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The half-cast cast: Get your fly
upstream
Learn to throw the perfect cast
for all conditions
By Tony Lolli
Half-hearted casting attempts are seldom productive.
However, "seldom" also allows for the rare occurrence.
The best strategy, we're told, when faced with an
impossibly difficult cast, is to move to a better
location. Under most circumstances a change of position
is the most likely route to an effective presentation.
However, river conditions don't always permit movement
to a better location.
I was fishing the trophy stretch of a river below a dam.
The gates were open and a heavy current tongue rushed
past allowing only limited wading.
The fish, naturally, were working along the far bank in
the quiet water. Crossing was out.
Neither a down-and-across nor an up-and-across cast
yielded any drag-free drift. Mending was not effective —
the intervening current was too fast.
A reach cast? Still not enough drift. Maybe lunch and
the long drive home were all I had to look forward to.
Instead, I started thinking about the casting plane of a
normal overhead cast. If you snapped a picture in
midcast, it would show the line folded in half.
Lots of line speed would give a tight loop. Less speed
would yield an open loop.
Now imagine an open loop tilted nearly 90 degrees so the
casting plane is almost parallel to the water rather
than perpendicular to it.
The open loop and tilted plane make this cast work.
In fact, what makes this an effective cast are the same
things that cause an overhead cast to fail: slow line
speed and no snap at the finish.
If you've flyfished for a few years, this technique will
seem awkward at first. All those well-developed skills
have to be put on hold if you want to make this cast
work for you.
Performed correctly, the half-cast cast delivers a huge
belly of line well upstream and drops the fly above the
fish.
In this cast, the line simply has to slowly follow the
rod's almost horizontal casting arc.
Without a normal finishing power snap, the line does not
turn over and it lands with the belly of the cast far
upstream of the leader and fly.
The casting stroke is delivered from the shoulder with
no elbow flex and no wrist snap.
Your arm simply acts as a stiff extension of the rod as
you gently sweep the rod upstream of the fish.
Horizontal false casting should be fast enough only to
keep the line off the water.
As shown in the drawing, the rod moves from point A to B
with decelerating speed. As the rod gently stops at
point B, momentum will deliver the line upstream with
the trailing leader and fly landing just above the
target.
A 30-foot cast might require 40 feet of line. Naturally,
all that extra line on the water will require an
exaggerated strike to set the hook.
Also, if the current conditions are strong enough to
require a half-cast cast, you can plan on chasing your
fish downstream as soon as it moves into the fast water,
and you know it will.
Watching the fly rather than the line can increase
accuracy. The slower line speed makes this possible.
With a little practice, last-second adjustments can be
made by dumping the rod tip and forcing the line to the
water sooner rather than letting momentum carry the fly
too far upstream.
Positioning for this cast is best if the delivery is
made directly across current from the target. Again,
this is counter to the traditional overhead cast.
This cast works best with a double-taper line.
Weight-forward lines, due to their weight distribution,
are a little more difficult to use, but not impossible.
The elements of the half-cast cast may sound like the
opposite of good form, but sometimes it's the only way
to deliver an effective presentation under fast-water
conditions.
It's not for everyday situations but it is an
alternative to cursing and heading for the tavern.
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