The new
‘Casts That Catch Fish’ DVD is yet another fine piece of work by Carl McNeil, the New Zealander who, with his wife Jeanie, made the award-winning ‘Once in a Blue Moon’ film about mouse-eating trout, that was followed by ‘Flies That Catch Fish’, about the fly fishing approach and philosophy of Bob ‘Trout Hunting’ Wyatt. Fifty minutes long, and shot in HD, ‘Casts That Catch Fish’ is very much an exercise in how-to, aimed at those who are competent at basic fly casting. The DVD’s mission is to help anglers master a number of slack line presentation casts that can be used to achieve that holy grail of the river angler in particular, the drag-free drift.
Carl explains and demonstrates some seven casts; the roll/dynamic roll, the reach mend, the pile, the wiggle, the bucket, the tuck and the curve. These seven casts are preceded by a short section on the five essentials of fly casting (eliminate slack, time your false casts correctly, vary your casting arc, apply just enough power smoothly, move the rod tip in a straight line). There’s also material on casts that you can use to beat the wind. Being a Fly Fishing Federation ‘Master Casting Instructor’, as well as a confident natural communicator, Carl is eminently qualified to explain to us mere flyfishing mortals how it’s done. Fluorescent fly lines, slo-mo and pause sequences are all used to good effect.
Shot on some unnamed crystal-clear New Zealand river, there is also innovative use of those minature practice flyrods (
Royal Wulff Fly-O Practice Rod - Sportfish or
Echo Micro Practice Fly Rod, Echo Fly Rods ) which enables the demonstration of a fly casting point to be contained within the dimensions of a TV screen. Sweet idea.
Like the other films from Carl’s company On the Fly, ‘Casts That….’ is difficult to fault. But nit picking, I would like to have seen the demonstration of some ‘tight spot’ casts – like the snake roll, and how some of these slack line casts can be integrated into scenarios where a back cast is difficult, if not impossible. But there will no doubt be a future DVD on these modern developments on the roll/spey casting theme.
Carl’s DVD’s are distributed in the UK by Fishing Matters and, subject to stock, should be available from retailers like Sportfish, Farlows, Glasgow Angling, John Norris, Ted Carter, Foxons, Friendly Fisherman, Wharfedale Angling, Fly Fishing Tackle, Spiders Plus and Lakeland
Review - Excellent new DVD
Linear Mode
