By Rene J. Hesse
Yep, there is a term called “chuck and duck”, and it is all about to happen with the early springtime bass fly fishing. Bass are hungry coming out of the winter months and looking for a big meal. March is a great month to get some big flies like dragon tails or lead eye streamers in their strike zone with long casts on points and flats and drop-offs. They are chasing shad, sunfish and herring that are starting to spawn.
Searching for bass with long casts and heavy flies requires a particular cast that can keep the loop from collapsing on itself. The cast has to use the line weight and fly weight to deliver the weighted fly a long way. However, even if you are making shorter casts, the oval cast will be your best friend. There is a setup for the cast that will make your life easier too. Here is how it goes.
The forward cast will be the same as a normal cast, slightly off to the side and not straight over the top. By loading the rod against the weight of the fly line and the heavy fly, we get a little extra weight to bend the rod. Keeping constant tension on the back cast as you come into the forward cast is one of the keys. The other important factor is the line trajectory on the back cast. This is the setup and sequence that will make a smooth cast out of something that tends to be clunky and awkward.
Remember the setup I spoke of? It is simply flopping the line and fly out about 20+ feet in the direction of the target before you start your casting sequence. This gets your line up near the surface and prevents you from having to perform a change of direction cast. That way you can raise your line and go directly away from the target. The back cast is a lift of the line, but not like you normally would. The rod tip will only go up enough to break the water tension on the line, maybe 45 degrees off to the side as you then accelerate to the back and up. The trajectory on the back cast must be moving in an upward direction from that 45 degrees because the forward cast is going to be coming over the top of your shoulder. That movement, from the back cast low off to the side and then up over the top, is the oval portion of the cast. The reason we use this elliptical line motion is to keep the fly, which is heavy, from crashing down on the loop or kicking over and destroying the back cast.
Watch that back cast and see if you are getting the sweeping upward motion and then chuck it out there. Don’t forget to duck as the fly goes by. They hurt!