 |
| John Paine demonstrating proper elbow position and a nice loop! |
One of the great things about fly casting is that it relies
on finesse and form instead of brute strength. If you are tired or sore at the
end of the day, you may be expending too much energy.
After you learn to fly cast and master keeping a stiff
wrist, the next step is power generation. You’re stopping the fly rod in the
correct spot above your head on the forward and back-cast, but those loops are
still wide and sloppy! A possible solution? Look at your elbow during the cast
and take a tip for Joan Wulff, fly fishing luminary and wife of legendary
angler Lee Wulff.
Fact: Joan Wulff cast 161 ft. in a 1960s casting tournament
We might be a little hazy on 1960s fly rod tech, but we’re
pretty sure she wasn’t casting a Sage One rod with Generation 5 technology and
a polymer-enhanced shooting taper with texturing to help it sail
along. Nope, Joan probably actually knew how to cast, without brute strength,
and without technology that we take for granted.
There is no better teacher when it comes to finessing your
cast than Joan, and she hinges from the shoulder and keeps her elbow under
control during short casts.
 |
| Joan Wulff's DVD is still one of the best. Call the shop to order. |
Want to improve your casting?
Check out our weekly spring casting clinics.
We also offer private hourly instruction and in-depth intermediate class.
During relatively short casts, such as casting a dry fly on
the Yakima, the elbow should finish bent and near the ribcage. If you finish the cast with your arm extended
out in front of you, elbow straight, you’re working too hard to throw that fly
line 30 ft.! Take a break and let the rod do the work by hinging from the
shoulder and finishing with your arm bent and nestled comfortably by your side.
The motion is similar to pulling a string to gather up window blinds, or
chopping wood with a hatchet. There are a lot of muscles to use to bring that
arm down to a positive stop, and it takes a lot of casts to make them tired!
It’s only on the longer casts that the elbow comes off the
ribcage at the end of the power stroke, when you truly have to reach to deeply
load the rod. But unless you’re hauling
to a distant rise on Pass Lake or you really have to ply that far Skagit seam with an
intergalactic laser beam, try keeping that elbow down and in. You might be surprised how easy it really is
to load that fly rod.
