If fly casting were a religion, its most sacred tenet would be efficiency.
But, when I first came down to the Leona Casting Pools in Oakland (California), I never thought, “I want to be more efficient.” I just knew that I wanted to cast like Steve Rajeff.
Ask a group of fly fishers to describe a good fly caster, and the description will be fairly universal: tight loops and effortless distance. No one consciously marvels at efficiency.
Ask the same group to describe a poor caster. The answers will be as varied as the variables that make up the cast. Fat loop. Creep. Stopping the rod too late.
There are many ways to be inefficient, but not so many ways to be efficient.
If fly casting were a religion, inefficiencies would be sins. We must stop mistaking inefficient technique for style.
Efficiency is the key to fishing longer, making more casts, and being less tired at the end of the day. It’s also what differentiates a tight loop from a wide loop, or the same cast that goes 50 feet instead of 40 feet.
As I look back at my pilgrimage for tight loops and distance, I realize now that I was seeking efficiency. I just didn’t know it.
If fly casting were a religion, efficiency would be the path to a promised land. The sooner that you make this revelation, the earlier you will arrive at the destination.
Glen Ozawa, OD
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