This cast means different
things to different people, to some people
the parachute cast is the same as the pile
cast. However I give this title to a
completely different cast. Either way it
doesn't matter, this is the technique to
which I subscribe the name:
A fish rises, say,
some two yards in front of us (yes
this does happen!)
We want to cover this
fish (obviously) but a traditional
overhead cast is not going to work,
since our rod is three yards long
So what we do is
perform an overhead cast with a short
line but instead of following through
after the forward stop, we keep the
rod in the stopped position and the
line straightens and gently
'parachutes' to the water, leaving
some 5 yrds of line in the air
between the rod tip and the water.
A couple of points: we can
take more line out of the cast by extending
our rod arm after the stop and whether or not
the fish takes our next movement is a roll
cast.
Although the example
described above is at first sight primarily a
boat fishing encounter, I frequently use this
cast while fishing the lake margins in the
early hours, or when stalking lake trout in
New Zealand (fish which can cruise
notoriously close to the edges), and also on
rivers; it's a really useful cast for casting
over shrubbery, or downstream where it leaves
you some slack line with which you can play
around.
But there again it is my
philosophy to get as close to the fish as
possible: if I can creep up to the fish and
dangle my fly in front of their noses without
casting any line, then that's what I'll do,
because you can't get any better presentation
than that.
And here's another little
rule I've picked up: never cast across a
current when you can solve the problem by
wading across it.