Two weekends ago, Simon (who is a great fly caster) asked me the same question that I had asked Chris Korich seven years ago. Simon’s question was posed with different words, but our problem was alike. Since all of us are trying to make our loops tighter and our casts go farther, it makes sense that, collectively, we encounter the same problems.
Back when I started casting at targets, I noticed occasional dips in the fly leg of my front loop: a precursor to a tailing loop. No matter how slowly or carefully I started my front cast, I could not get rid of them completely. It puzzled and frustrated me.
Why did I have to start my front cast with so much trepidation when distance casters were coming forward so quickly? Steve Rajeff was accelerating his rod faster and he was casting farther than me – without a hint of a tailing loop.
So, I asked Chris: What is causing my tailing tendency?
I was stunned by his answer. Chris told me to work on my back cast. It was another WTF-moment. How could a better back cast help me with my front cast? Like many casters, I was focused on the aspects of the cast that I could see. I was ignoring my back cast.
When I started video recording my back cast loop, the culprit was immediately obvious: slack. Often, I was moving the rod tip backwards after forming the loop (drifting too slowly or too late); sometimes, I wasn’t dampening well enough, and the flexing and counter-flexing of the rod tip sent waves into the rod leg of the loop; other times, my loop was not tight, and the fly line wasn’t straightening out.
If enough slack was present in the back cast, the early parts of my front stroke were simply removing this slack. By the time that the fly line became taut to the rod tip, I was already in the acceleration part of my front stroke. The rod tip was suddenly trying to move the entire length of fly line with moderate velocity. Due to the mass of the fly line outside the rod and the flex of the rod, the rod tip buckled creating a convex path of the rod tip. It wasn’t until the rod became loaded with the fly line’s mass that the line started moving in earnest.
Coming forward more slowly at the start didn’t help because it meant that I would have to accelerate the rod faster during the acceleration phase since the remaining stroke length became shorter. I was shocking the rod tip even more.
The quick fix – not the right fix – could have been a longer weight shift forward and/or a longer front stroke. One or both of these changes would have allowed more slack to be removed, and an elongated acceleration phase would prevent shocking the rod tip. It’s a band-aid that doesn’t address the problem, and thus, prevents a caster from improving.
The ultimate fix was to stop creating slack in the back cast: form a tight loop in the back cast, and then, keep the rod tip still. The absence of slack allows the rod to load. A loaded or bent rod makes it harder for the rod tip to buckle or collapse when the rod is accelerated forward quickly.
As my back cast improved, the line straightened out more quickly. Consequently, the forward cast needed to start earlier; otherwise, waiting too long to start the front cast also created slack. Slack developed as the line stretched out and contracted. This new slack also shocked my tip. Slack is slack, regardless of cause. So, remember: as your loops become tighter, your casting tempo must increase.
If you can launch a back cast with a tight loop without slack, the line will be taut from the moment that you begin the front cast – if your timing is right. To this day, Chris reminds me to strive for “constant” line tension. He calls it, “five bars of reception”. Not including the period after a haul (when your hand returns after the haul and you are waiting for the rod tip to load), you want to be in touch with the fly from the moment you pick it up to the moment that you lay it down. It’s not easy.
Many argue that an awesome back cast is the secret to a great front cast. Although many things need to happen to form a tight loop in the front, eliminating slack in the back cast will improve everyone’s front cast -- including yours.