“Get casting lessons.”

[steveid]

We’ve all heard, read or said that it’s far better to “get a casting lesson” than it is to buy new equipment.

The question is, who has actually done it?

Though I am mainly self-taught/online resourceful in many exploits, and have had success in a few fields of sport/hobby without formal instruction (sans golf), I decided I wanted a casting lesson. I had my first lesson last week and really enjoyed it. Not to toot my own horn, but I’m happy to quote my instructor as saying, “you’re miles ahead of most guys I teach!” So... toot toot!

I came to him wanting to get more advanced instruction for casting in windy salt flats conditions. Some of what we went over will transfer over to trout fishing, but it was all tailored to getting better performance on the Flats. He gave me a few mental queues that really hit the mark for me. We cast my Sage Igniter 790 paired with Rio Flats Pro, a setup my instructor also owns and uses. Next, I may bring my new Igniter 990.

What did you cover in the casting lesson?

Did you take them when you were a raw beginner, somewhat experienced, or more advanced?

What do you feel improved the most?

Did you have any moments that were “Ahhh ha! Moments?”

Did you discuss equipment, Rod/line pairings?

Did you return to the same instructor for further lessons?

 

[Hirdy]

Watching this thread with interest.

I took lessons after maybe three years of trying to do it alone (through no choice of my own though.) Those early efforts at casting without instruction produced a serious case of tendinitis.

I got so much from them that I became an instructor, since there were no instructors in this half of the continent and I didn't want others to need to wait three years before getting a lesson. I'm still the only one here.

I was tailing badly whilst trying for distance when I went into my first lesson. That was fixed in the lesson.

In my second lesson (18 months later) I learnt to throw a very impressive back cast.

In my third lesson (a year later), I was watching how the instructor taught because I had plans to become an instructor by then.

My latest lesson was after I failed my MCI exam in October last year. That was a lesson on making sure I could pass the accuracy section of the exam. I've had other "mini-lessons" in the lead-up to the MCI exam on various tasks as part of my efforts to pass that exam. There has never been a lesson I got nothing from, including the ones I am giving to students.

I don't remember if I discussed gear in the early lessons as I was a beginner student. I do discuss it with my students now, depending on their level of interest.

Most of my students return to me when they need help. I still seek out the first instructor I had when he is in town, but I often teach him too now (we know different stuff and learn from each other.) My second instructor is now a good friend (he's the guy who taught me the back cast) and we chat often online. Again, we teach each other, but he is one of the world's best known casters and I can only teach him about the physics of the cast - not how to cast. He's also my main mentor in the quest for that MCI certification.

Cheers,
Graeme

 

[eure]

I took a casting lesson as a complete beginner, so it was the basics like grip, timing, rod position etc. I've had a couple of lessons since, they where roughly 6 months apart and mainly to iron kinks outs before they got too ingrained, I've always let the instructor dictate what we cover and when.

I improved my overhead basic cast the most but then I did go for a lesson having never really cast a fly rod. I did have a 20 minute lesson with a friend first but it was worse than useless.

I did have an "Ahhh ha!" moment it was when I was working on loop size and the ability to control it. The instructor asked me to alter my grip and we tried a few different ones and then I tried the V-grip all of sudden everything became easier and a lot more consistent it was honestly like throwing a switch.

We've discussed equipment but kept it very basic and general such as rod actions, leader tapers etc.

I've only ever had lessons with the same instructor, he's highly qualified, inexpensive and I've always felt I've learnt a lot so never felt I need to look for another instructor.

We’ve all heard, read or said that it’s far better to “get a casting lesson” than it is to buy new equipment.

And it's completely true in my experience.

 

[sweetandsalt]

I began fly fishing more than half a century ago. I had no instructor or mentor, no videos of course or even a book. I thought I was doing OK until I arbitrarily met up with a bunch of "trout bums" and quickly learned of my foibles and limitations. I did learn from them in a non formal manor and over the course of my life as an angler I've gained friends who are far more expert and talented than I will ever be...including a Master Caster. Taking up flats fishing for bonefish in the 1980's proved educational too and definitely has informed my trout casting.

Today, still with no formal education in casting beyond what I've learned fishing with friends and expert guides and my own self criticism, I'm skilled enough that I instruct, as recently as last week, PHWFF veteran participants. Still, when my wife elected as an adult to take up fly fishing, I had her take casting lessons with a pro, not me. A few years ago I was watching her execute some really nice casting and asked, "Did Dave teach you that?" "No, she said, I'm imitating you."

A good compliment, however, I still point out that every participant in stroke sports, golf, tennis, works with a coach...even multi-million dollar baseball batters are in the batting cage with the coach before every game. I would benefit from this too.

 

[Rip Tide]

Back when I was 11 or 12, a well meaning gentleman attempted to show me what i was doing wrong.
Does that count ?

 

[LimerickShaw]

I've taken one lesson when I first started and it was very helpful. With that being said, I'm contemplating taking another one. When you're on the water and you mess up a cast chances are you might not actually know what you did wrong. I have the hardest time determining where exactly my cast went wrong. Sometimes I figure it out based off of slightly changing something (stop more abruptly, not reaching, etc.) but what has me thinking of going back and taking another one is the ability to be told what you're doing wrong and couple that with the physical feeling.

I think it beneficial where when you make a bad cast you kind of know how you felt making the case but then your instructor being able to tell you where you went wrong and then altering your cast and making a correct cast would be nice. This way you have the instruction and then hopefully turn that into muscle memory.

That's just my opinion but like I said it has me contemplating going back for a second time so I can have the feel and feedback take place because I think it will help improve my casting.

 

[flafly14]

There's a guy in FL that does lessons where you send him a video of your casting. He then watches it and sends you back a report on what you need to fix and how to fix it. I think that's an excellent form of a lesson. I did it with him. It was helpful. Hints if you're going to do that:
1. Have a decent camera that will record video at a faster frame rate so that you can watch it better in slow-mo. That makes a HUGE difference.
2. Cast orange fly line with a dark background like trees. Do it when the sun is lower in the sky.
3. Use a tripod and make sure the camera catches the line/loop.

What's really interesting is to send the same video to multiple instructors and see the different responses. I sent one video to two guys before. One guy said - "Your casts look great. Just focus on SMOOTH acceleration." The other guy was like "This is wrong. That's wrong. This other thing is bad. etc, etc". It was so much that I couldn't really process all of it.

 

[ejsell]

I took one lesson a few months after I started. I had the basics down but it helped. I could probably use a more advanced one on one instruction to fine tune my cast (I know I have issues). But for now I just wait for Ard to post videos

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[Flyfisher for men]

Toying with a lesson on my vacation. Of course, that means cutting into fishing. Bad casting/good fishing tends to trump great casting/no fishing.

The key to an ugly tailing loop is to do it with charm and good looks so nobody notices it.

 

[sweetandsalt]

An excellent method to fish and learn is to hire a guide who is also an instructor. The guides I retain for our just last week annual PHWFF 3 day event are enormously helpful with the intermediate level casters...and sometimes they are rewarded with a trout in the process.

 

[silver creek]

Re: “Get casting lessons.”

I first tried to teach myself how to fly cast. There were no books or videos and I didn't have any instructors. All I had was a pamphlet by Jim Green called "Fly Casting From the Beginning" printed by Fenwick. I could not learn to cast adn I gave it up.



Fortunately, Gary Borger taught at the local 2 year campus (freshman and sophomore courses) of the University of Wisconsin and my wife and I took a Fenwick Fly Fishing Class. We got to know Gary and Nancy and he became my fly fishing mentor.

So I guess I have had a personal instructor for a long time.

I've been fishing with Gary many times and very early on, I would not even fish. I would stay on the trail and follow him up or down the river as he fished.

I think fly fishing instruction has really improved and I think this is the golden age of instruction. I gave an introduction to fly fishing course last Sat and Sunday, 6 hours a day for a total of 12 hours.

Introduction to Fly Fishing | Continuing Education - UW-Marathon County

Casting was 1 hour of classroom and 2.5 hours of hands on casting. There were 9 students and 1 of them was a fly fisher who signed up for the course with his non fly fishing wife. One person could not attend the entire course. So there were 7 non fly fishers who completed the class and 3 of them had tried but failed to teach themselves how to cast.

By the end of the course 6 of the 7 were doing pickup and lay down casts and were able to false cast. So learning to cast for a reasonably coordinated person does not take long, in this case 1 hour of classroom and 2.5 hours of casting instruction.

The night before the casting sections I gave them homework. They were to watch a video on the 3-point grip and hold the 3 point grip all evening using the handle section of the rod. They were also to watch and study the 3 videos on the casting exercises we were going to use. That saved a lot of time on explaining grips and explaining the exercises.

When students really UNDERSTAND the principles of fly casting and WHY the fly line does what it does, they can SELF-CORRECT their errors. That is why the classroom portion of the class is so important. Then when they practice and IF they can see their mistakes, they know how to correct them.

Here is a teaching tip. When I am with one of the students and they are making a casting error, I look at the other students to find:

1. A student who is making the same error.
2. A student who performing that portion of the cast correctly.

When you point out to the student you are with, the difference between them, and they can mimic the student who is casting correctly. By comparing the two casts, the student you are with can more easily understand what you want them to do.

I learned this teaching technique from Billy Kidd, the first American to win an Olympic medal in alpine skiing. He would use the other students in the class to teach us what they were doing well that we personally were not doing and what they were doing poorly that we also were not doing.

It is extremely effective and at the time, Billy used it because there was no video available for us to see our own skiing techniques.

 

[Hirdy]

Re: “Get casting lessons.”

Here is a teaching tip. When I am with one of the students and they are making a casting error, I look at the other students to find:

1. A student who is making the same error.
2. A student who performing that portion of the cast correctly.

When you point out to the student you are with, the difference between them, and they can mimic the student who is casting correctly. By comparing the two casts, the student you are with can more easily understand what you want them to do.

Love it! Thanks for the tip Silver.

Cheers,
Graeme

 

[corn fed fins]

I've taken lessons years ago. They are worth it ONLY if the instructor can teach (True with any "teacher"). I was fortunate to be able to video tape myself cast as a youth. Watching myself was the greatest learning experience I ever had on my cast. You think you are/not doing something and there you are not/are doing that exact thing on TV. I even tell friends from time to time to video me when I'm fishing. Big difference when you're concentrated on fishing and not the cast. Muscle memory is the hardest thing to break making old bad habits suddenly reappear (especially after a winter of nymphing).

What makes an instructor valuable is not that they can point out a problem but offering a different perspective on how to correct it.

Not all instructors will speak your "language" so finding one that does can be a challenge in itself; especially advanced lessons.

CFF

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk

 

[ia_trouter]

I regret I did not get a formal casting lesson the first year. I struggled mightily and asked a lot of questions here. Guys like Silvercreek, Riptide and others were kind enough to post mountains of info here, and answer my questions. Ard helped me some a few months later but the goal was fishing the few days I was there. I must have been pathetic because he mailed me a casting book later. I definitely had a lot of bad habits burned into my muscle memory. (I still do but it's better now) I caught lots of fish the first few years and called it good.

Fast forward four years and my fly fishing club asked me to assist the regional ST Croix REP give a casting clinic because they had another event and couldn't help. Just us two, and 40 brand new fly casters. What a potential train wreck, but I reluctantly agreed, and just knew I was going to make a fool of myself. That's not how it went down at all. My brain knew the fundamentals, and I wasn't fishing this time. Locked in on the goal of not getting folks off to a bad start like I had experienced. I was pleasantly surprised how well most of them progressed in just a few hours.

Anyway, the fish are a serious distraction when you are starting out, but of course that is where the early gratification lies. Some casting lessons, even just one, would have made it much easier.

 

[silver creek]

Re: “Get casting lessons.”

Love it! Thanks for the tip Silver.

Cheers,
Graeme

Graeme,

You are welcome and thank you for the casting pointers you add to the discussions.

Silver

 

[rangerrich99]

When I first started I learned the basics from a buddy that at least knew something about casting mechanics. So I learned about grip, a firm wrist, loading, firm stops, etc. from my buddy Adam.

A few years later, I hired a guide that was also a certificated casting instructor that spend the better part of day with me just teaching and tweaking my casting. I learned 1,000% more in that 5-6 hours than I did with all the trial-and-error I put myself through in the previous 3 or 4 years.

About 6 or 7 years ago I took some lessons just to see how bad my casting was messed up. Turned out that for the most part my cast was technically okay. Relearned some things, but no major changes.

I'm hoping to pick up a switch rod in the not-too-distant future, and fully plan on taking several lessons when I do. Getting too old to wait on having a "eureka!" moment anymore.

 

[bill_s]

I am not sure I can express this properly; but I will give it a try.

I read many posts stating you should take casting lessons or use a guide. For me, this would not be an enjoyable experience. To be blunt; I am not a social person and spending time with a stranger is not my idea of relaxation.

I fish to relax. I fish for my enjoyment.

I recognize that having instruction would increase my casting skills and by spending time with a guide I would improve my presentation, fish location etc.

I am willing to forgo those benefits for just having a quiet peaceful time on the water.

Ok, there it is....I said it!

I am lucky, in that learning the basic fly cast was easy for me. For a long time I was happy with that and made no effort to improve.

Two events triggered some effort to improve.

I saw a video of myself casting, and identified I was not stopping my backcast, I was more drifting into a position much too far back.

I was playing with leader design. During my testing I was trying to achieve a consistent cast, and for the first time focused on having consistent stroke. Repeatability being my goal. I spent a few afternoons doing this and it did improve my casting.

So, if you see a guy on the river with a poor cast, who is all by himself...well, that is me!

Cheers

 

[green stick]

Next year it will be 50 years since I first cast a fly rod. My apprenticeship was difficult only instruction was a series of stickman drawings in a book in th village library . 2 years ago I had my 60 th birthday . My "Treat" was a holiday to Cuba to fill a dream of a bonefish on the fly . My life has been river fishing in the north of England , I reckon I can fish spiders as well as anyone or flick a dry under a tree or lead nymphs through pocket water . But chuck a size 8 into a gale on the flats that wasn't for me . I can roll cast , side cast and improvise cast but double haul ,,,not a clue . MY casting lesson which lasted all of three hours taught me enough to go away and learnt a decent double haul and generally improved my casting . In fact me and a mate are having another lesson in two weeks , What ever age and experience casting lessons are a good investment ...

G S

 

[Flyfisher for men]

Re: “Get casting lessons.”

I first tried to teach myself how to fly cast.....I could not learn to cast adn I gave it up.

This actually surprises me, Silver, because I managed to self-teach my way to functionality with a little help from a book and getting a tip or two from a run-of-the-mill caster, even though I'm big, dumb, and clumsy.

When students really UNDERSTAND the principles of fly casting and WHY the fly line does what it does, they can SELF-CORRECT their errors. That is why the classroom portion of the class is so important. Then when they practice and IF they can see their mistakes, they know how to correct them.

What Silver says here gets to the heart of it. I can do little of this. As a master mechanic told me once, his skill was diagnosis. Most people can put an alternator on a car. But figuring out why the won't start and whether it needs an alternator or a battery is another thing altogether.

Maybe you can comment, Silver, but I think i read somewhere that a certified casting instructor has to learn how to throw a tailing loop. That way they know what's happening in a student's cast.

Here is a teaching tip. When I am with one of the students and they are making a casting error, I look at the other students to find:

1. A student who is making the same error.
2. A student who performing that portion of the cast correctly.

This sort of thing is hugely effective with kids, as I'm sure you know. If you want to teach them to play golf, let them watch a good golfer.

As I mention, I toy with the idea of a lesson this vacation, but will likely skip it to blow money on other stuff. More than anything, I could benefit from simple practice, maybe even start at the stream and make ten good casts before concentrating on fish.

 

[Hirdy]

Re: “Get casting lessons.”

Maybe you can comment, Silver, but I think i read somewhere that a certified casting instructor has to learn how to throw a tailing loop. That way they know what's happening in a student's cast.

Yes, when sitting the CCI exam, the candidate needs to be able produce a tailing loop from the three main causes (as the FFi sees them). There are a couple of other methods that the CCI candidate doesn't need to demonstrate, but it's worth knowing them when teaching. In the end, they are all produced by a rod tip the dips and rises during the cast.

More than anything, I could benefit from simple practice, maybe even start at the stream and make ten good casts before concentrating on fish.

While that's a good sentiment, you may perhaps practice poor form and further imbed the mistakes you're already making. I personally considered lessons I took as an investment in my fly fishing that paid off when I stopped buying all that new gear under the misguided impression that it might make my casting better.

Cheers,
Graeme