On a recent trip the guide was stressing the importance of not imparting any drag what-so-ever on your dries and to do this you either cast to the sky and pulled the butt sharply back or when casting swish the rod from side to side putting s curves down the line.

My question is this, is it really necessary when fishing from a drifting boat and casting every 10 secs or so. Would the flies in such a short length of time suffer from drag?????

I don't doubt the guide he is a very accomplished angler but I would like other oppinions on it. I missed fish as it was not the way I normally do it, but if was the general concensus I will try to persevere.

I thought the "wiggle cast" was more a river technique to eliminate the drag when fishing dries on currents

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You're not really going to exhibit drag on stillwater, the ripple/wind will just bob the fly up and down. I personally fish a tight line, any slack and they'l be away before you tighten your line.

Presentation casts are for the river as FF-UK says

Correct!!.... Bugsy has rapped my knuckles once or twice!! Regarding fishing dries from a boat with your tight line??... Personally... I have my rod pointing towards the horizon at the very least.. 1. To ensure I'm in the correct position to 'strike' and 2. To ensure I dont suffer any breakages by having a tight line and therfore giving myself a little 'grace' eh?.. Oh, and I only hold the line in my left hand while keeping up with the 'line'.... too many friction burns prompted that!!..

Hi', MFJunky.
Has your guide been reading Charles Jardine's article on drag on dry flies while boat fishing? Geoff Johnston and I fished together, from his boat or mine, for several seasons on Ullswater, he is one of the best (his flies can be bought at Norris's of Penrith) and we never seemed to have problems with drag.
Drag is caused in a number of ways, mainly by the fly travelling faster than the natural flow or slower than the natural flow, or by travelling at a angle to the natural flow -- skating sideways, for example. In a drifting boat, at a fair rate of drift, you are unlikely to create drag by retrieving the dry fly upwind too quickly. Most beginners are too slow. If in doubt, keep your eye on the fly and surrounding foam etc in a feeding lane, and if the dry fly moves noticeably relative to the bits and bobs, you have drag.
Regarding tightening on an offer to the fly, the most effective strikes are made with the rod in the 45 degrees position. If you have a take with the rod parallel to the water, raising it to 45 degrees moves very little line towards you. Raise from 45 to vertical, and you'll move about twice as much. That can be demonstrated very simply, and it is the effective way to hold the rod when fishing upstream dry fly.
Boat fishers may well argue that raising the rod causes the line to droop and pull the fly towards you, creating slack --not if you are drifting at a reasonable rate, and retrieving line. Yes there will be a loop ,but you will be in touch with the fly. Watch short line drifters working a bob fly through the wave tops. Where is the rod; up in the air.
The only time I have cast a mend or a wiggle cast on still water was when it was just that, still. Fishing at anchor in a relative calm can be a pain, as the boat swings at the least provocaton, and that causes drag. Casting across the wind from the bank can cause drag on dry flies, so you may have to make upwind mends to compensate, if the wind will let you, but I haven't had many problems while drifting. Others with more experience of boat fishing may very well disagree. I would bow to their superior knowledge, if they did.
Cheers, TerryC

A river will have a flow of water current and movement produced by wind. (more noticable on slow moving water)
So it's important to take both into account on a river. But usually just water flow

On a stillwater, as the name implies, the water isn't really flowing. (although they will have an outlet and inlet flow circuit)
A flies natural movement will only be prone to surface movement due to the wind.

Sideways fishing across the wind with a taught line would produce a drag of sorts, but it'd have to be a pretty fast wind and a really tight line.
Your boat will move faster than your fly as more wind hits the boat

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Thank you very much Guys

My catch rate was greatly affected with the thinking being as soon as you seen the fish you struck, hoping the delay you needed to hook him was the length of time it took to lift the line, but each time I done this the rod was too vertical to hook and keep pressure on the fish.

I think I will go back to my own method but I liked that idea with the angle of the rod. I would tend to hold the rod too horizontal almost pointing to the fish.

Thanks for the sound advice.

I find when fishing dries in a bit of a wave from a boat, if I don't put some S's in the line I'll jag a heck of a lot more fish as the initial cast is much closer to the boat. If you cast too much distance while using a drogue the swing caused by the drag of the drogue can pull the flies or drown them. As the amount of wind decreases the length of cast will increase, as will the time the dries sit on the water per cast. It's a fine balance.

Fine balance is right would drive you to the

As for the rod angle thing, each to their own, but certain types of fishing, you'd struggle to see or feel takes if your line is slack.

I fish with my rod tip more or less almost touching the water in order to get a straight line.
When I strike, I do it with my hand by pulling the line sharply. No need to lift the rod really

Or if you do lift the rod, make sure you pull as well to compensate for the 45 degree delay thing.

That said, I haven't tried this 45 degree thing so it maybe great, Im just offering an alternative that works really well for me.
Terry's surround surface foam idea is an absolute cracker

Hope that bit of nonsense makes sense

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