By Rene J. Hesse
It’s small stream fishing season again and time to look at casts that catch fish. Although it’s cool to cast a long distance, we don’t get to do that when fishing most north mountain streams. What we really need to focus on are, casts that are with a purpose. For example, we don’t want to put our line on top of a fish when we cast upstream. Or maybe we need to get a streamer deep and swing it at the end of a pool. Maybe it’s just being able to cast a fly upstream when there are trees behind you. Being aware of what you’re doing to the fish is a big part of stalking, casting to and catching a fish.
On small streams we are often limited by structure. Short, targeted casts like a reach cast are often the best bet. One application of a reach cast is to deliver the fly to the target and get the line off to the side of the fish and the drift. If we are casting to a fish directly upstream, a regular cast would put the line right on top of the fish. To counter that, make a normal back cast and then on the forward cast, launch the line off the rod tip as usual, and then sweep the rod tip/line off to the side. Kind of like drawing an ‘L’ with your rod tip. This will send the fly out to the target with the ‘fly leg’ of the loop and move the ‘rod leg’ of the loop to the side, out of the fly’s drift.
Now put yourself in that same situation. With the trout upstream and now your back is against a cliff or trees. You can’t make a forward cast so you have to deliver the cast on your back cast. Sight your target, face away from it and make a cast away from the target. Remember that the trajectory on your ‘false cast’ (forward cast) is up, and then out over your target on the delivery cast (back cast). Make this a regular part of your casts, and it will become just as easy as your normal cast.
You can combine these casts too. For example, use a back cast delivery with a reach mend at the end of it. Excellent cast that is fun to do and works great in certain situations. Check out the International Federation of Fly Fishers website for more information on fly fishing and join us.