Practice casting question

[Curtis E. Niedermier]

I’ve been practicing my casting in the front yard, working primarily on adding some distance to my casts, sidearm casting and hauls. I still have about 3 feet of a busted tapered leader on my line.

Frequently when I go from my back cast to my forward cast, the line often snaps, or cracks like a whip. I don’t know if that’s a good sign or a bad sign. I feel like I have too much arm movement, especially when I try to reach out there. Could this be a result of trying to really sling the line and not letting the rod load properly?

Thanks guys. I’ve been on hiatus for a few months, but I’m back to enjoy the site.

[Curtis E. Niedermier]

Quick note: It’s the leader than snaps, not the fly line itself. I just looked at it, and the end is frayed. It wasn’t frayed when I started.

[anonymous]

The problem is that nothing is tied to your leader.

[Aaron Christensen]

Some of the excellent casters on here are far more qualified than I am to give casting advice, but here goes — as Joe H suggests, try to pause before you start your forward cast.

[nam bui]

The problem is that nothing is tied to your leader.  Tie some yarn on the end.  This is assuming your not starting your forward cast to early.  Even with a perfect cast, a line can snap with nothing on the end of it.

Yep. Put some yarn or a fly on the end, and you won’t be like Indiana Jones anymore.

[Zach Matthews]

The yarn is probably all you are doing wrong.

[Peter E.]

It is because you aren’t letting the line load. That’s the plain and simple explanation.

If you let the line unroll fully you will not have freyed line, flies or yarn. Plus you can knock out the sonic boom from your routine.

[Curtis E. Niedermier]

Thanks guy. Zach, you mentioned a tailing loop. Can you explain this more. Is it when the leader comes back in below the rod tip? Sometimes I notice that my line is really “falling” as I’m coming back. The times I don’t have this problem are the times when it feels more “effortless” and smooth. Usually, I have to stop and really slow myself down to achieve this.

Also, I have been watching my back casts to help with loading the rod. It’s getting better quickly. I went through a lot of on-again, off-again romances with the fly rod because I’d try it a few times, get frustrated and move on to something else. But recently I had my ‘ah-ha’ moment, and it’s starting to click. Now I’m improving dramatically every time I pick it up.

[nam bui]

Do a google search for “tailing loop”, and you’ll find a perfect diagram of one.

The fly comes up under the fly line, and, a lot of times, it will catch the fly line, and you’ll get a jumbled mess.

I find, in my case, the answer the problem is slowing it down.

[Zach Matthews]

Curtis –

A tailing loop looks like the Christian fish diagram.

[Jack Cummings]

Since you’ve already trashed the leader and don’t have yarn tied on you can actually used that audible ‘crack’ to help with your timing of the back cast, Assuming that as a beginner you don’t have the line speed to feel the back cast load, use the cracking sound to your advantage to help you with your timing of the pause. Too slow with the timing and your line will drop and you will have little power for the forward cast (the sound of leaves being snagged behind you may be a clue too)
Too quick with the timing andyou will again have no power for the forward stroke (or you will over-compensate and tail) or you will get that lovely crack sound.
Just to add to what Zach said about tailing loops, they can be cause many times by a poor application of power. Try slowly accelerating through the stroke with a swift acceleration to a crisp stop at the very end of the stroke. The smooth power will help prevent the rod tip from dipping and causing a tail. The more you can get the power snap to the end of the stroke the tighter the loop… assuming you hve good tracking and a nice straight line path of the rod tip.

Enjoy the journey and build on a good, solid, basic foundation.

[Curtis E. Niedermier]

Thanks guys. I’m taking my girlfriend fishing tonight and am planning to have her make a video of me casting so I can see what I’m doing. I’m sure it’ll reveal enough flaws to keep me busy for awhile.

Thanks!

[Zach Matthews]

Curtis –

Feel free to post it (or PM it to me) if you want some additional analysis.

Zach

[Jon Conner]

There are many ways to cause tailing loops, however, a good drill to clean up your strokes is to simply false cast back and forth with a short line, watching it straighten at both ends, start with a wide loop and slow timing and then gradually speed up, narrowing the loop, then lengthen your line a little and repeat. This drill will improve timing and feel for when to to start your strokes without the confusion of laying the line down and picking up, which are best done on the water.
Best,
JC

[Allan Dozier]

Posting the video will be great.

I plan on living forever, so far so good.

[paul rose]

Yes it has nothing to do with the yarn or leader as Jack and Allan suggest. This is a timing issue. Watch your back cast. Try more horizontal casting planes so you can see the

[anonymous]

A perfect cast with no yarn or fly can and often does crack on the forward cast as the leader lays out.

[Jack Cummings]

Try it sometimes.  Go outside and make some perfect casts with no fly on the line.  Your leader will often crack as the line lays out before you.

Joe H, I could prove you wrong on this. In fact, I’ll probably be heading back home to Michigan sometime during the summer. Maybe we can get together then and do a little casting.
What say ye?

[Curtis E. Niedermier]

Hey fellas, my camera woman was a little too close when she did the film last night, but I still learned a couple things. My rod was traveling much too far forward and backward and traveling a long arc, rather than crisp front-to-back movements .

I started working on using shorter, crisper forward and back casts, concentrating on accelerating and stopping. It definitely helped.

I’m going to have her re-shoot the video in the next couple days when I can get back out. I think she was preoccupied with catching fish herself last night. I made her shoot two videos, and she groaned both times (I’m not complaining that she loves to fish, mind you).

There is definitely a tailing (or trailing?) loop in my cast. It’s more pronounced when I change direction from out front and start my back-cast. Funny thing is, I have not had any wind knots or tangles (knock on wood). It just seems like my line doesn’t want to “stay up.”

When I focus on short, fast acceleration and a crisp stop, it somewhat alleviates the problem. Also, I can reach my target in fewer strokes (don’t have the right terminology, I know, but I mean I require fewer false casts to shoot out enough line to lay it down where I want). This tells me that the velocity is much better when I keep the rod movements short, sweet and efficient.

Also, someone suggested a drill using short amounts of line and making front and back casts without actually letting out any line. Whoever, suggested it, your drill was very helpful. I was trying to get to fancy instead of concentrating on the basic fundamentals. I actually did this drill when I was explaining to my gf how a fly-cast is supposed to work. Keeping it simple, and not trying to cast a mile across the pond, was very eye-opening.

Sorry to ramble. I need to get back to work.

[anonymous]

Anytime Jack.

[Author]

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