Quite a few casts go under this heading: for some it is any high back cast, for others it is a pile cast, it doesn't matter: we've dealt with these. For me a steeple cast has a vertical back cast, and this is how we do it:

• first we imagine taking our casting plane and rotating it by 90 degrees so that we are now facing it

• we lift the upper arm to so that it is pointing directly in front of us at right angles to the body. The forearm is at right-angles to the upper and is angled across the front of the body (like a shield), pointing slightly downwards so that the tip of the rod is touching the water surface

• we rotate the wrist so that the palm of the hand is pointing forwards and the reel facing skywards

• we are now in the starting position for the steeple cast - with practice we can set this position up smoothly without pausing and then:-

  • rotate from the elbow to create a lift, to just above the horizontal, followed smartly by

  • an upwards flick

  The finishing position for the upcast is: upper arm pointing directly in front, forearm pointed vertical, palm facing forwards. Its really another 90-90 position and kind of awkward.

  What we do next is absolutely critical: drift;

  • drop the thumb to the ear

  • angle the rod slightly behind

  • rotate the wrist to that the thumb is behind the rod

  Now make a forward cast, aiming as high as possible.

It's not easy, it's not always pretty (in fact, unless you practice it fairly regularly, it's downright ugly), but sometimes it's all you've got. Generally a roll cast will do the trick - but not always; I have fished in front of cliffs where roll casts have been impossible because gorse bushes and overhead casts have been impossible because of, well cliffs, and the steeple cast was all that I could do.

Ten yards is a long steeple cast.