5 Tips for Better Casting

Casting is the problem that I see the majority of anglers struggle with. Below are five tips that will help you improve your casting.

1. Slow down: Everyone thinks that it is a race and they need to beat the horse harder and faster. The truth is, if you wait on your back cast and let the rod fully load, then the rod will do all of the work for you.

2. Shorten your casting stroke: I see a lot of people that use a casting stroke that starts at nine o'clock and ends at three o clock. The shorter the stroke say from 10-1 the better control you have of your line the more line you have in the air, the better the cast will be.

3. Use less power on your stroke: If you hammer your cast forward, like you are trying to knock a baseball out of the park, you end up shocking your rod which in turns sends shock waves through your line and your cast will not lay down straight or at the distance you are trying to cast.

4. Do not dip your back cast into the water or the ground: Not only do you end up tangled in the bushes, but you also kill all of the inertia that has been created in your fly line by the back cast.

5. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE: When preparing for a casting competition, I usually spend 1 hour a day, 5 days a week practicing, this enables me to land a fly accurately at 90 feet with a five weight rod. While this cast is not practical for fishing, it makes a 40 foot cast seem like nothing. If you will practice 10-15 minutes a day, three days a week, you will be amazed at how much it will improve your casting.

I hope these five simple tweaks will help improve your casting and experience.

Good fishing,

Kevin

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