Being able to cast a fly fishing rod is one of the pure joys of fly fishing. It is a skill that requires practice in order to master. But when you get good at it, your casting is fluid and effortless. Looking at the back of large brook trout sitting underneath a low lying limb and then placing your dry fly just in front of his nose is a satisfying experience. Placing your fly line exactly where you want it to go increases your chances of catching a trout.
Here are some beginner fly fishing techniques to help you learn how to cast your fly rod for the first time.
First, put the rod at your feet and stand in an open area with at least 20 yards of space both in front of you and behind you. Pretend you are holdign a paintbrush in your dominant hand, and stand comfortable with your dominant foot just slightly in front of the non-dominant foot. Keeping your upper arm relaxed and your elbow bent at 90 degrees, begin to move your forearm, wrist and hand forward horizontally, with the imaginary paintbrush at about the level of your waist. Imagine the paintbrush is dripping with paint and you are trying to flick the paint forward without scattering any paint out to the sides.
In order to do so, you'll move your forearm smoothly forward with the paintbrush held out to the side. If you flick your wrist forward too early, teh paint will spray everywhere. In order to keep the paint on the brush, you'll want to minimize swinging the handle of the brush as you move your arm forward. As your forearm moves ahead, you'll flick your wrist forward at teh last second, trying to fling all the paint on the brush straight out in front of you.
As you do this forward flicking movement, shift your bodywieght forward onto your front foot. This entire motion is one fluid movement.
Now you'll reverse the process.
Imagine that the brush is soaked with paint again. Slowly bring your forearm backwards, keeping your upper arm loose and relaxed, and letting your forearm guide the rest of your body. Slowly rotate your shoulders back while keeping the brush angle still so that the paint doesn't spatter. As you bring your forearm past your body to the rear, again flick the paintbrush backwards trying to flick the paint straight behind you.
You can see that with each movement forward and backwards, there is a slight pause at the extremes while you allow the momentum of your forearm combined with a flick of the wrist to throw the paint directly in front of you and directly behind you.
Practice this motion with just the body over and over again. when you feel like the motion becomes fluid, move your forearm from a horizontal position close waist level to about a 45 degree angle, like a pitcher trhowing sidearm. Practice the motion again, and slowly progress until the movement is done directly overhead.
Take frequent breaks so that your arm doesn't get tired and your form stays good.
Feel like you've got it?
Time to pick up the fly rod and try it for real!
