hi Gents have been practicing this morningfor two hours at a lake near me,
the rod I used was a enigma tci 9 foot #9/10 with a wf 10 weight line,
was getting good distance but found I was hitting my self on the back or
more worringly on the back of the head it a good job I had no fly's on, I tried
to work it out but now and again it would give me a slap on the back of the head,The thing is I have about twenty pike lures I want to try but I dont fancy one of those stuck in the old coco nut.any help would be appreciated
bill.

Hi Bill,

Firstly, Is there any reason why your using a 9ft 10weight? Most 9ft 10weight rods are either used for Pike, or Saltwater fishing.

As your practising, I guess your fairly new to fly fishing and just trying to touch up on your technique?

You may be better off trying a lighter rod, the line is probably a bit heavy and the rod a bit stiff! For practising, a softer rod will be better as you get the feel of the line and rod working together.

Kieron

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When you go into your back cast make sure your line goes high in the air behind you ,you may be stopping the rod on the back cast too late and making the line go down behind you,if doing just a straight overhead cast make sure you rod tip stops on roughly the twelve olock position if it travels back to say one or two and you stop, the line will follow the rod tip down thus drooping and hitting you in the back,you may have too much wrist break which can cause this as well,your hand may stop on the vertical but if you break your wrist it drops the rod behind you,during your cast stop at twelve oclock and look to see where your thumb is pointing if you have it on top of the handle it should be roughly pointing between twelve and one,hope this helps a bit

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Check which way the wind is blowing, make sure it isn't coming on to your casting shoulder. Always keep the line down wind of you.

Mike

I notice this with heavyweight outfits also. My other half has a very upright 'orthodox' style which is great most of the time but give her a #12 weight and she's in danger of clipping herself on the forward cast. I've been getting her to drop her forearm off to the right (she's right handed), thus if the fly comes through a bit low it won't hit her. This has had the additional benefit of smoothing out her cast as she's no longer afraid of getting a whack so her casting stoke is less tentative.

I suggest you tilt the fly rod off to the side a bit more.

The fly line and the fly line follow the rod tip. If the rod tip goes over your head in a direct overhead cast, the fly can hit you. When you tilt the rod a bit more to the side, the rod tip, the fly line and the fly will miss you and pass by the side of your head.

I also suspect that your timing is off on both the back cast and the forward cast. Always start with a tight line to the fly AND a low rod position before you begin the back cast. I mean LOW. Drop the rod tip to the water and take in all the the slack before you start the backcast. Slack line on the pick up kills the cast because the beginning of the power stroke is removing slack and not moving and loading the fly rod.

Make a hard stop on the backcast, and begin the forward cast just before the backcast straightens. Any delay and the fly line begins to drop and you lose the power added by pulling the forward cast against the backward momentum of the fly line.

I also suspect that you may also have some forward rod creep on the forward cast as you anticipate the forward cast. Rod creep is when you bring the rod forward a bit before the forward power stroke actually begins. It shortens the stroke length and robs power from the cast.

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thanks for all the information plenty of food for thought there, I bought the
#10 weight rod for pike fishing whitch I have never done but fancy a go at
it,for me its a case of "got the gear but no idea"but I am determined to give it my best shot, So I will work through all of your advice next week.
Sincere thanks to one and all.bill

Google "Belgian cast" you get this might be useful

TK

If the wind isn't an issue, you're probably hooking the cast, ie, pulling the rod tip literally behind you on your back cast, so the line goes behind you, and when it comes forward, bang. It's quite common with heavy outfits as people put too much effort into the cast, use their shoulder, which then rolls around moving the rod tip too far around behind you in an arc.

No matter where the line goes in any cast, it's there because the rod tip took it there, this bit of logic can be used to diagnose numerous casting problems

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I'm certainly not new to fly casting and I practice casting at least once a week in the close season, if I'm working on a new cast (2hander) quite often more than that. Casting practice never hurt anyone as long as you practice to improve and not just to practice.

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