Don’t Just Cast. Go Fishing.
There is something wonderfully satisfying about a good cast. The line straightens, the leader turns over and the fly settles onto the water exactly where you wanted it. For a moment, everything feels right. And then, quite often, nothing happens. So we cast again, and again, and perhaps a little further this time.
But here’s the thing: a perfect cast is not necessarily a perfect fishing cast. Fly fishing isn’t really about throwing a fly from A to B. The cast is simply the delivery system. What happens after the fly lands is where the fishing really begins.
The Cast Is Only the Beginning
I do it myself and here I am criticising other anglers!!!
Anglers concentrating so hard on the mechanics of casting that they forget to look at what they are actually casting at. They arrive at the water, strip some line from the reel and start casting almost immediately. But before that first cast, there is a question worth asking: why am I casting there?
Where are the fish likely to be? What are they feeding on? What is the wind doing? Is there a ripple, a drop-off, a weed bed, a point, an inlet or some other feature that might concentrate fish? Sometimes the best cast you can make is the one you don't make.
Take a minute. Watch. Look for movement. Look for rises, swirls, insects, fry, birds or anything else that gives you a clue. The water is usually telling you something. The trick is to listen before you start talking to it with your fly line.
Accuracy Beats Distance
There is a strange obsession among some fly anglers (myself included) with distance. “How far can you cast?” It is an impressive skill, certainly, and there is great satisfaction in watching a long line straighten out across the water. But trout don't award extra points for difficulty.
A fish ten metres away is every bit as valuable as one thirty metres away. In fact, the shorter cast is often the better cast because it gives you greater control. Your leader turns over more accurately, your contact with the fly is better, your strike is quicker and you can mend, retrieve and manipulate the fly more effectively.
And, perhaps most importantly, you have a better chance of putting the fly where the fish actually is. So instead of asking, How far can I cast? ask yourself, how close can I get without disturbing the fish? That's a much more useful question.
Watch What Happens After the Fly Lands
This is where the difference between casting and fishing really begins. The fly lands. Now what? Too many anglers immediately start retrieving, but give the fly a moment. Let it settle. Watch the line. Feel what is happening.
If you're fishing a nymph or wet fly, allow it to sink to the depth you want before starting the retrieve. If you're fishing a dry fly, watch the fly rather than staring at the end of the fly line. And when you do retrieve, don't simply wind or strip because that's what you always do.
Vary it. Slow it down, speed it up, pause or change direction. Sometimes the difference between a fish following your fly and actually eating it is nothing more than a brief pause. The fly stops. The fish doesn't.
Learn to Fish the Water Column
One of the biggest mistakes I see is fishing the same depth all day. If the fish aren't there, changing flies may not solve the problem. Change depth.
Imagine the water in layers: the surface, just beneath the surface, mid-water, deeper water and near the bottom. Your fly might be perfect, but if it is travelling three feet above the trout's head, the trout is unlikely to climb up just to admire it.
Experiment. Count the fly down for five seconds, ten seconds or fifteen seconds, then retrieve. Make a mental note of where you get a response. A follow, a touch, a swirl or a fish caught are all clues. And good anglers collect clues.
Don't Let the Fly Fish You
There is another trap, particularly when fishing multiple flies. The angler becomes so concerned with the leader, the droppers, the fly line and the retrieve that the actual fishing becomes mechanical. Strip, pause, strip, pause, repeat.
But trout don't follow a timetable. They respond to movement, light, pressure, food and opportunity. Sometimes the best thing you can do is deliberately break the rhythm.
Try one quick strip followed by a pause. Make two short pulls and then let the flies hang. Or speed everything up. There are days when the fish want the fly moving quickly and days when they want it barely moving at all.
The skill is not knowing one perfect retrieve. It is knowing when to change.
The Most Important Part of the Cast
Perhaps the most important part of a cast isn't the loop. It isn't the distance, and it isn't even the accuracy. It is the decision that comes before it.
That single question can transform your fishing. Instead of casting because the line is in your hand, you start casting with purpose. Instead of covering water randomly, you begin to build a picture of what is happening beneath the surface. Instead of changing flies every five minutes, you start changing depth, retrieve and position.
And slowly, something happens. You stop being someone who is simply casting a fly. You start becoming someone who is fishing.
There is a difference.
A cast is a movement. Fishing is a conversation. The water speaks first, the angler answers with a cast, and sometimes, if you have listened carefully enough, the trout gets the final word.
