Rocky River Trout Unlimited

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  • Rocky River TU
    • RRTU Events >
      • Monthly Meetings
      • Streamside Day Trips
      • Alarka Trips
      • Fly Tying Classes >
        • Instructional Tyers
    • Davidson River HEP
    • Conservation >
      • Conservation Partners >
        • NC Camo Coalition
    • Diversity >
      • WOMEN ON THE FLY
      • BSA Merit Badge
    • We welcome your feedback!
    • Become a TU Member
    • Mission and Brief History
  • FORR
  • Programs
    • Trout In The Classroom
    • RiverCourse Fly Fishing Youth Camp
    • Casting Carolinas
    • Wilson Creek Adopt-A-Stream and Stream Watch
    • South Mountain Adopt-A-Park
    • Stone Mountain State Park
  • Resources
    • Fly of the Month Patterns >
      • DRY FLY PATTERNS >
        • Adams Variant
        • Asher
        • Atherton No 5
        • Baigent's Variant
        • Blue Quill
        • BWO
        • BWO Catskill
        • BWO CDC Emerger
        • BWO Sparkle Dun
        • BWO Spinner
        • Carolina Wulff
        • CDC Biot Comparadun
        • CDL Comparadun
        • Coachman Variant
        • Conner's October Caddis
        • Crackleback
        • Dragonfly Dry
        • Dry Pheasant Tail Variant
        • Dun Fly, August Fly,Wasp Fly
        • Early Nelson
        • Egg Laying Caddis
        • Troth Elk Hair Caddis FFI
        • Elk Hair Caddis
        • EZ Caddis
        • Female Adams
        • Fluttering Caddis
        • Ginger Quill
        • Gray Fox Variant
        • Grey Hackle Yellow Dry
        • Griffith's Gnat
        • Hazel Creek
        • Hendrickson
        • H & L Variant
        • Hopper Juan
        • Infallible
        • Japanese Beetle
        • Jassid
        • Jim Charley
        • Klinkhamer
        • Lacewing
        • Light Cahill Catskill
        • Little Green and Little Yellow Stonefly
        • Mr. Rapidan
        • North Carolina Yellow Sally
        • FFI Parachute Adams
        • Parachute Adams
        • Pheasant Tail Dry Fly.Skues
        • Puff Diddy
        • October Caddis
        • Orange Forked Tail
        • Rattler
        • Red Headed Caddis
        • Smoky Mountian Candy
        • Sunkist
        • Trude
        • Rusty Spinner
        • Sulphurs Part 1
        • Sulphur Part 2
        • Yellow Palmer
      • Dry Attractor
      • Midges >
        • Grey Goose Midge Emerger
        • Morgan's Midge
      • Nymphs >
        • Brassie
        • Chironimid
        • Copper John
        • Crossover Nymph
        • Crow Fly
        • Damsel Fly Nymph
        • Deep Sparkle Caddis Pupa
        • Devil's Doorstop
        • Girdle Bug
        • Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear
        • Guinea
        • Hare's Ear Nymph FFI
        • Hot Creek Special
        • Mr. Rapidan
        • Peridgon Nymph
        • BH Prince Nymph FFI
        • BH Prince Nymph
        • Realistic Stonefly
        • Royal Prince
        • Secret Weapon
        • Scud
        • Egan's Tasmanian Devil
        • Tups Indespensible
        • Waterboatman
      • Pupae/Larva
      • Scud >
        • UV Scud
      • Soft Hackles >
        • Center Bead Soft Hackle
        • Grey Hackle Soft hackle
        • Orange Partridge Soft Hackle
      • Terrestrials >
        • Amy's Ant
        • Alen's Cow Killer
        • Cricket
        • Inchworm
        • Jack Cabe Hopper
        • Little River Ant
        • Moth
        • Murray's Flying Beetle
        • Parachute Ant
        • Texas Piss Ant
      • Wet Fly Patterns >
        • Black Gnat
        • Blue Charm FFI
        • Breadcrust
        • Coachman
        • Cock-y-Bundhu
        • Cooper Bug
        • Grizzly King
        • Ibis
        • Parmacheene Belle
        • Orange and Partridge Soft Hackle FFIFFI
        • Red Ass Soft Hackle
        • Tups Indespensible
    • Fly Patterns
    • RRTU Class Recipes
    • NC General Hatch Charts
    • Fly Shops, Outfitters and Guides
    • Fly Fishing >
      • RRTU Reference Fly Tying >
        • Entomology Basics
        • More Entomology Basics
      • More Fly Fishing Basics
      • Fly Fishing Tips
      • Trout Fishing & Trout Fishing Stories
    • Fly Casting
    • History, Reading, References >
      • S. Appalachian & Smoky Mtn History >
        • Archive History >
          • Archive History
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            • FORR 2020
    • Calendar Copy
  • RRTU Store
  • Tips - Tying

Fly Casting

 

Alarka Casting "Competition"

4/11/2023

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Picture

It’s Spring again, and time for our camping trip in Bryson City, NC. We’ll be running our casting “competition” again on Saturday evening. “Competition” is in quotes, because this is a friendly game, with the major prize being Bragging Rights and maybe a small box of flies or something.

The real win is the practice you need leading up to event. If you spend a little time in the backyard or park a few nights a week, you will quickly develop accuracy at these distances. This is also a great tune-up for Spring fishing, and will enhance your ability on the stream. The game is an accuracy challenge at modest distance.
 
Some tips on at home practice:
  1. Make your setup the same every time. Use a measuring tape to layout the targets.
  2. Always practice with the same rod setup.
  3. Use a highly visible fly or orange yarn in place of the fly.
  4. Remember, your trajectory should change from 20 to 35 feet.
  5. Master the shorter targets before moving to longer targets.
  6. A few short practice sessions are better than long marathon sessions. For example, it is better have three thirty minute sessions, than one two-hour session.
  7. Focus on success. Stop when you make a bad cast, and think about what went wrong. Correct it on the next cast.
  8. Don’t forget to account for the wind.

The most frequent casting errors in our last get together were:
  1. Stopping the fly too high above the target, allowing the fly to drift away from the target
  2. Tracking errors  which caused the fly to flick to the left or right at the end of the cast
  3. Wide inefficient loops
  4. Distance accuracy, which comes with practice

To play the game at home, I lifted the basic setup for this “Casting Game” here.

​Our rules will be a little different at the camp out:
  • We’ll be casting to targets at 20, 30, and 35 feet with 1, 2, and 3 points rewarded for each target, respectively.
  • Cast to any combination of targets
  • A Cone will be placed at the casting line and at each target. We'll use hula hoops to mark the target area, see image above.
  • 40 feet of line out stripped out, with 2 feet of line outside rod tip to start
  • First caster to 12 points wins, and sudden death will be targets 1, 2, 3 in order, repeating until we have a winner.
  • Use any rod and line combination of your choice.
  • Leaders must be 8’ in length, minimum.
 
So get out there and do a little practicing. Get a good routine, have a consistent setup, and you will be surprised at the results. Good luck and see you in Bryson City!
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    Brian Esque

    As a leader in RRTU and a member of Fly Fishers International, Brian believes fishing is a gateway to conservation and knows that
    good casting is fundamental to more enjoyable fly-fishing experiences.
    ​
    Brian is a Casting Instructor, certified by Fly Fishers International, serving Charlotte, North
    Carolina, and surrounding areas. He especially enjoys introducing children and beginners to the sport.

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