Casting, does practice make perfect?

Ever since I discovered Fly Fishing some 30 years ago, I have been in love with the art of Fly Casting. Practice for me is all about learning something new, or perfecting a difficult cast. At one time I mainly fished still waters, where the need for distance was paramount. However in the last 15 years, rivers have been more important to me, and I discovered all that distance practice was of little use to a river Fly Fisher!

During my river fishing season, its rare for me to have more than 2-3 rod lengths of fly line out of the rod tip at any one time. With a 12' leader that still 30' of line and nylon, and as most of my fishing is to sighted trout, I often have considerably less than this.

Drag is the river fly fishers greatest enemy, so many of the casts I practice are designed to put slack into the fly line and leader, or position the fly line in such a way that it does not scare the trout by landing near it.

The winter (on non windy days) is an ideal time to practice these special casts. For many of us the winter means, no trout fishing, and time on our hands. I find it takes several days of practice to learn a new cast, but a little and often is sometimes better than prolonged sessions.

Unlike fly tying, fly casting is difficult (but not impossible) to learn from a book, you really do need "hands on" experience, and a good coach can save hours of frustration. If your looking to river fly fish this season, then start that practice right now. It really will pay off on the river, I promise!

One book I can recommend is; Jason Borger's 'Nature Of Fly Casting'.

Maybe the best web site on the subject of casting is; Sexyloops.com. Run by one of the best fly casters, and trout bums I know, Paul Arden.