Fly Casting In Adverse Conditions©

by Will Gray

If you always do what you always did
You'll always get what you always got
...Unknown

    This "workshop" is designed for people who do not get out and fly fish as mush as they would like, simply because condition are adverse.   Today, you will be encouraged to take some risks with your casting, to think differently about your casting, to learn something and hopefully have some fun in the process.  If it works, you won't do "what you always did" and get more " than you always got!"

Here's how we'll go about it.  We'll look at the subject from the conditions view point, that is, by taking "adverse conditions" one at a time and do some casts which help you deal with those conditions.

1. WIND.  This is the biggie!  There always seems to be too much wind in which to fly fish successfully.  Here are some casts that will help.

A)  When the wind is coming at you, cast high in back and low in front, always maintaining your 180-degree casting plane ( i.e. Straightforward and straight back.)

B)  When the wind is behind you, cast just the opposite, low in back and high in front - and here again, maintain your 180-degree casting plane.

C)  When the wind is coming at you from your line hand side, use a sidearm cast and let the wind carry the line away from you. TRICK:    You can throw a mean curve cast (fly and leader into the wind and belly away) by starting high with your cast, stopping short and finishing low.  The wind will tend to catch the belly and curve it back, while allowing the fly and leader to hit the water at a low angle into the wind.  If you start low and very gently cast up, following through, you'll get the opposite effect (fly and leader away from the wind)  The wind tend to carry the fly and leader away while allowing the belly of the line to move forward.

D)  When the wind is coming at you from your rod hand side, you almost always have to use a cross-chest or back-hand cast.  The only thing to remember is to maintain that all-important 180 degree casting plane.  (Straight forward and straight back.)  Its tough, but you can do it with practice.  Try the same tricks for curve casting as you did with the wind on your line hand side.

E)  When you get a real strong wind coming at you from your line hand side, you can take advantage of it by throwing a "roundhouse" or Galway cast.   You do this by raising the rod up, to lift the line out of the water to break the surface tension, and moving it back and away from you, thus allowing the wind to grab the line and carry it around to your rod hand side and back.  Once it is back and the line is almost straight behind you, move your rod hand back to in front of your shoulder and come directly forward like a regular forward cast and stop that rod high - at maybe at one, or at the most, two o'clock. You'll be amazed at how well this works and how natural it becomes once you do it a few times.

F)  Reverse the Galway cast if you want to throw a curve into the wind (fly and leader into the wind, belly bowing away from it.)  Bring the rod straight back over your shoulder and once back, move it away and with more power than usual, sidearm it forward (and slightly down) and stop short.  This will fling that fly and leader around into the wind.  By the same token, if you under power it on your sidearm forward cast and come up rather than down, your cast will curve away the wind (fly and leader downwind and belly upwind.)

G)  Final notes. I'm going to assume that you know how tight loops work best against the wind and that the only way to get tight loops is with short efficient strokes that go straight forward and straight back - stopping high in back AND in front.  I also assume that you know how to haul (double, single and triple) and that if you don't you will ask for a demonstration on how to learn this ESSENTIAL fly casting skill.  We'll take time ONLY if a majority of participants want to see it.

H)  Before going on to the next adverse condition, I should mention the value in roll casting when the wind is behind you.  There! I mentioned it.

 

2.    Currents. You had better learn the "mends" if you are going to fly fish in any conditions.  Here are a few of my favorites.

A. Reach mend. When the current is coming from your rod hand side, and you want to mend your fly over it into a seam or eddy, make your regular back cast and forward cast, STOP THAT ROD HIGH, DAMMIT and (smoothly) move it to away from you 45 degrees and immediately back to your fishing position.  It should make a nice right angle to the fly.  If you want to mend the other way, move the rod smoothly across your chest after stopping and then immediately back to your fishing position.

B. Aerial Mend.  Suppose the current is too far away from you to reach mend across it.  You're going to have to HURL your mend and you do it by rotating your rod hand AFTER YOU STOP THE ROD on your forward cast.  Once you have stopped the rod, you scribe a half circle (either to the left or right) with your rod hand, keeping your thumb up.  This will send a nice curve or mend down your line that will rest gently on the water behind your fly so that the current will collapse it instead of dragging your fly all over the place.  The distance you send that mend depends on how quickly you start the half circle scribe, following the stop.  If you wait a long time, the mend will be close to you.  If you scribe it quickly after the stop it will send the mend down toward your fly.  AND, if you do it really fast, you'll put a nice curve cast out there. Practice this a lot.  It works!

C. You can also lay some slack in the line to fend off dreaded drag, by bump casting.  Here's how:  As in the aerial mend, AFTER you stop the rod, instead of scribing a half circle, you simply bump the rod up and down.  The amount of "bump" you give it, will determine the amount where the slack will go on your line - just like with the aerial mend scribing the half circle.  You can even use this cast to work with multiple currents by bumping more than once after the stop.

D. You can also puddle cast and pendulum cast and use any one of several other slack casts used for laying slack out there to beat currents but you can learn them from any book on the subject and unless the group begs me, I'm going on to the next adverse condition...which is...

3. Overhanging trees, bushes, brambles, briars and other cast-killing vegetation.   Here's where we get into some serious fun.

 A. Break-your-rod-down cast:  Huh?  If you're in a situation where the over hang or stuff growing along side a stream prevents you from getting a casting stroke out there, simply remove a section of your rod and (after laying the remaining reel-section down on the ground, or under your arm if you're in the water)) cast with that. You four-piece owners will have more flexibility with this than the two-piece but the fact remains, you can cast with a piece of your rod very well!   Granted, you can't cast very far, unless you use a haul and even then, we're talking 30 feet max with the top section of a four-piece. The point is, YOU CAN DO IT!   And, you should when adverse conditions, like these, prevail.

B. Bow and Arrow cast:  You've seen this and may even have tried it a time or two.  If you have, and it didn't work, try grabbing the line or leader when you pull back on your rod which is pointed at your target.  I've seen a lot of casters grab that fly and the results are usually awful.  The line usually dribbles out a few feet and dies OR  the caster spends valuable time puling the hook out of his/her hand.  Grab the line not the fly.

C. Roll Casting:  Look, I know you all know how to do this cast.  It is probably the single most useful cast in fly fishing. And, I'm sure you know when and why we use it. But, what you may not know is that 99% of any problem you   may have in doing this cast lies in the fact that you are applying power too soon. You must wait, as you move your rod forward, after the line stops, and until your rod is just past midnight before you apply power. And, that power is in the form of a "chop and stop" with the stop being no further than when the rod hits the three o'clock mark. Go, and sin no more!

D Mend a roll cast: You bet! When you stop the rod after the "chop" simply move the rod left or right and back again. Do it quickly but smoothly and your line will mend just fine. I will admit that mending against your rod hand side is tricky since the rolling part of the line almost always crossed and fouls the standing part. But practice, you can do it. So practice!

E. The Dynamic Roll Cast: This is a Lefty Kreh cast. You use it when you want to do a VERY long roll cast. You know when you're doing a regular roll cast, you wait until the line stops moving until you raise the rod up in preparation for the cast. In the dynamic roll cast, say 40 to 50 feet (way beyond the weight forward part of your line) you snatch that line up so that the end actually leaves the water but does not go behind you but lands maybe five or ten feet in front of you. Just as it hits the water neat you, apply that power-chop and watch it go flying out there. I know you don't believe me, but it works and you should try it. You spey casters should have no trouble with this.

F. Under-a-limb cast: Use this cast when you want to put that fly twenty feet in front of you, to the other side of the stream and under a five foot limb sticking out over a feeding fish. Use a slightly down-tending sidearm cast but just after you've stopped the rod, you push the rod tip down which tends to force the end of the line and leader up and under that branch. Now, you have to play with this one a lot before you get good at it. In fact, you may even want to try giving that rod tip a little lift just before the stop. It really depends on the amount of lift you want at the end of the cast. Experiment and practice. It really gets tricky when you want to add a little mend in the line. Just remember that you can do just about anything with the rod AFTER YOU STOP IT on the forward stroke.

G. Drift Casting:  Actually, no cast at all. Bob Ketterlin (the old curmudgeon of Eastern Tennessee) taugt me this one. We were standing in Abrams Creek, up above the campground overhang, bright sunlight, a few spooky browns -NO room to cast. So Bob just starts letting line out - ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty feet - slowly and silently the deadly line snaked out down the stream passed ledges, big rocks, and other trout filled hiding places and then, rod tip down, he lifts it and starts playing a nice 10" brown trout. The key here is to keep that rod tip down so that when you detect a strike, the surface tension will help you set the hook.

H. Steeple Cast You probably know this one but I mentioned it in passing for those times when a roll cast just don't get it. If there is no's room at all behind you, turn your rod hand around so you reel is now facing up.  When you're ready to backcast, fling that line up in the air above you.  When it has almost straightened out, come down and forward with a smooth forward cast.  It works! Practice!

I. Pickin' Leaves.  I got this from Joan Wulff's book.  When you find yourself in a position where there are various obstructions to a good backcast, look for "holes" in that obstruction.  There are almost always places between trees ( or boulders), or within trees where can sneak a cast.  Lift the rod up as if you were going to do a regular backcast but as the line leaves the water, flip your rod hand over to make a forward casts and aim it into the "hole."   Once it almost straightens out, flip the rod hand back to make another forward cast.  Its back-to-back forward casts!  The "pickin' leaves" name comes from Ms. Wulff's suggesting that you practice by picking out leaves in a tree and trying to "pick'em with your fly line.

J.  There are other ways to deal with "cast killing" obstructions but these will give you plenty to work with.  Don't be afraid to take risks.  It's the only way to get good at casting.

4. Darkness.  Okay, many of you will never do this but I'm going to mention it anyway because, it really is a lot of fun! You CAN fish in the dark.  The really big browns only eat at night.  That's how they got so big.  Here are the rules:

1. Only do it in places that are thoroughly familiar to you. I'd stay out of the water if at all possible.

2. Use BIG noisy floating bugs or streamers. 3. Listen and feel. That's it! We'll put some blindfolds on to try it.  You'll be amazed at how well you can cast and how easy it is to hear and/or feel what's going on.

5. General hints and tips for dealing with adverse conditions.

A. When it gets rough outside (windy, rainy, cold and nasty) get out there and practice! Your neighbors will think you're nuts, you're family will want to have you committed and you'll be uncomfortable. AND, you'll get better and better at your chosen sport.  Find the WORST conditions and practice casting under, over, around and through obstructions of all kinds.

B. Take risks.  Fool around!  Get out there and try all kinds of stuff.  Its YOUR rod and line, do what you want with it!  Flail around, do wild loops, swing line in crazy patterns and directions.  Get the feel of what happens to that line, no matter what you do with it.  Try using non-rod hand to cast with.  You'll be pleasantly surprised at what it can do.

C.  Visualize what the line will do when you move the rod.   Never work with pure precepts!  You can layer many movements within a single cast by visualizing what will happen during a cast.

D. Finally, HAVE FUN!

© Will Gray, 1999

NOTE:  I know I shouldn't have to say this, but for the few individuals, who have stolen my stuff in the past, THIS IS MY WORK-(with carefully noted exceptions.) No part of this may be reproduced or paraphrased in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

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