By Rene J. Hesse
Dang, it’s been hot. Getting up early and hitting a lake is my plan of attack most summer days. The only problem is, ‘early’ only lasts so long, and then it’s just hot. So casting a popping bug will only last so long on the fish since they will drop down to cooler water. My next plan of attack is to pull off the bank and go down a line weight or two and start casting a streamer.
Going from a 7 or 8 wt. to a 5 or 6 wt. is a welcome relief on the casting arm. Changing from a popping bug to a tandem streamer changes the casting. It’s beneficial to modify the setup, lift and cast with the rod and fly change. Here are the contrasts between casting a popper and a weighted streamer or tandem rig.
Casting a popper is more of a medium to small loop size, with lots of line speed. It helps to do a lift pickup by making a small spiral of the rod tip. Going to a lighter line to cast small streamers like a Wooly Bugger or tandem rig will be different. There is a good chance your fly will have sunk down a few feet as you are about to start your casting sequence. Doing a bit of a roll cast, almost a flop type cast in the direction of your target will get the fly up to the surface. Then you can do a ‘roll cast pickup’ by doing a roll cast with a high trajectory so you have time to have it unroll in the air as you get ready to do your back cast.
The line speed on a weighted streamer and the casting plane are of importance. We slow down the cast and let the fly help load the line, however, the back cast slightly off to the side and the forward cast coming through on a higher plane will create an oval type cast that holds the tension on the rod tip. The reason we use this slower pace and oval cast is because of the weight of the fly. If we kept the same cast as the popper, it’s easy to get a dip in the rod tip and create knots in the line.
I know it’s been hot, but the fish are still there. Go get ‘em.