Welcome to your newsletter. I hope you are all well in these crazy times. I am still teaching, although it is facemask to facemask with social distancing out of doors. It’s really no problem and lessons are still effective. I have a wide-open schedule, so contact me or simply go to my website to set up an appointment. Also, don’t forget that I offer virtual instruction and see the description below. I have tailored lesson plans or can do a custom set of lessons based on your needs!
My topics for the 4 newsletters this year will be casting with weighted flies and lines, casting accuracy, presentation, and single hand Spey. I hope you enjoy and get benefit from each one. If you have suggestions for topics or questions to cover here, simply drop me an email and I will work it in. This newsletter is for you!!
EVENTS AND SERVICES
New Service: Remote Video Instruction
I now offer remote video casting instruction. It is lower cost than in person lessons and does not require much hardware other than a smartphone. Most importantly, it is effective. Contact me for more details! You take the video, send it to me, I analyze it and discuss it with you by phone or video conference. If you don’t have a certified instructor nearby or want to work specifically with me, this is a way to do it! See my website for more details under Lessons/Presentations at www.clearcreekflycasting.com.
Individual and Group Single Hand Casting Lessons:
I still offer lessons for groups and individuals while complying with safety guidelines for the pandemic. If you’re a beginner, why not get started right? If you are more experienced, we can work out problems and learn new skills. If you are going on a trip and don’t want to struggle while you are there, this will help. (I’ll even contact the guide service and find out specifically what casting/fishing skills will help you the most!) The pandemic has markedly reduced the number of lessons I’m doing so I have great availability. Call or go on-line to book today. The cost is $60/hr. or there are lesson packages available for cost savings.
Casting from a Drift Boat:
I have a curriculum set up for this that takes about 3 hours of instruction. There are specific challenges casting from a drift boat. Efficiency (read that minimizing false casting), good shooting skills, accuracy and presentation are among them. Why pay for a guided trip and waste fishing time learning to cast? Learn before you go! Learning these skills will improve all of your casting. Even if you own your own boat and drift with friends, you will benefit. Or buy the package for a friend/partner/spouse so they can benefit! The cost is $150 for 3 hours of instruction.
Fly Fishing instruction:
I do teach fly fishing on water. This is a great way to introduce yourself to the sport or get ready for a trip you may have planned. We take casting skills learned and apply them to fishing situations. Whether a beginner or intermediate, you will benefit from time, instruction and feedback from me on tackle and technique. It will improve all your fishing and complement any guided trips you might have planned. Instead of spending time learning basics from the guide during the day, why not learn ahead of time and have a more productive day with the guide? Call or contact me for details.
Saltwater Casting Instruction:
I have a curriculum set up for this that takes about 4.5 hours of instruction. I developed the course from my own experience and advice from guides in Belize, Florida and Mexico. I do recommend starting about 2 or more months before your trip to give yourself adequate time and fair-weather windows in which to practice. Practice between 90 min. sessions will help you get the most out of it. The cost is $220/person, which is a $20 cost savings over three 90 min. lessons. Contact me or go to Booking on the website.
Two Hand (Spey) Casting Instruction:
I offer basic two hand instruction for those that want to learn to use a Spey rod, be it for trout or salmon/steelhead. Most instruction is done on water. A recommended beginning set of lessons is two 90 min. sessions or a total of 3 hours for $150. A Spey rod set up can be supplied for use during the lesson. If the lessons are for a scheduled trip, I do recommend starting 1-2 months before so you have adequate time and fair-weather windows in which to practice.
Casting weighted flies and lines.
SHORTER LINE/LEADER: Let us start at the beginning. Match your tippet to fly size. You do this by dividing the fly size by 3; therefore, a size 6 streamer would need 2X tippet, a size 8 would be 2-3X tippet, etc. Under sizing tippet can cause casting nightmares. Shorter leaders, such as 6-8 ft. are often fine and make controlling the cast and your fly easier. Some disagree, but I like to use the shortest leader possible. Shorter line means less line past the rod tip when casting. Most modern streamer lines (floating, sinking or sink tip) are designed to be stripped short and cast long. Do not try to cast with more than about 3 ft. of running line outside the rod tip. Most nymph rigs do not require a long cast.
SLOW DOWN: Because there is more mass past the rod tip, many cast faster.This is unnecessary, overly fatiguing and causes casting problems. The total energy in any cast is a product of mass (weight of the fly and line) and velocity (line speed). If we are using a weighted fly, one does not need more line speed to put the same energy into the cast. The same speed that one puts into a dry fly cast will be enough or more than enough because the added weight of the fly increases the momentum (momentum = mass x velocity). So slow down and wait for the cast to happen!
WIDER LOOPS: There is no doubt that narrow (4 ft. or less) loops are most efficient. However, there is also a greater risk of rod/line or rod/fly collision with narrow loops. We can use wide loops to avoid this. Wide loops are simply a product of using a wider casting arc. Casting arc is the angle the fly rod moves through (measured at the rod butt) during the casting stroke. Wide arc-wide loop; narrow arc-narrow loop. The wide loop also decreases the tug that can occur when the leader straightens. If that tug is powerful enough the leader and fly can recoil causing slack and tangles.
ROLL CAST TO THE SURFACE: It is a bit frightening to pull one’s fly and/or sunk line up to the surface from the depths only to have it catapult toward you when the fly breaks the surface tension. The secret to avoiding this is to either strip in enough line that everything is close to the surface or simply use a roll cast or two to get everything up to the surface before the first back cast.
BELGIAN CAST: Learn this cast!! I hardly ever fish streamers, weighted flies and lines without using this cast. The Belgian cast is one where the back cast is one continuous motion that turns a corner into the forward cast. Often the backward motion occurs in one plane and the forward cast in another. Some call it the oval cast due to the rod tip path and some call it a continuous tension cast because there is no stop on the back cast. The line never loses tension. It is a great cast with heavy flies, sink tip and sinking lines and even in the wind. It can also be used for changing direction as described next.
CHANGE DIRECTION: When fishing, we often move from one target to the next, or the current has pulled our fly down current, or the fish moved (like a cruising bonefish or trout in a lake). Moving the fly from one place to another is “change of direction.” (I also call it “repositioning” or “re-casting”.) There are many ways to do this, such as multiple successive false casts, or single hand Spey casts, but the one I think is easiest for weighted flies and lines is the Belgian. One can pick up in one plane and deliver in another. It’s possible to pick up line that is downstream to your right (or left) and deliver the fly with a 45 degree or greater change of direction. To explain, think of a clock face on its side with 12 and 6 directly up and down stream of you. Your line and fly are washed downstream at 6 o’clock. You pick up and in one smooth motion move the rod tip from 6 clockwise past 12 and then deliver at 3 or 4 o’clock. The motion would be just the opposite going from left to right. You have just made about a 45 degree direction change in one smooth motion with line, leader and fly all under continuous tension. You’ve got to have back cast room, however.
PRACTICE!: Get out to the park, pond or river and practice! Start with just yarn for the fly at the end of 2X tippet. Once you have some ability with that, add split shot just above the yarn to imitate a weighted fly. If you intend to fish a sink tip, sinking leader or sinking line, practice with it before you go fishing with it. Develop some familiarity with the above techniques. You’ll have a much more enjoyable and productive day!!
Use video! My smartphone and my iPad have become some of my best instructional tools. There is nothing like showing the student what they are, or are not, doing on a brief video clip. If you feel intimidated by this—don’t be! Just do it! I do recommend getting a coaching application such as Coach’s Eye or OnForm. With one of these, you can go into slow motion or even do frame by frame. I also suggest doing video of yourself (warning: it is humbling) and analyzing your own cast using 6 step method for practice. It is actually fun and you’ll be a better caster/instructor/demonstrator for it.
What leader should I get?
I get this question from newer fly fishers with some regularity. I’ve come up with my own system over the years, but it includes a leader that I tie myself. That’s way too much for most beginners and many want to use manufactured, tapered leaders from the shop. Those leaders are fine, and the manufacturers are to be congratulated for coming up with a leader formula that works well for so many different rod weights and situations.
However, the angler is presented with a dizzying array of leader lengths and X numbers at most shops. What most anglers want to know is there anyway to limit the number and variety of the leaders I buy? Also, they want to avoid the confusion that arises when they pick up a reel after a few days and cannot remember which leader they left on the reel.
Here is my solution. Not all agree and someone out there may have a better idea from which I can learn. If that person is reading this, please share it with me and I guarantee I’ll share it with everyone in this newsletter. I recommend purchasing 7 ½ ft. 2X leaders only. At the same time, buy a spool of 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X, and 6X tippet. (7X also if you like; I’ll leave Fluorocarbon material up to personal choice, but I rarely use it.) Now the leader you have on the reel is always the same because you are not using anything else. Wherever the first knot is below the tapered knotless part is 2X—no guessing. When you start fishing for the day, you add whatever else you need. So, let’s say I’m going to tie on a #16 Elk Hair Caddis. I would add 1-2 ft. of 3 or 4X and then 2 ft of 5X and tie on the fly. I have made an approximate 10-11 ft. leader. For a size 20 fly, it might be the same except substituting 6X for 5X. Nymph rigs can be constructed similarly. The only time I get into trouble is with a fly larger than about 6, but I rarely fish anything that big in Colorado. If I did, I would be purchasing 7 ½ ft. 0X leaders. So, that’s one angler’s approach to leaders—it seems simpler to me so I teach it! What’s your approach?
Looking for past newsletters? Here you go: