So far your hoops have always been horizontal targets for you to land your tag in. That's well and good. But now it's time to stand them on edge for another purpose. You may have seen pictures in casting books or magazines with hoops attached to posts or fences. That's for practicing tight loops. Now you're going to practice something a little more specific. This cast is tremendously useful for fishing short and average distances. Characteristics:
- Fast
- Descending trajectory
- Very tight, pointed, slightly-horizontal loop.
This cast is great for headwinds. It penetrates dense vegetation. Properly executed, your leader lands before your line. This makes it a more-than-respectable anti-drag cast.
Necessary equipment
A hoop and a traffic cone. Tightly tape your hoop to the top of one of your orange traffic cones. Don't be stingy with the tape. It'll take quite a bit. Now you're ready.
![So tight you can hardly see it.
[in fact it's so tight you can't see it at all, Carlos]](images/throughthehoop2.jpg)
Objective of the game
Immediate: to cast at least a yard of line through the hoop and land the tag on the other side as gently as possible.
In time,: to become an expert in the execution of one of the most useful short- and medium-distance casts.
Procedure
Simply place your hoop-cone assembly 7 yards away. Cast your tag through it, trying to leave about a yard of line on the other side. Neither the line nor the leader nor the tag should brush the hoop.
Tips
Lift your elbow outwards to achieve a descending trajectory. Stop with a slight rotation of your wrist inwards as you tighten your grip and then immediately relax it (see the bubble wrap exercise). Your casting tempo has to be fast. Use the double haul.
Harder yet
Some interesting variations:
- Move the hoop-cone assembly a couple of yards further away.
- Try to cast two or three yards of line through the hoop to the other side.
- Cast from the left.
![That bright yellow spot looks like fluff to me.
[either that or it's a hatch]](images/throughthehoop3.jpg)