The annual deep-wading casting failure!

[desmobob]

I do a bit of freshwater fly fishing in the spring; mostly small stream trout fishing. I also do some practice casting in the yard as I get new rods, lines, etc, or to keep busy while I'm waiting for a chance to go fishing.

In the late spring, I make an annual trip to fly fish for stripers on Cape Cod. Without fail, the first time I get in the water and wade out up to my waist, it seems like I totally forget how to cast.

After some previous trout trips and lots of yard casting over the past week or two, I headed to a local lake early yesterday morning to fish the outlet of a tributary where there's a smelt run, hoping to hook a landlocked salmon or lake trout. I rigged up my 8wt (it was very breezy) and waded out from the mouth of the stream into deeper water.

I could barely manage a 40' cast! I was chucking that same line on the same rod clear across the yard the day before. I don't know what happens to my casting when I get in deep water, but whatever it is, it's not good!

When I'm on my annual Cape Cod trip, I eventually get in the groove after a while and my casting improves. But it's never as good when I'm wading deep as it is when I'm in shallow or out of the water.

Anyone else suffer this malady? Any ideas, tips or hints?

Tight lines,
Bob

 

[tcorfey]

I would theorize that when in deep water you are lifting your elbow higher to keep it from getting wet. This will alter your cast significantly.

But what else might be happening and I cannot tell this from your description is that in deep water your backcast is hitting the water maybe? If you tilt your cast to aim your back cast higher then this would not happen.

Remember a good cast comes from having the tip travel in a straight line any variations from that will hurt your ability to make a good cast.

One other thought, sometimes we get anxious when we can't get our cast to work properly so we try harder and end up rushing the cast which only makes things worse.

Try to keep your elbow in and turn to watch your backcast to see if you can find the problem or bring someone with you to either film you or critique your cast from shallow water and then from deep water.

 

[desmobob]

I did feel like I was casting with my arm raised up quite a bit from its normal casting position. My backcasts were not hitting the water. For some reason, raising my arm completely destroys my ability to perform my forward power stroke correctly. I was getting a good backcast using some water loading and a haul, but my forward cast was just not loading the rod well. I felt like I was just throwing the rod like a baseball, if that makes any sense to you.

I think when I go back to the lake, I'll start casting when I'm ankle deep and slowly wade out a little bit every few casts. Maybe I'll get an idea of exactly when and why things go wrong.

I'll take your advice and ask one of my saltwater fly fishing buddies on the Cape Cod trip to watch my cast and try to see what's happening. When I'm home, I almost always fish alone. I'm in a rural area and don't have any regular fly fishing buddies.

Thanks,
Bob

 

[tcorfey]

I did feel like I was casting with my arm raised up quite a bit from its normal casting position. My backcasts were not hitting the water. For some reason, raising my arm completely destroys my ability to perform my forward power stroke correctly. I was getting a good backcast using some water loading and a haul, but my forward cast was just not loading the rod well. I felt like I was just throwing the rod like a baseball, if that makes any sense to you.

I think when I go back to the lake, I'll start casting when I'm ankle deep and slowly wade out a little bit every few casts. Maybe I'll get an idea of exactly when and why things go wrong.

I'll take your advice and ask one of my saltwater fly fishing buddies on the Cape Cod trip to watch my cast and try to see what's happening. When I'm home, I almost always fish alone. I'm in a rural area and don't have any regular fly fishing buddies.

Thanks,
Bob

That sounds like a good plan... The wade out slowly and see where it starts to fall apart.

Regards,

Tim C.

 

[Walter1023]

I agree with what was already stated above. Lawn casting is a lot different and easier than casting in deep water... take it from a guy who easily lawn casts at least 1/2 hour minimum per day. Same reason I also attach leaders and a puff fly to some of my practice rods.....just casting a fly line alone is different than casting it with a 14 foot leader. that all being said taking time to practice on the lawn will still make you a much better caster....so keep it up but just add variables.

 

[Ard]

Hi Bob,

Aside from numerous casting dynamics that change when you are standing in waist deep water you should consider that if the water is 2 1/2 foot deep you are essentially 2 1/2 foot shorter. I even notice the difference when casting rods that are 13' 6" to 15 feet long. If you must be waist deep I'd advise your practice to be done while kneeling and work on elevating your arms and thus your shoulders.

The other way to cope with the new conditions when deep wading is to work on the water loading of your rod to facilitate a highly energized back cast then keep it to a single back cast and shoot line on the fore stroke.

Many problems arise when a person goes waist deep then attempts to false cast as if they are standing ankle deep. The cast technique is something we develope on our own on a case by case basis, my reply reflects what I've found to work for me.

Ard

 

[flav]

I was thinking along the same lines as Ard, practice from your knees or a chair. And practice casts that aren't straight overhead, casts like the Belgian cast where your rod is tipped off the side and your backcast is moving upward.

 

[desmobob]

After reading the responses from Ard and flav, it became obvious to me that doing my practice casting in the yard would be much more relevant to actual fishing if done kneeling.

I added a kneeling pad to my practice gear (which consists of just a couple of practice leaders with yarn puff flies).

Thanks for the suggestions, gentlemen. I appreciate it.

Tight lines,
Bob

 

[Ard]

I don't know that kneeling will solve all the issues but may at least help you adjust to being shorter. That business of using the water tension to put a heavy load on the rod may also come into play for you. Remembering that repeated back casts and forward casts will only add to the demands you face is not to be overlooked. Keep in mind that in the ocean or on a swift moving stream when you are fishing subsurface flies having concerns about creating surface disturbances is not at the top of the not to do list. If you need to load the rod then make a single backcast and that does not provide the distance you want then just rip that cast right back up and repeat the cast until you reach the maximum distance that you can hold the back cast high enough at.

You'll catch on to shooting line into both the forward and back casts with practice. When doing this on the lawn try to do the same thing. Put the forward cast down then lower the rod tip and gather excess line. Then quickly lift the line off the grass and go into that one powerful back cast. On the next forward cast release the line held in your free hand and allow it to shoot forward. A little of this exercise will show you how far you can expect to reach out on just the one back cast.

 

[desmobob]

You'll catch on to shooting line into both the forward and back casts with practice. When doing this on the lawn try to do the same thing. Put the forward cast down then lower the rod tip and gather excess line. Then quickly lift the line off the grass and go into that one powerful back cast. On the next forward cast release the line held in your free hand and allow it to shoot forward. A little of this exercise will show you how far you can expect to reach out on just the one back cast.

Thanks Ard. I appreciate you taking the time to help. I may have made it sound like I was a beginning caster, but I do pretty well. I've been throwing 8wt and 9wt intermediate lines for striped bass for 24 years now and have a good grip on water-loading, hauling, and shooting line. I do a fair amount of trout fishing, float tubing, and casting from my boat.

It's just that first time I wade out deep that things fall apart. It was this recent trip out for landlocked salmon that made me realize it happens when I wade out deep for the first time of the season with a heavy rod. I don't recall ever experiencing this difficulty during trout season.

Apparently, I do need to get back to basics and think about what I'm doing in that situation. It really bugs me that it happens and it frustrates me to no end. I guess I assume I "know how to cast" and don't expect to stumble like this. It's sort of like riding a bike for 30 years but finding that you fall down at a specific point on your first ride of the season...

Anyway, thanks very much for the suggestions and help. It's nice to have experienced people to ask for advice!

Tight lines,
Bob

 

[Jim Taddeo]

After all these years I still get frustrated sometimes with my casting mostly because the streams here are fairly small and choked with tree's, vegetation, and debris. While not exactly the same as the difficulty you're describing it's still along the lines of "I know how to cast so WTF?" I too grass/yard cast for practice and especially when I get new line but just because I feel that I'll just never master all there is to master and to be quite honest it's fun.

Thanks for the post and the responses, you've helped me as well. I've thought about videoing my cast and analyzing what I'm doing. Turning my head and watching my back-cast has been quite helpful to me.

 

[mnigro]

Desmobob, if it makes you feel any better I experience the same degradation in my casting when wading deeper than waist-high. I’m a side-arm caster by nature and moving to a more overhead plane is tougher for me. Speaking of which, I need to go practice that!

 

[brokeoff]

I fish very similar waters, often at night. For me there are two factors, the cast and my positioning. Other people have talked about the cast and if your line is not hitting the water I don't know what to suggest. I can say when choosing a place to fish that the depth will gradually increase then drop off suddenly. In the beginning I would wade out the extra ten feet because that meant I was ten feet closer to the fish. My cast suffered greatly and I would lose twenty to thirty feet and have more wind knots and pile ups. When possible I wade back ten feet and hopefully get into knee deep water. It's not always possible everywhere but when there is a steep drop off I find it practical to back off a bit so the cast doesn't suffer.