April 9, 2016

Casting Practice

Like many of you, I frequently need to unwind after coming home from work. One of my favorite ways to unwind is to do a little casting practice. That's hard to do in the winter, but now that the snow has melted off the lawn it's a lot easier.

Some have suggested using an empty tuna can or a cup as a target. That works great, but rarely do I get to practice when there is no breeze. I can hit a cup, but I'm not that good and remember, I'm doing this to unwind, not get more frustrated. So instead of a cup I use a pie tin.

I use an inverted aluminum pie tin. Every time I hit it, it gives me a wonderfully positive reinforcing "ping". The raised portion of the tin is 7 inches in diameter. A cup is a very noble target, but 7 inches is good enough for me and far more realistic.

Here's my target:



I use a dummy fly, which is a killer bug, tied in fluorescent orange, and with the hook cut off.  When I practice cast, I concentrate on making sure that the fly, not the tippet, hits the target, or ground, first . I'm not just trying to hit the target, but improve my cast from hand to fly and everything in between.



Here's a very short video of me practicing yesterday afternoon. It's sort of boring, but it's short and perfectly illustrates why I like the pie tin. As a point of reference, I'm using a 360 cm rod, 11 foot line and 3 feet of tippet.





I'm sure many of you practice. You may use a cup, or tuna can, or maybe a wooden trout game. However you practice, I hope you find it as relaxing as I do.







2 comments:

  1. Ooh, I like the pie tin. I was using paper plates, but they are certainly not as "vocal" in the off chance I actually came into contact. Will have to grab one of those. Maybe two...you know and use the other one for pie. Mmmmmm....

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  2. One question I get a lot is "what rod or line should I buy to improve my casting?" Here's my answer, "practice casting the rod and line you have at home on the lawn and not on the river. If you never practice except when you are trying to catch fish, well your results will most likely suck."

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