Tim Kempton | Wednesday, 5 February 2025
Follow up to Rickard excellent article on elbow injuries….great advice after the event.
I am compelled to write as I am concerned about the injuries that can be caused by poor casting technique, trying too hard, and misapplication of power. Fly fishing is an expensive sport, and so the demographic is mainly older folk who can afford it, but are not at the elite casting level. In our fly casting schools, we ask for several overhead casts, with and without hauling. Usually nice tight forward loops and wide, non energised back loops. Further, the line hand moves in unison with the rod hand…there is no haul…the line hand is going along for the ride. So poor back cast and little or no haul. Many are trout fishermen however and these casts get the job done.
There are those however who aspire to greater things and try to cast further. Some have perfect technique, timing, can cast extraordinary distances and compete in competitions. Then there are those like me who do not have the same skillset, andcast to catch fish...not to compete in distance competitions. My concern is we are likely to suffer injury(tennis elbow rotator cuff) if we try and emulate the techniques developed by the distance casting “gurus” (or in Paul's case the Yeti) without sound fundamentals.
In golf, men have to see how far they can hit the ball. In fly casting, men are soon stripping off line and trying to cast distance….its a male thing. Short casting drills are boring…so distance casting makes your mistakes go further.
There are lots of videos about techniques and concepts for distance casting. If these are misapplied, they may cause injury. A clear example is the concept of throwing. The elite javelin throwers hand can reach speeds of around 30 meters per second (m/s) or 100km per hour. Professional baseball pitchers can reach 40-45 m/sec (150km/hour). It is therefore argued by some that distance casters will cast further the faster their rod hand travels.
This maybe so for the elite casters. For the rest of us who cast to fish, there is very real protentional for injury.
When I took up fly casting in 2009, I bought some books and began the journey in my backyard. Having all the gear and no idea, things were sort of going OK until I tied on a big barra fly. You will go you bastard said I…so I pushed harder with my rod hand and eventually succeeded in damaging my previously damaged rotator cuff. .. so more surgery. I then took lessons from everyone who would teach me, and started the exhilarating journey of never ending learning about fly casting and fly fishing.
Years later I was in Costa Rica fishing with a 12wt Leviathandeep sink line for Tarpon in the Jungle Tarpon Reserve. There was a lot of blind casting and after a few days my elbow was beyond painful. It dawned on me, but too late to save my elbow, that my casting technique was wrong…I was still pushing with my rod hand. So I then decided to use my rod hand as the steering wheel and the line hand as the accelerator. I stopped “pushing” (or throwing) the rod and the pain subsided.
So it brings me to the point of teaching and technique. Being able to cast distance (more than 60’) is a valuable skill especially for salt water. Clearly timing of rotation and application of power are key essentials. However, with poor technique there is very real risk of injury., especially with bigger flies.. So teaching people to “throw or push” the rod hand to increase hand/line speed has very real chance of causing injury.
For most fly fishers, I find teaching using the rod hand for direction, and the line hand to haul to increase line speed as both simple to teach and safe.