Fly Casting
There are a number of official types of fly casts that may be learned and eventually mastered. However, only a few basic fly casts need be introduced to beginners. The following videos show the 5 essentials required in make an effiecient cast. Practice these at home in the yard or take an extra 5-10 minutes before calling it a day on the stream to tighten up your skills.
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Orvis 101, 201 classes include hands-on instructional fly casting. Rocky River Trout Unlimited volunteers and Carolina Fly Fisher Club volunteers provide assistance during the casting sessions. Carolina Fly Fishers Club, our local International Federation of Fly Fishing (FFF) group from time to time provide fly casting lessons as part of their educational programs.
Fly Casting Contests
Rocky River Trout Unlimited conducts fly casting events including competitions as part of some group events. Our conservation partners, The Carolina Fly Fishing Club also conducts fly casting events and competitions. The two major areas of competition are distance fly casting and accuracy fly casting. Both are conducted by age and gender classes with men competing against men, women competing against women and teens against teens for fairness. However, an individual may enter and compete any class consider equal to or exceeding their expected strength level. A teen may enter any of the competitions and women may enter the men's competition.
Distance contests are judged based on the measure from the fly (yarn indicator) to the casting line that the castor stands behind. All participants use the same rod length, same fly line weight, same leader and same yarn indicator fly. Sometimes a limit to the number of false casts may be imposed.
Accuracy contests are judged based on the measure from the center of a target circle to the casting line that the castor stands behind. Or
Accuracy contests are judged based on an in-or-out measure for a number of cirlce hoops places at varying distances and directions from the castor. All participants use the same rod length, same fly line weight, same leader and same yarn indicator fly.
Distance contests are judged based on the measure from the fly (yarn indicator) to the casting line that the castor stands behind. All participants use the same rod length, same fly line weight, same leader and same yarn indicator fly. Sometimes a limit to the number of false casts may be imposed.
Accuracy contests are judged based on the measure from the center of a target circle to the casting line that the castor stands behind. Or
Accuracy contests are judged based on an in-or-out measure for a number of cirlce hoops places at varying distances and directions from the castor. All participants use the same rod length, same fly line weight, same leader and same yarn indicator fly.
Additonal Fly Casting Skills
Casting a Float Tube Rod
A float tube rod is an extra long, 11-foot fly rod that keeps the back cast from falling down on the water. Since the angler is typically waist high to the water surface, there is little room for gravity to work on the fly line behind the angler until the fly and line is laying on the water and disrupting a forward cast. The overhead cast and back cast techniques are the same as for a conventional fly rod. A roll cast is best achieved much like a spey cast by looping the fly rod tip off to the side.
A float tube rod is an extra long, 11-foot fly rod that keeps the back cast from falling down on the water. Since the angler is typically waist high to the water surface, there is little room for gravity to work on the fly line behind the angler until the fly and line is laying on the water and disrupting a forward cast. The overhead cast and back cast techniques are the same as for a conventional fly rod. A roll cast is best achieved much like a spey cast by looping the fly rod tip off to the side.
Casting a Switch Rod
A switch rod is designed to be cast using either one hand or two hands, thus switching from conventional fly casting with one hand to spey casting with two hands. Switch rods are designed to be longer than conventional 9-foot fly rods but shorter than a 15-foot spey rod, usually 11 feet to 13 feet in length. One-handed casting is the same as conventional fly casting except a bit more power is required to move the longer rod in the same manner as a 9-foot fly rod. However, two-handed spey casts are performed with slightly less effort than with a comparable spey rod of a longer length.
A switch rod is designed to be cast using either one hand or two hands, thus switching from conventional fly casting with one hand to spey casting with two hands. Switch rods are designed to be longer than conventional 9-foot fly rods but shorter than a 15-foot spey rod, usually 11 feet to 13 feet in length. One-handed casting is the same as conventional fly casting except a bit more power is required to move the longer rod in the same manner as a 9-foot fly rod. However, two-handed spey casts are performed with slightly less effort than with a comparable spey rod of a longer length.
Casting a Spey Rod
A spey rod with the extreme length can leverage much more fly line and much heavier flies for greater distances. The spey cast is a unique casting technique which is somewhat like a side-arm roll cast. Spey rods are more popular in European and Scandinavian countries. They are the rod of choice for many Atlantic salmon anglers.
A spey rod with the extreme length can leverage much more fly line and much heavier flies for greater distances. The spey cast is a unique casting technique which is somewhat like a side-arm roll cast. Spey rods are more popular in European and Scandinavian countries. They are the rod of choice for many Atlantic salmon anglers.
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Rocky River Chapter of Trout Unlimited (c) 2014
Rocky River Chapter of Trout Unlimited (c) 2014