Wind Direction, The Lift, The Sweep, The Tap

Wind directions.

We have just performed a basic roll cast with the wind over our left shoulder, with the rod tip on the water we lifted with a stiff wrist to 45 degrees paused as the line came feathering back towards us and stopped, swept the rod around to the right (not so fast that the line left the water and landed in the bushes behind) and paused while the loop formed. The breeze is keeping the line away or downwind of us, had the breeze been in the opposite direction over the right shoulder, as we were forming the loop or making the forward cast we would be hit by the fly-line. The solution to this is to make the cast off the downwind (left) shoulder, if the wind is right to left just sweep the rod (keeping it in your right hand) after the initial lift around the sombrero to the left and come to a stop, the elbow is pointing at the target, the thumb at eye level hand almost touching cheek, rod at 45 degrees behind, and make a straight path with the thumb as before a rapid acceleration and hard stop.

Wind from behind, if there is a strong breeze, this may destroy the loop we need to form (this is the back cast), by pointing the rod with the arm extended behind so the rod is parallel with the ground, we can hold enough line to form the loop without the wind getting hold of it, and at our leisure begin the forward part of the cast. When ready, a steady smooth lift is required then not until the rod goes just past the vertical does the rapid speed up commence and again a hard stop, but a little higher this time so the wind will carry the line.

Wind in your face, movements as normal except instead of the rod stopping at 45 degrees behind, it is stopped between that and the vertical, the rod/thumb is brought slowly to the vertical and then without hesitation the tip of the thumb is driven toward the target in a straight line, keeping control of the elbow. The stopping point of the rod is just above the horizontal, normally this would send the line crashing down into the water, but now the wind is keeping it up as the loop unrolls very close to the surface, as it does, the second it straightens it lands so the wind could not blow it back at you.

The basic or standing roll cast is adequate for cast of up to around 12 to 15 yards, the limiting factors are the size of the loop (back cast) we are creating, or the energy/weight to flex the rod tip against we can store in that loop, and the line stick on the water. We can increase the size of the loop without the fly coming behind by using a jump roll cast, the movements are the same as the basic but a little more dynamic. This will create a bigger heavier loop behind and eliminate the line stick by just landing about a foot of fly-line on the water plus the leader to give an anchor, (mininmum drag).

Pull off a couple of yards of fly-line from the reel and let drop, hold with the left finger and thumb the single band on the fly-line.

The lift

Starting with the rod tip on the surface, (with no slack in the fly-line), as soon as we begin the lift the line needs to be moving and peeling off the water, again it is a smooth acceleration, the aim is to make the whole line leave the surface without any disturbance with just the last foot or so remaining by the time the rod is at the 45 degrees. You will see that the fly-line will lift and come to a hanging stop for a split second, (Pause) then,

The sweep

It is at this point that the rod is swept out and around as before (the sombrero), the fly-line is now airborne. As you sweep around in an accelerating very shallow dipping movement, the bottom of that dip should be opposite the shoulder, (this will ensure that the last part of the fly-line and leader land opposite the shoulder, anchors on the water and forms a much bigger loop behind than before). Continuing from the bottom of the dip with increasing speed/tension on the rod tip we follow a mirror image path of the first part of the sweep, and while that is happening we set our self up for the forward cast (vertical forearm, wrist cocked, elbow pointing at target), after a final speed up in an upward direction stopping the rod dead at the 45 degrees behind. Pause as the line travels back and forms a loop, as it does there will be a moment where one end is anchored to the water and the other end to the rod tip, with the loop under tension hanging in mid air, it is at this point that the forward delivery is made.

The tap

That’s all it is, creeping the rod /thumb forwards to the upright, there is then a straight line hammer tap as before stopping the rod at the 45 solidly. As the loop rolls out we let go of the fly-line we were holding in our left hand, the timing for this is if you say to yourself “STOP and DROP”, the stop being the rod at 45 and the drop letting go of the line. The couple yards of line you pulled off the reel will go flying through the rings. For different wind directions it is the same movements as the basic roll cast, but what do we do when we have a need to change casting direction with certain wind directions, we use one of the Spey-cast.

If we had a straight line out in front of us, and we try and cast over the standing line or to the left of it with the rod in our right hand, things would turn out just fine until we try to change to big an angle to the left. If we try to cast to the right of the standing line, the loop would cross over it and cause a tangle, another couple of reasons to use Spey-cast.