I'm not rubbish anymore!

[Clydesider]

Having been totally scunnered with my casting performance on my last outing, I posted the following:

flyforums.proboards53.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1138031098

On taking all of the advice on board, I went back to basics today. I took my rod to a local dam where there are no fish for some uninterrupted casting practice. Starting off with just about 30ft of line out the tip, I practiced a few roll casts. Then focused on a few false casts and getting the line to land properly. Only when I got that down pat, I started to extend more and more line until I was casting about 25m of fly line.

I then started to practice some hauling and a bit of drifting too. Almost got all the line off the reel on 1 or 2 occasions, only for the bankside vegetation to prevent it from shooting through the rings.

I then did my session in reverse; shortening the line all the time and focusing on close range presentation. Then I made sure I got one more good long cast to finish on a sweet note.

Chuffed tae bits ;D Thought I'd lost it for a while there.

[peekers]

nice one mate
sounds like you've got it sorted - only a wee bit jealous

[Clydesider]

Cheers, Peekers.

What I was doing wrong was not coming to a proper STOP on the forward cast. I was slowing down and finally stopping the forward cast too far forward, so the final delivery was collapsing and landing in a heap.

Got it sorted.

[rrw35]

Your best casting is done when you are relaxed...

Relax the grip and concentrate on casting with less power, keep the stops crisp, aiming high on the forward cast to allow the line to turn over.