Graeme Christie | Tuesday, 16 June 2026
Life is packed. Work, kids, and a World Cup on at all the wrong hours. Somewhere in there I got out and practised, which lately feels like the win in itself. Spey casting, and the snakehead shot. Fast fish, one movement, line picked up off the water and stuck out there before the moment's gone. You only just see them and then it's done. Takes a bit of working out.
Something that inspired the way I practise this week was a thread I was reading on the board. The point made, and it stuck with me, was that practising the cast without accuracy misses the point. Easy to drift into. You stand at the park throwing loops, they look nice, they go a fair way, and you feel like you've done something. But pretty loops that land nowhere in particular aren't fishing. So I put out the hoops and made myself score it. That's something Paul has been encouraging me to do, but it's not as much fun as sending a long cast - well, maybe that's about my attitude and it needs adjusting!
Six hoops, two foot across, there and back.During the week I scored 30 in the first round and 40 in the second. On the weekend, 60, then 40. The jump to 60 felt good, and then the 40 reminded me not to get ahead of myself. That's the value of writing it down. A number doesn't let you tell yourself a story afterwards. You either put the fly in the hoop or you didn't.
The interesting part was the gear. I was casting the 7wt on a 6wt line - left my 6wt rod at home by accident - and also the 8wt. The feels aren't worlds apart, but the 7wt on the lighter line is better; next time I have to remind myself to put the 6wt in the car. Easier to carry and time, and an anchor set wrong is a little more forgiving. The 8wt is not as forgiving and more eager, and that's the trap. It's easy, to borrow the spey term, to blow the anchor. Even with the line aerialised it's a different feel, more grunt than you need, and you can overpower it without meaning to. The thing is you can feel when you've overdone it. There's a moment where the line rips off the surface instead of loading against it - and on the park there's no water to anchor on at all, so the fault shows up even faster. Once you've felt it a few times you start to back off before it happens.
That's accuracy too, in a way. Not just where the fly lands, but knowing the right amount of force for the rod and line in your hand, and stopping there. Too much and you blow it. Nick and Paul's video makes another nice point about checking the shoot. And it's not just them - watch most fly fishing videos and you see the same thing: line control, right to the point of fishing, is what catches. That's where the snakehead shot bites, because it's one quick movement with minimal time to fix a bad cast, plus the pressure of a moving fish to aim at.
I'm not where I want to be with it. The scores say as much, and so does the honest version of the video (park casting practice is riveting, that's a work in progress…). But scoring it has changed what the sessions are for. I'm not out there just admiring loops anymore. I'm trying to land a fly in a two-foot hoop, off a quick pick-up, with a rod and line that feel completely different depending on which one I grab. When a real fast fish shows up when I get out next, I'd like the movement to already be in the hand.
Through the hoops, in every sense. Squeeze the practice into a packed life, then make the practice actually count once you're there. Next session I want that first-round number up. We'll see if the football lets me.