• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Deneki Outdoors Fishing Lodges

Alaska | The Bahamas | Chile

  • About Deneki Outdoors
  • Our Fishing Lodges
    • Alaska West
    • Andros South
    • Rapids Camp
    • Rio Salvaje
  • Deneki Blog
    • Alaska West
    • Andros South
    • Chile
    • Fish
    • Fishing Reports
    • Fly Tying
    • Gear
    • General
    • Guest Posts
    • News
    • Rapids Camp
    • Rio Salvaje
    • Tips
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs

Mar 22 2011

Too Many False Casts!

False Casts by Louis Cahill
"He's right there. Minimize your false casts." Photo: Louis Cahill

When you’re chasing bonefish on the flats, you should do whatever you can to minimize your false casts.  When you recognize a potential shot at a fish, you need to get the fly out there quickly, and false casts are the enemy of getting your fly out there quickly.

There are more direct ways to communicate the point about false casts, though…

During our first season of operations at Andros South, your fearless editor had the opportunity to spend a day fishing the West Side with a senior statesman of the fishing lodge world who will remain nameless.  This very experienced angler wasn’t the guide that day – he was a guest of ours and the two of us just went fishing together.

He’s a super guy and a truly great flats fisherman, but he gets awfully excited when giant bonefish swim at the boat.  With your editor on the bow, our Dean of the Flats couldn’t help himself.

“Lay it down!”

“Too many false casts!  Too many false casts!”

“Deliver it!”

“You’re too late!  Too many false casts!  You missed him!”

“He’s right there!  Lay it down!”

“Too many false casts!  Too many false casts!  Too many false casts!”

It wasn’t subtle, but the point was very well made.  False casts are the enemy of quick presentation.  If you can cast 40 feet, chances are you can cast 40 feet with no false casts, and you can catch an awful lot of bonefish at 40 feet (on South Andros, at least).

You’ll have much greater success if you minimize your false casts, and the number of false casts you need is probably lower than you think.

More Bonefishing Tips

  • Free Download – Bonefishing 101 Guide
  • Wading in Shallow Water
  • Learn About Bonefish from a Photo

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mike Sigalet says

    September 18, 2011 at 9:32 am

    Would spey casting for Bone fish be a benefit? No false casts and shoot your line out quickly 50 to 80 feet.

    thank you for allowing coments

  2. andrew says

    September 19, 2011 at 8:27 am

    Great question Mike – we’re always looking for new application for the spey rod!

    I think bonefishing with a spey rod would be tough in most situations, for two reasons. The ‘white rabbit’ that happens during the sweep would spook most bonefish, and (for most of us at least) it would be really hard to be accurate enough with a spey cast.

    I’d love to be proven wrong on this one!

  3. WindKnot says

    September 22, 2011 at 10:46 pm

    I think if you were blindcasting muds then YES, other than that, I think Andrew has hit it on the head here.

  4. WindKnot says

    March 15, 2012 at 4:20 pm

    Thought I’d revisit this after a (nearly) fishless day with an angler that kept “ripping” the water with his first cast. He was dragging the fly behind him and would rip the line off the water for the forward cast. Every time the bonefish would spook AWAY from the sound. Now, they don’t always do that, but it was a tough day and the fish were off. Toward the end of the day he took the point and was able to pick the line off the water quietly and catch his first bonefish on the fly.

  5. andrew says

    March 15, 2012 at 5:21 pm

    Great in put as always, Davin – thanks!

  6. WindKnot says

    March 15, 2012 at 5:39 pm

    No worries. I’ve found that if the fish are being forgiving, then you can do almost anything and still catch them, but it’s the tough days that test whether you’ve really got your game together or not. Good news is iff you can get into the habit–and it’s really just habit born of practice–of putting it together on the good days, the tough days get a whole lot easier!

Trackbacks

  1. Stripping for Bonefish | Story from Andros Island says:
    September 8, 2011 at 6:02 am

    […] Too Many False Casts! […]

  2. Bonefishing Tips | Gear Reviews | Best Time to Go says:
    October 21, 2011 at 5:48 pm

    […] Too Many False Casts […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Plan Your Trip

Let our experts plan the fishing adventure of your dreams.
Contact Now

Search Topics

Subscribe to our newsletter

All Blog Posts

Recent Posts

  • Spey Clave: Two Hand Alaska Presented By Mossy’s Fly Shop
  • Learn the Art of the Cack-handed Spey Cast
  • Common Mistakes Fly Anglers Make When Targeting Alaska Sockeye Salmon-and How to Fix Them
  • Fly Tying: Sockeye Caviar
  • The Alaska Freshwater Fish-Tastic Final Four

All About Spey

All About Trout

All About Bonefishing

All About Gear

Best Posts

Footer

Deneki Outdoors

Mailing address:
200 W. 34th Ave.
#1170
Anchorage, AK 99503

Headquarters:
6160 Carl Brady Dr.
Anchorage, AK 99502

US Information and Reservations
800-344-3628

International Information and Reservations
+1 907-563-9788

Email: info@deneki.com

Our Lodges

Rapids Camp
King Salmon, Alaska

Alaska West
Kanektok River, Alaska

Andros South
South Andros Island, The Bahamas

Rio Salvaje
Puerto Montt, Chile

Deneki Outdoors thanks Peter Viau, Tosh Brown, Abe Blair, Kyle Shea and Kara Knight for the beautiful photography used on our sites.

Connect With Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

#denekioutdoors

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Copyright © 2025 · Deneki Outdoors · Privacy Policy · Site by 21 Designs

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we assume that you are okay with it.Ok