Overhang is the line between the tip of the fly rod and the end of the rear taper of a weight forward flyline (including shooting heads).

Too much overhang, during a false cast, is the quickest way to look a dick that I know.

There are a few points to consider:

• The more line outside the tip of the rod; the greater the bend in the rod we can create, and

• The more line outside the tip-ring the longer it takes for the loop to straighten (this is a key point; not enough line and the loop straightens before the cast has fully shot, too much and the loop fails to straighten).

The longer the head, the more overhang you can maintain. This is why:

• 3 yrd shooting heads suck, and

• most long casting lines have a 15 yrd head.

There are two ways to utilise overhang:

• The backcast shoot:- discussed previously.

• False casting with overhang:
  It is quite simple to false cast with 2 or 3 yrds of overhang, however in order to have a longer overhang it becomes important to cast a tight fast loop by hauling as the 'stop' is made.

For very long casts (say 40 yrds with a WF5 - including leader) ten yards plus of overhang is required.