Hi im new to fly fishing and trying to learn casting on my own at the moment (have lessons coming up) and was just wondering if you shoot line only when you go to present your fly OR do you shoot line every false cast?

Every false cast(as few as possible)Remember your rod is designed to start working properly with 10yrds of line out.(AFTM rating)and with a lot of WF lines you will be getting into the running line so have to shoot the rest of your distance..It's worth measuring out 10yrds as it's a lot longer than most folk realise.

Jim

__________________
The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

Some people shoot line on both the forward cast and the backcast - this minimises the number of false casts required to achieve whatever distance you're after.