Jack, One old memory just came to mind, and I've never recalled it until just now. When I was a kid in La, casting the banks in thick brush and overhanging trees (too poor to have a boat), I had only one chance to make a cast. If I missed, the fly was hung up in 'maybe I could reach that if I had a machete' brambles and growth, or high up in a tree. All resulted in losing a fly and maybe leader.
So I practiced the cast as a golfer practices his swing and his putt. Without having line out, I lined up the back-cast for angle and height and followed through to the target point, which could have been a small pocket in the lilly pads or the edge of a stump. I did this a number of times until I had the motion fore and aft down, then pulled out what I thought would be the correct amount of line, and made the cast. Missed a bit to start with, but practice made near perfect, as I ended up catching more fish than trees after a while. Sometimes I had to be stooped over or on my knees in almost impossible situations. But I had to watch both the back-cast and the fore-cast to hit both targets, and make the minimum amount of casts possible. The reward would usually be a nice fat bluegill. Maybe call it 'fake-casting', as 'false-casting' is already taken. LOL DonO ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jack Lehman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 9:10 AM Subject: Re: [VFB] Bass Fly Line - Casting a Bass Bug > I'm not a certified instructor, but I help them sometimes in clinics. A > friend teaches a twist that's too late for me to shake my old bad habits > on, but I recommend it to beginners. All of us learned to cast facing > forward, "Orvis" style. If its not too late, learn to cast sideways, > that is across your body. Right handed? Turn your left side to the > target. This allows you to look back and see your backcast. 'Cause > whatever your backcast is doing, that's where your cast is going. You > have the backcast under control and going straight back and a little up > with a loop that's allowed to straighten, and that's probably what your > cast will do. Pull out too soon, or add a big arc, or whatever, and > you'll be fighting all the way thru your cast. You don't have to cast > this way all the time, but be accomplished enough to check yourself > whenever you feel its not right. > > Jack > Austin > > Steve Brettell wrote: > > > Yeah, when I was learning to cast, my instructor said to recite a > > little mantra on the back cast, like "[whatever town you live in] is > > great". This adds time to your backcast, allowing the line to > > straighten out. Around my house, even the lakes are small, and dark. > > Usually too choked up with algae and other weeds to do very well on > > the surface at all. I mainly fish from the bank. The biggest bass I > > caught was in a little creek about 10 feet wide. It was about a five > > lb. fish, caught on a zonker with about a six inch tail. > > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.410 / Virus Database: 268.17.12/654 - Release Date: 1/27/2007 > >
