Daily Cast Archive

A lot of fly fishers spend a lot of money on their tackle. There really several good reasons for this. Some, like me, fish many types of fishing, where the same tackle doesn’t always cross over well. Many like to have the latest versions of the brand or models they like. That of course goes for both rods, reels, clothing and bags (oh yes, bags!).

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I missed last week's FP. Well I did remember it on Friday morning, I just had to ask Paul to fill in as I was out from this world. Last week was stressful, kind of. As you know our old lady couldn't make 27 club and we have been without replacement for few weeks.

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I've been out at the Seabass with Dave again this week. No bioluminescent plankton or whatever and the fishing was OK. Weirdly we're not getting much action on the big stuff. By that I mean nothing on the big stuff.

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The BFCC casting season is now officially closed after the competition event in Dodleston. Given the forecast for incoming rain during the afternoon, the competitors made sure they were ready to cast and we managed to get through all seven disciplines in double quick time. Unfortunately the weather meant that once again the distances weren't huge, but the various comps were hard fought. Hopefully next year we can drum up some more competitors, maybe a few more all-rounders who can challenge for the championship. We will also be introducing a seniors championship, although the details of this will be worked out sometime before the start of the 2025 season.

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This is a late FP because I’ve just returned from Kuala Lumpur. Ashly and I currently head down every other week so Ashly can get professional swim coaching (she plans to compete in the Ironman 70.3 next year). I also get coached too, about once per month in my case. For a one-hour pool session today for Ashly, we drove 5hrs down, stayed in a hotel last night, and drove 5hrs back up again. Pretty intense for a one-hour lesson!

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I've always been fascinated by the names given to fishing spots. Not really the obvious ones like "Lake Sam Rayburn" or "Lake O' The Pines", as those are pretty self explanatory. More interesting are the ones with monikers not so easily discernible like "The Meadows" or "Middle Ground". Even better if they have a dramatic, even ominous tone to them, like "The Graveyard" or "The Badlands". Although names like that may have originally been given as a warning to the uninitiated or inexperienced, for those of us with an exploratory spirit, and an insatiable desire to fish the remotest of locations, those names serve only as a sirens call to what could be the angling promised land.

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My most important rod is my Hot Torpedo 7. It is the best rod I have for my main fishing, sea trout fishing on the Swedish west coast. It is a good choice for practice as well. If I bring a MED5 and a MED7, I can work on all skills in one session. If I want to do serious distance with my other rods, it is better to bring two rods then. It is fitted with ceramic rings, so I don’t have to worry about wear on the rings when casting on grass. There are more things that are great with this rod. But there is one thing that really stands out: it put me in touch with Paul.

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Stance is an important part of both learning to fly cast and optimising your cast. The right stance allows you to watch your back cast and still minimise turning of your torso (so you don’t go out of tracking) and it’ll also allow you to maximise lateral movement of the rod. And just learning to stand properly when casting casually helps a great deal. Stance is important, but also something you might not be able to choose for yourself on the river, on the lake or elsewhere.

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My Starlink battery ran flat last night and lack of direct sunlight today means that it’s now very low.

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This week I had my first batch of cold water carping now that winter has arrived following a week of autumn. It was OK and I caught a few fish there's not much to report on that front, but it'll get better once the fish have acclimated to it a bit better.

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Here is a post on different types of Snakehead shots on the Board for a discussion we are having: “That’s interesting. So let me describe three typical snakehead shots. The first is tracking the babies. The babies rise every minute or so in a different location, and we position the boat anticipating the shot. Every 4-5 times the babies come up, one or both adults surfaces for air. You generally see the fish come up, the water is green, so when they are within a foot of the surface we see them. The adult turns down and the shot goes in to lead the fish.

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Beck; synonym small stream. In northern areas settled by Scandinavians. Often refers, in literature, to a brook with a stony bed or following a rugged course, typical of such areas.   Cunsey Beck was a name on a map that I etched along with my finger when I was a child obsessed with Trout, and wondered about it often. It flowed out of Esthwaite water, where to my delight, even I could actually manage to catch fish, though admittedly not the Trout.

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If you applied the same amount of devotion to a religious pursuit, do you think anyone would call you a religious bum? Probably not. When you consider that surfing, more than anything else, is a faith, and the devotion to that faith becomes paramount in your life, there is no such thing as a surf bum. ---Sam George, Riding Giants

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I like long lines. I have always liked long lines. Well, at least I would like to think so. Since I have tormented myself almost from the beginning with long lines, I must like long lines. One thing I am quite sure about is that persisting with long lines has helped my development.

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The 2024-season for Atlantic salmon is good and well over and on many of the European mainland rivers it’s looking bad. Seriously bad! From the southern most river in Denmark, to the rivers in the Baltic Sea and river far up into Norway, the runs have been severely low. One river on a low run is really of no concern, but when it’s across probably hundreds of rivers, one has to be deeply worried.

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She moved to our home 9 yrs ago, just before turning 18 yrs. Her life wasn't easy before and we know it wasn't easy with us either. Even we did our best to keep her together and shape. Things just aren't always in your hand. Somehow I managed last weekend alone. No dead animals, house is still standing, no fire and even I ate something. On Sunday I went check how thick is ice on our lake. It has plenty as it was about 10 cm. It was perfect for ice skating as it was totally clear and flat.

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Seabass time is upon us. Hawaiian Dave and I went out for my first night of the season on Monday and it was good. Going to work on Tuesday morning was less good, but the fishing was worth it.

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As I write I've not long got back from a Spey casting practice session at Bala lake in North Wales. The previous time I was there I felt that I had a breakthrough in my left hand up single Spey. Initially casting a 15ft rod, with a 70 odd foot shooting head, left handed felt completely alien. Even the snake roll to lay it out before making the angle change cast was difficult – to be fair though, perhaps learning with a 70ft competition head isn't the most sensible of approaches. However, at the end of that session I was consistently putting out 'legal' casts, sure they wouldn't be winning me any prizes, but at least they'd get me a left handed score on the board.

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I was throwing axes yesterday. I’ve never done this before, but I got involved in a massive melee. There were some really big and ugly people chasing me with axes (even bigger and uglier than me), and they were throwing things at me too. But what they didn’t know is that I’m a fly fisherman and therefore have many skills. Throwing axes js certainly one of them. These axes would spin through the air and split their skulls open, and down they would fall. After this I replaced my fridge, which I was planning on doing later this week, because my current one has turned into a freezer. The new one is bigger and better made, but what was surprising is how the old one had become much narrower and deeper.

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Several years ago a friend mine told me about a place he had been buying fly tying materials from, that had their own versions of synthetics like EP fiber etc. Since then, The Fly Tyer's Dungeon has become my go to source for unique synthetics and now hooks, for some seriously discounted prices.

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The seatrout season was coming to its end and I had started to look forward to giving the fly fishing thing a go. I started to get full of anticipation. How hard could this fly fishing thing be? Soon I would stand by the water and send out these beautiful loops. It was about to happen, I knew it. I had done the right thing, I had signed up for a beginners course in fly fishing that should get me all the basics I needed to get going. That's what I had read on the forums—that one should start with some instruction to get a good start. It gives a better start than to starting all by your self. A series of lessons would have been a better suggestion, but maybe also a bit discouraging.

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When I’m fishing medium sized and big rivers no one can be surprised that I use a long rod. In the opening weeks of the Norwegian salmon season the rivers are often big and there’s a real chance for a big fish (which I deftly seem to avoid catching). The long rod makes casting easier, especially with the sinking lines we also often use. It can’t necessarily put a higher pressure on a fish, but a long rod allows me too keep the line clear of obstacles during a fight and maybe even more importantly to control the line, so the fly fishes the way I want it to - and where.

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Satu left me for unknown period at home. She has some her business during weekend she will be back on Sunday or Monday, something like that. She is absolutely brave or insane, she left me to take care hens, dogs and reindeer, last comment was that I should eat also something now and then

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The other day I was tying up some Stenness Stingers for an imaginary Hebrides trip that I’m imagining more and more. A mate of mine was saying he reckoned they were variants, because I’d finished the head with globrite 4 to match the tail. I don’t know if it’s in the original dressing of the fly or not, but it got me thinking about how we categorise flies. Although I‘m talking about wets here, it holds true for most fly tying for freshwater at least.

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As the days get shorter, James and I start working on our winter casting practice plans ready for the Spring competitions. Next year in March we will have two competitions, one in Spain and another, the UK Champs, in Cumbria.

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It’s very interesting for me how much my coaching has changed over the last five years or so. I see it really as coaching nowadays and not instructing. I think that’s because nowadays I have long term students instead of one off lessons. That totally changes my outlook. If I’m going to see someone two or three or four weeks later, I want to set a training plan for them, one that will give them their best bang for their buck in training time, specific to what we are working on at that juncture.

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One of the things I love about the Texas Gulf Coast is it's rich history. Crafted by a multitude of cultures that include the original native peoples, as well as German, Irish, English, Spanish and Mexican. A few eeks ago, I finally got to visit on that I have been trying to get to for years.

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I'm Rickard! One of Paul's students/athletes, a born-again fisherman, and a beginner fly fisherman. I live on the Swedish west coast and mostly fish for sea trout, or as it might be called elsewhere, sea-run brown trout. The style of fishing we use is a bit different from more traditional methods, so I often get a bit confused reading about them. We seldom see the fish, long casts are usually better than short casts, and there is always wind to fight.

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Sadly and under tragical circumstances Bob Popovics has passed away. He was hit by a car and despite surgery never recovered. Bob has made his mark on saltwater fly in a way that few others have and ever can.

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I have been able to avoid rabbit holes some time now. You know the ones that you start search something and then go deeper and deeper, and get stuck. Only reason for that is that I has been way too busy and tired after days out.

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