Paul Arden | Monday, 23 July 2018
If you ask fly fishing guides what is the one thing that they would like their clients to be able to do better in order to catch more fish, the answer is not that they wish that they could tie better flies, tie better knots or owned better equipment. It is resoundingly that they should cast better.
If you ask fly casting instructors what is the one thing that they wish that their clients would do better, the answer is not that they read more books, watch more videos or even that they have more lessons (although that can help!). It is that they practise more.
So there you have it in a nutshell. The one thing that you can do that will improve your fishing experience, above all else, is to practise your fly casting.
Now I’m going to let you in on a secret as to why instructors are (generally) excellent fly casters - it’s not just because they practise - but also that they enjoy practising. Throwing loops around, trying to throw further, tighter, with greater accuracy and speed, learning all the presentation and Spey casts - these are all thoroughly enjoyable things to do.
If you have never really worked on your fly casting then going through the Flycasting Video Manual on Sexyloops from the first video up to and including learning the double haul, would be a great first step. Have a look here: Sexyloops Masterclass
I’m just off the water fishing three days with Tim Kempton. Nice to see that Tim has turned into a fly casting “sharp shooter”. He made one cast in particular that was a real money shot - a high pressure shot fly into an eggcup sort of cast. The fish didn’t eat but 90% of the time the Giant Snakehead eat that cast. Knowing that of course meant that really it didn’t matter that the fish refused - if anything this simply makes us respect the fish more and raise our hats to it.
For me, just seeing that cast made my three days fishing together - and it wasn’t the only one. There is no question that Snakehead fishing here in Malaysia is the hardest fly casting shots there is. What a remarkable fishery!
I’m off to head East with Stu for the early part of the week and then I have two guests coming fishing for the weekend. I hope that you have a wonderful week.
Cheers, Paul
***update***
just in from Stu...
”Just landed my first gourami.
Size 20 hook and 3.5lb tippet
Took over an hour and was 4 inches long
And on the banana fly - willow grub fly that I found stuck in my shirt
Does it count?”