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Fly Casting Techniques ... or ... Life's A Drag! |
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When presenting a
fly to a fish, one of the problems you must overcome is drag on the fly.
Drag is when your fly is skating across the surface, or moving in some
manner that you do not want. While
this can be caused by anything, water currents are most often the cause
and make for an unnatural presentation of your fly. To avoid the effects
of drag by the current, use one of the following casting techniques. |
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The first approach
is to position yourself below your target.
This allows the fly to float towards you and, as it does, you strip
the line in just fast enough to take up the excess line. This line control makes life on stream much easier.
This upstream technique
is the easiest way to control drag, but it does have its drawbacks.
There is a tendency to deliver the fly over the fish, which
in turn causes the line to fall over the fish (“lining”) and ends up
spooking the fish. |
[image of upstream
technique] |
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[image of cross stream
technique] |
Another technique is
to fish across stream.
This avoids the problem of lining the fish when the cast is the
right length. This cast is difficult in tight quarters, however, and also
brings into play variations in current speed between you and the target.
An adjustment to control drag is to fish up
and across positioning yourself below the fish. |
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In flat water
sometimes it is best to take up a position above and across from the fish.
This allows you to cast down or down and across.
This allows the fish to see only the fly before the leader or line
reaches it. This position requires a special cast to get any drag-free
float. |
[image of down stream technique] |
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The
problems of drag are not limited to just dry fly fishing and for some
fishing situations is considered part of the technique. Contact with the
fly is often necessary to make streamers and wet flies do their thing. The
basic concepts of approach, presentation, fly selection and execution must
always be thought out for each situation.
When something is not working, try something else.  |
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