cast (as is traditionally done to create a tight loop) it jerks the line back, dropping the fly short of the target.
So, love the advice, I’d just be a little clearer about the wording with that one 😉
Great comments as always, Davin. Couldn’t agree more that getting that rod tip in the water is crucial.
Very good advice. I see my guests do much the same on fresh water. Another common problem is the opposite approach to trying too hard on the presentation stroke (the forward casting motion that delivers the fly). People make two or 3 steady level false casts, then accelerate like a Cobra on the last cast to punch the fly to the target. The rod tip dips and then pops up creating a tailing loop resulting in “Wind Knots”.