Fly casting and fly fishing seem like two different animals. Over time, I have become a decent fisherperson. Mentors, books and videos have helped a lot. Time on the water has helped, too.
A rainbow from the Lower Yuba River (California).
Single-handed fly casting, however, has been a different story. Despite a stubborn quest for tight loops and longer distance, nothing helped: no book, no video, no class, or any practice. Nothing.
I think that my story is common. We start fly fishing, and most of us never become really good casters. Why? It’s not due to a lack of desire. Who doesn’t want to cast with tight loops and achieve effortless distance? Clearly, motivation alone doesn’t make someone a good caster.
It’s also not due to a lack of teachers who sincerely wanted me to become a great fly caster. The number of books and online videos are proof. This blog is proof.
The Problem
The answer is inescapable. The problem is the information about how to fly cast. If we practice the wrong fundamentals, no matter how much we practice, our casting will not improve. It’s impossible.
Unfortunately, fly casting is not intuitive. If it were, people could figure out the secrets, and eventually, everyone would be great casters.
“Fly casting is not intuitive.”
I Was Lucky.
In 2007, I discovered that I lived 15 minutes away from the Leona Casting Pools in Oakland, California. Since then, I have been going to those casting pools every chance that I get — even now. At the pools, I crossed paths with Chris Korich, arguably the best fly casting instructor in the world. He coached a 12-year old Maxine McCormick to win the World Championship of Fly Casting Accuracy, and then, helped her to defend her gold medal two more times.
I think that Chris could tell how motivated I was to improve my fly casting, and one day in 2012, he came over to me and said, “Let me show you one thing. If you practice this one thing, and you show improvement, I will show you another thing.”
“If we practice the wrong fundamentals,
no matter how much we practice,
our casting cannot improve. It’s impossible”
I’m an instructor at the University of California, Berkeley, and I know how to be a good student. So, I practiced that one thing so that I could learn another thing… and then, another thing.
My casting improved dramatically. Before I started coming to the pools, I couldn’t roll cast more than 30 feet. I could cast approximately 40 feet with, what I called, a double haul. In four years after meeting Chris, I placed in the top 10 of the Men’s Division in Fly Accuracy at the US Nationals. In 2019, I made the All-American Fly Casting Team. Such is the power of raw desire, accurate information, great coaching, and lots of practice.
My Message To You
I want to share the knowledge that helped me to improve my fly casting. Don’t be surprised to encounter material that is contrary to, or inconsistent with, popular ideas in fly casting. It’s okay to be skeptical. At first, I was, too, but my progress dispelled my cynicism.
Casting dogma needs to be re-evaluated. Myths have to be dispelled. New ideas that, not only make more sense than the entrenched beliefs, but produce better results are our opportunities to break the cycle of mediocre casting.
“Casting dogma needs to be re-evaluated.”
If you ever get a chance to take a lesson from Chris, there is no better time spent learning to fly cast. For those of you who can’t take a lesson from him, let me distill nine years of “one more thing” into a handful of posts.