I need some help.

I have been trying to teach myself the fine art of fly fishing for twenty plus years. I usually get frustrated and give up for a while.
When I am casting the line will start whipping and making a popping / snapping sound. Thus breaking off and loosing flies.
Next about one in four cast will lie down on the water smoothly, rest of the time it will bunch up on the water.
I haven’t tied any knot in the line while casting, yet!
My rod is an 8’, 5/6 wt., with 6wt. Taper line. Do you think WWF in 6 wt. would help?

Thanks for your help.

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Gonefission
Bill

Bill,

This is VERY typical. It's probably the norm for most people. The short answer is: get some instruction. An hour or two with a good casting instructor will save you YEARS of frustration. There is no shortage of fly fishermen in California. Do a Google search and find a good fly shop near you. You'll be glad you did.

As a second option, I'd suggest a casting video. There are lots of good ones on the market. Here are some names to look for: Mel Krieger, Joan Wulff, Lefty Kreh, Tom White, George Roberts, Chico Fernandez and Doug Swisher.

The specific problem you mention is just a timing issue. It's not the rod. Good luck and feel free to PM me.

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Clinging to guns and religion since 1963.

I found this with a very quick Google search. Like most good shops, they have several fly fishing classes available. If they're not close to you, they might be able to suggest another shop who is.

Central Coast Fly Fishing - Carmel, CA

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Clinging to guns and religion since 1963.

Here is the site that helped me learn to fly cast. Flycasting Tips - The Basic Cast
The cracking like a whip comes from starting your next stroke to soon. You are not giving it the leader enough time to straighten out all the way. The problem with the line forming a mess on the water comes from not enough power or complete stop of the forward cast.

As mentioned a beginners casting video will help but not necessary. If you take half of your fly rod and a long piece of yarn(10 to 15 feet), you can use this to pratice casting indoors. Just string yarn through the upper half of your fly rod and use about 5 to 8 ft of yarn at first. As your casting improves you can use a longer length of yarn. You can also set out plates to help your accuracy. Just scatter them around and practice casting to them with the yarn set up.

When you get ready to try casting your complete fly rod and line use a small peice of yarn on the end and pratice in a feild or your yard. This way if you do break off you are not losing any flies. It is also easy to cast lighter flies than heavier ones so start. Heavier flies will reguire a little more power in your stroke which will making your timing a little differnt. Also dont forget to come to a complete stop on your foward and backcast. You do not want it to be a countinouse motion.

Just want to say thank for giving me some inspiration and ideas of were to improve my casting.

Thanks

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Gonefission
Bill

I'm no expert but the popping as has been noted here earlier, is definitely from starting your forward stroke too soon, and the leader piling up, can also come from too limp of a leader in the butt section, also extra long leaders can magnify this. Also be sure to use mono intended for fly leaders, it is stiffer than regular mono. There are many tapered leaders out there, what I'm saying is you could have ten leaders all the same length, and strength, but all have different stiffnesses. If you want a leader that helps you avoid the pile up problem, I would lean toward the stiff side, so as to turn your fly over easier. I have struggled with the pile up thing too, and this is how I deal with it.

if you are roll casting the DT line is what you want,if not a WF line may help.if you drop that rod tip the line will pile up in front of you.try the ten o'clock rule, stop that rod tip at 10 o'clock then follow through.

I was a fly fishing guide and instructor on the White River system in Arkansas and Missouri for quite a few years and believe me I've seen some really bad casting. Usually its just a fundamental slip; however 1.) a good weight forward line does help as long as your not trying to fish a delicate presentation 2.) A 9ft. moderate action fly rod will help you 3.) slow down and get your casting rhythm going. I never liked 8 ft rods. Start with an amount of line you can handle comfortably....and practice in the backyard or a grassy area at a target with a 3x tippet and a piece of double sided tape. Practice getting a nice smooth motion going...back and forward...if you hear that popping noise your forward cast is way too fast, so slow down and stop some where between the 12 and 2 o'clock position just in front of your body...if you stop your cast too late the line will end up in a heap and not smooth and flat. Don't get frustrated and watch those videos the good guys at crappie.com refereed you to.

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Meet a resonable man halfway everytime....don't meet an unresonable man at all.

Your whipping the rod, not casting, it comes from too much wrist action. Simply drive the line back without flexing your wrist, know when your rod is loaded, then drive it forward with out using your wrist.

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You state if your first sentence that "I have been trying to teach myself the fine art of fly fishing for twenty plus years."

That statement is huge. Rather than continuing this pattern of starting, then geting frustrated and quitting, how about taking some lessons. Of course, you'll have to deal with 20 years of ingrained bad habits. Fly casting is nothing more than timing and understanding basic fundamentals.

Find a good teacher, pay him, listen and practice.

I'm a teacher and one of the things that happens often is that I'll teach, but students want to do it "their" way.

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Steve

Marshall Univeristy, 1971

Heritage-endorsed guide