lawn casting and learning

about now, a 3 or 4wt under 8 feet sounds pretty darned good to me.

Use an 8wt a foot longer and the 6wt will seem light?????

Hmmmm. Yr arm shouldn't be that tired. My .02 --

Practice for, oh, 10 minutes at a time until you get the arm toned up.

When you're practicing, avoid false casting with more than 3X the rod's length of line beyond the rod's top. (Clear? 9' rod = max of 27' of line airborne) Just eyeball it. The idea is to shoot line, not punish yourself holding 50' of line airborne.

Give yourself the goal of casting with proper form and the minimum strength required. Do one backcast, one forward cast, another backcast, forward and shoot. Once you get the feel of it you'll see how little strength fly casting requires. Once you see how it should feel, you can progress, if you want, to practice exercises that require more false casting.

Also, when I lose rhythm I hum Edelweiss to myself and cast in time to it. (Works for golf swings, too)

Finally -- Beginners with sore arms usually have a problem with the power part of the cast. On the last backcast, the rod should load and -- as you start forward -- your rod hand should stay ahead of the rod tip until you apply the power snap aimed, oh, 4' above your target -- i.e., on the backcast your rod should get to the 1:00 position and should stay there until you get to the end of the forward casting stoke.

You'll get a sore arm if you tilt the rod forward too early, lose the energy built up in the rod, and then try to compensate with your arm strength.

Try it and let us know if you see an improvement. There's other stuff to work on, but that's my instant diagnosis and prescription for beginning anglers.

Good luck.

You'll get a sore arm if you tilt the rod forward too early, lose the energy built up in the rod, and then try to compensate with your arm strength.

you weren't watching, were you?
 

Great explanation anchke. Rapala - I try and lawn cast about twice a week - kind of gets my mind off alot of "stuff" and relaxes me. Keep practicing and follow the advice of others - you'll find your own stroke. I've always believed that although there are some fundamentals that are good to follow - many have their own kind of style...little tweaks to the norm that suits them and offers them comfort when casting. Try laying out a few paper plates and work on accuracy. I know in the past when I've worked with others on their casting - when they got their mind off of getting a textbook stroke and concentrated on accuracy - somehow they were more relaxed and their casting improved dramatically. Don't know why it worked for them but it did. I guess that without thinking about it - they adjusted their arm/wrist/hand position to hit the target. Years ago - as a young lad who had a father that I loved to watch throw a fly line - always told me that the most important thing in casting an accurate dry fly is to lock the elbow to your hip and use as little shoulder as possible.  Tightens the loop he would say. He knew what he was talking about because I saw him set off a mouse trap in the backyard many a time with a slightly weighted nymph. Keep at it buddy

No question, Bings. Some of those folks are just so darned smooth. Instant jealousy.

One of the tips I've learned is to allow your hips to move with the cast, so that your forearm and shoulder are not generating all of the momentum.

When I was in medic school, and later in college, my instructors/professors would always tell us: you can be book smart or you can be street smart...the successful ones are those who are BOTH. I am far from having mastered casting, but you know you're doing it right when everything "feels" right. So after watching those YouTube clips at least a couple dozen times, I've been able to fine tune what they're telling me to a mannerism that works for me.

Something else I found that helped me is to let my kids take a few swings. I can watch their mistakes and say "that's happening because..." It kept my frustration level down, and when I'd pick up the rod again, I would try to "practice what I preached." I still warn everyone I may need a little room, but I'm not as dangerous as I used to be.

That being said, my roll cast still sucks.

For the past 12-15 years I've fished mostly 1 and 2 wt rods.  When I now fish even a five wt, the mass of the rod is very noticeable to me.

One thing I would suggest with regards to your arm fatigue, is to try a couple of different ways of gripping the rod to see which is the most comfortable to you.  As the grip you use changes, different muscle in your arm are going to be used in slightly different planes of motion.

I personally find it very tiring to use a thumb on top grip.  I much prefer to hold the rod in the vee between my thumb and forefinger. 

Just something to give a try.

have fun,

cold, i believe it is my technique for the most part.  i do get some really nice casts out to 50 feet, but i feel i am pushing the rod.  my 6wt is the exact big brother to your 3wt (rod and reel), but a 9 footer.  however, the 5 is much lighter (sage ds) and more comfortable.  after casting these for a while, i picked up the 7wt, casted twice, and threw it at the cat..  

bings, those ceiling fans are going to be the doom of one of my rods yet.  my wife always tells me to quit playing with them and go use them..  neighbors see my lawn casting and just shake there heads.  will be at it again today.  spring training for oil city, if i can make it.
 
btw, walleyes in shallow....hurry.

ORIGINAL: bingsbaits

See you did that a little wrong...
You tie a deerhair mouse on with the hook cut off and.....
Good sidearm practice keep it low so you don't take out the ceiling fan..

(drive the wife and cat crazy)

Cut the hook? Why?

ORIGINAL: rapala11

marty, i used both a 9 foot cane rod and a 9.6 foot 7wt yesterday, and it too was a workout. 

 
 
I do a lot of short leader dry fly fishing which equates to constant casting.
I start the season practicing with an 8oz. reel on a very heavy 9 ft bamboo rod. That type of rod can not be pushed and requires a deliberately easy rhythm. With that type of rod, you not only see your mistakes, you can feel them.
The weight of the rod & reel helps build muscle memory which is good. On the down side, if you have poor technique, casting over and over with a heavy rod will only serve to reinforce that poor technique.
My arm does get sore for the first couple of days.
 
 
 

if the rod isn't balanced with the reel correctly this will give you more fatigue.
hold the grip and then try to balance the rod with your index finger. if the rod tip falls hard to the ground this shows that the rod & reel is not balanced well and the rod tip, being too heavy, will have an effect on you arm muscles.
i would rather have my reel a little heavy for the rod than vice-versa.
 
a lot of problems i see casters have is that they don't stop on there backcast. a person who is very smooth with thier cast doesn't even look to be stopping but they are so good at casting and feeling the rod load, thier stopping is very brief. you have to stop on your backcast to get the line to (sling shot) backwards, this bends the rod tip backwards as the force of the line loops behind you. once the line loads the rod is when the tip starts to flex straight up again because there is no more pull. this is the time, or just short of that, to start your forward cast. i know it sounds so easy
 
start with your leader and tippet the length of your rod and no longer. it's easier to learn with this way, trust me. and i would think a longer rod, say 8"-9' 6" would be easier to learn on than a shorter rod, unless the shorter rod is quite felxable.
 
on short casts or out to 30' or so i keep my thumb on top of the handle horizontal with the shaft. i have short thumbs so this is how i keep the rod steady.
on longer casts i actually use my pointer finger on top of the handle horizontal with the rod shaft. this locks my wrist better and gives me more stability, i'll break my wrist as i move my rod forward, for a power cast.
 
single haul. to get your line moving quicker and with power backwards pull your line down with your line hand some at the beginning of your back cast. the sharper you pull the more pressure you'll put on the rod tip to fling the line backwards. the higher the line speed the more flex of the rod, the more the rod tip flexes backwards the more it's going to flex forward giving you more speed in the line and throwing the line further.
 
hope this helps.
anyone who dissagrees with me, please point out what i may be explaining wrong. i'll take no offense, i learned almost all my casting ability through trial and error. what works for me might not work for others.  ~dt

Rap

Keep at it man, before you know it things will come naturally and gracefully...

I love sitting in on casting seminars from anyone, if you have the chance, I would recommend taking one at a place local to your house, I do at least once a year for about the past 8, really helps to get different opinions and critique so you do not develop bad habits.  At the one fly  I saw some spectacular casting going on, my suggestion would be to bug one of those guys to taking you to a stream

Also, youtube works wonders.

ORIGINAL: doubletaper

ORIGINAL: dano

Very true.
But sometimes for me, it's kind of a fun challenge to try and get that one sipper against the far bank way over there.

 love it!!!

 
Very true.
 
Another game, though, is to try to catch every rising fish with one cast by putting yourself in the right position, with the right angle, at the right distance, to achieve the perfect drift that will result in a rise.
 
A few years ago during the Grannom hatch on the Little J, I went 9 for 10.  Never even came close to that again.

there are several techniques for casting ie. the wulff method and the krey method.  they are on youtube to see how they do it.  i like lefty's method a bit more, especially for beginers.

I just watched a bunch of those myself, Rich.....
Man do I have flaws.... At least now I know why some casts go 20 feet and land in a pile.
Oh well great excuse to go fishin, I suck at casting and need the practice.....