Kalyn Hoggard | Monday, 14 July 2025
I had a bumpy start on my “casting” journey. I had been guiding and fly fishing for quite some time before I discovered that I wanted to become a casting instructor. My wife and I moved around quite a bit throughout our college years, and that made it difficult to get many consistent clients or grow a fly fishing business. I thought that if I went through the process of becoming an instructor and got certified, then there would be a badge of significance next to my name to prove that I know what I’m talking about when it comes to casting a fly rod or at that that I think I know what I’m talking about. Some people might even be convinced that even though I just moved to this area I can help them learn to catch fish here. It certainly helped that I enjoy learning just for the sake of it, and it is even better yet, that I could nerd out about something that would help me catch fish. It turns out that there are a bunch of people out there in the world that just go out and cast without the intention of catching fish. Weird…
What do you do to become a casting instructor? I think that we have since made it easier for people to find their way along the pipeline to become a casting instructor, but I just looked around for instructors that were offering a program to help guide me in the right direction. I learned quite a bit about the process and some about casting in the program that I found, but I still needed a good mentor. After a series of coincidences, I met my now friend and colleague Marty McVey. Marty was struggling with the same issue I had. He wanted to become a casting instructor but was having issues finding the right mentor until this Gammel guy down in Texas messaged him on social media and helped him on his way. Apparently, Bill said, “if you are going to go to Montana you should get a lesson from Bruce Richards. It’ll be the best lesson you can get in Montana if not the country.” This worked out very well for Marty so a year later when I asked him what I should do when it came to finding a mentor. Marty told me, “I wouldn’t mind asking Bruce if he would be willing to take on another student.” Talk about a blind squirrel finding a nut. If it weren’t for Marty, I certainly wouldn’t have pursued casting like I have, nor would I have met so many legendary casters along the way.
In walks, someone who I now consider to be a mentor to the true meaning of the word and a friend, Bruce Richards. At this point I had no real idea about Bruce. I had read about him in some of the reading materials that FFI had, and I knew that he was involved with Scientific Angler to some degree, but that was the extent of it. Almost as soon as I talked to Bruce for the first time, we got to work on learning the fundamentals of fly casting, mechanics, and instruction. Turns out that I needed to learn a lot of things, and I needed to spend a lot more time standing out in the grass casting without the intention of catching a fish. Weird…
The first time I got to watch Bruce cast I was pretty blown away. He was in control of the fly line like I had never seen before and could adjust his loops on command however he wanted. He had an explanation for how he was doing it and a thought or two about what I needed to adjust to have more control over my own loops. It was around a year later that I had passed the exam and was out in Montana casting with Bruce when I witnessed one of his great demonstrations that includes types of loops and how they are formed. I was watching along with the rest of the crowd. Toward the end of the demonstration, he shows people how to form a tailing loop. Types of loops and loop formation is thoroughly covered on the CI exam, so I had seen how well he could throw tailing loops, but it still amazes me when I see it in person. What he does is he intentionally throws a tail by creeping forward before the forward cast. How he makes it interesting during a demonstration is that he can creep a little farther and throw a little bigger tail. He can creep a little more than that and throw an even bigger tail. Until finally he is mainly creeping forward into a powerful cast with a narrow casting arc and throws a massive tail. The way they keep their shape and the distance they travel is just something to see. Anyway, He had just thrown the final tail of the demonstration and had asked if anyone had any questions or comments. I raised my hand and said, “Hey Bruce, I just want to say that I don’t care what anyone says about you. You throw the finest tailing loops that I have ever seen.”
The fact that I decided to make this comment during his demonstration, and why I bring it up to all of you today is just absolutely hilarious to me. One reason is that you must understand fly casting to know how flattering of a comment that truly is. He has such control that even his tails follow strict guidelines. They are in control, they are the size he wants them to be, they are tails without question, he can do it on command, and they don’t crash into a mess. In fact, many of them lay out quite well. Most of the people in the crowd were novices and might have been thinking, “Well I don’t think you want to be able to throw fine tails, do you?” Or “Well I wonder what people say about him.” The second reason that I find this hilarious is that it is true. Bruce throws awesome tails. I tell everyone that I talk to about loop formation that Bruce Richards can throw the best tails I’ve ever seen, and to some I say, “you are unintentionally throwing them the exact same way right now. Let’s fix that.”
Bruce deserves all the accolades for helping to build FFI, being a great fly caster and casting instructor, and being a pioneer in the fly fishing industry, but let’s not forget to tack on that he throws the best tailing loops around and that everyone knows it is awesome. Not something that regular people would be proud of, but for nerds like we are it is a high honor.
“Wow, he really does throw the best tailing loops.”
(The journey Bruce and I have been on while he is trying to teach me, the baboon, how to properly wave around at whippy stick has been incredible. If you haven’t met Bruce there is just something about his stoicism and childlike enthusiasm to learn. Thanks Boss)