A number of years ago, Tom White demonstrated to an audience at a Sportsman Show, how to cast the traditional way, roll casting and what benefits there were to be able to double haul. To emphasis the power of double hauling, Tom wowed the people by throwing a tight looped 60' cast with his bare hands.

Believe it or not, it really isn't that difficult to do with a little practice. If you haven't tried casting without a rod, you should give it a go in the backyard. It's fun to see how far you can actually throw the line. If you do try it, post how far you reached!

CU
PS. I recently learned that Capt. Tom White battled brain cancer and passed away on the 23 of June 2007. He will be truly missed. This is a video that I bought from him 14 years ago.

its been posted a few times but......

And he's rubbish at it!

Okay, I'll bite. Why do you say that he is rubbish at it?

He couldn't keep any line aerialized! Flick back and chuck forward! I'm not overly impressed with that!

there is no leverage without the rod, you have to use line speed alone to create momentum, you have to admit that he delivered a fly a long way

there is something very clever to be learned in this, if you cast with just the top half of your rod you discover that the line has the potential to go almost as far, i have seen half a 3 weight cast 80', the whole 3 weight struggles to reach this because the rotation of a full rod is slower than with half of it,

you have to be impressed by delivering a near weightless object a further distance by hand than with a rod, it challenges our belief that rods make the cast, and teaches us what makes the line do what it does.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ohanzee there is no leverage without the rod, you have to use line speed alone to create momentum, you have to admit that he delivered a fly a long way

It's a difficult crowd. Of course there is no leverage without a rod. The mere fact he and Mr. White can toss a whack of line barehanded, is an eye opener for me.

These gentlemen who use half a rod or no rod are illustrating to us that you could use a broom handle if need be, as long as you have the proper technique down pat.

a broom handle is too much leverage, very responsive though,

bit like a sage tcr in many ways

Stop it.

If this is what you have been believing, you have been believing the wrong thing all along. One of the greatest misconceptions in the history of fly fishing, is that the rod makes the cast. It is in actual fact the line, as demonstrated in this thread. if you have seen Lefty Kreh, or read his books, he goes to great pains to try and get the angler to realise this. All the rod does, is transfer the energy down the line. Different rods, just enable the caster to do this at different rates, and with different efficiencies.
Rods are fishing tools, not casting tools. It is only once the fly is on the water, with the line out from the cast, that the most important characteristics of the rod are brought into effect.
I am not trying to discount the importance of the rod in the cast, but merely to say that anything that can transfer energy into the fly line at the correct rate, will get the line moving, it doesn't have to be a rod.