is side casting a no no as i seem to do it all the time

Depends on your situation, not as accurate as standard overhead cast or roll cast but useful when needed.

Not at all, it's bloody useful in some circumstances.

It's a definite yes, yes! As wobbly face says, it has it's limitations but is very useful in certain circumstances. Try overhead casting in a place with overhanging vegetation Also very useful in windy conditions.

It's a very handy cast, sometimes called shadow casting, I believe it's the same, good to cast under overhanging willow trees on the opposite bank of a river, after all that's where the fish lie,

That's mostly what I was doing on a small overgrown stream this Sunday and it resulted in six fish so I'ld say it's a yes yes as there's no other way I could have put that beetle under the branches. Side cast is often your best friend when delivering a fly under branches.

Lefty Kreh says that it doesn't matter if the line passes to your side or over your head, so long as it stays on a level plane.

I find side-casting very useful on the Rothay.

Sometimes very good for getting your tippet length perpendicular to the flyline on a river. Imagine moving the plane of the cast to the horizontal and not quite allowing full turnover of the leader before landing on the water. Flyline shoots upstream, leader/tippet lands perpendicular to this. Great when the faster water is furthest from you.

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Don't care what your name is. No-one walks on the water where I'm fishing!
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Lefty Kreh is spot on.

Side casting is also helpful when you want to cast around corners.

I agree with Ron on this one casting to the side with to much power will curve the cast, more info can be found on this thread.


The biggest fault to watch out for when side casting is the rod changing path during the cast. Make sure the rod travels in a straight line to keep the cast straight. Anther fault is to open up the casting arc causing wide sloppy non-parallel loops.

Frank

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Frank Williams APGAI

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