To cover a rising trout near the far bank of a river with a single dry fly.
What is the best way to mend the line so as to get the maximum amount
of dead drift of the fly?
At the moment I have been trying to over cast the fish - and while the
fly line is in the air- give the rod a wiggle from side to side.
When the fly line hits the water it forms a snake like shape
which seems to allow my fly a bit longer, running at the pace of the
current.
Towards the end of the season ( my first full season at river fly fishing)
on the River Clyde, I have used this method with limited success,but I
find it difficult to judge the cast when I am trying to cover a fish which
is very close to the far bank.
I have had a lot of experience at far bank fishing for roach and chub
using little leaded wagglers and I understand the principle of mending
or sinking the line to enable good bate presentation.
However when it comes to fly fishing -
Please may I ask the Forum Members for their advice. Peter

There are a couple of techniques that I attempt to use. I find it really hard to describe this kind of thing in a way that makes sense, but at least with the names of the techniques you should be able to look them up on the net and find illustrations or videos.

The first one is to cast a mend into the line. This is similar to what you describe in your post, it's basically you move the tip in an arc to during the later half of the forward stroke so that the line lands with an upstream mend already in place.

If you get really good at this technique--I'm certainly not this good, but I've seen other anglers do this--you can move the apex of the mend closer or further away from the fly. This would be really when casting across current seams or rips.

The second technique is called a "stack mend". This is really tough to describe, but basically when casting upstream, it allows you to position a "stack" of loose fly line a couple of feet from the head of the line. It's kind of like being able to land the line with a Z mend or snake mend already in place only this is casting upstream instead of downstream.

The stack mend is very handy with weighted nymphing and for chuck/duck techniques in salmon or steelhead fishing. I find it especially useful in rivers with big boulders where there's a lot of stop/go slack currents and seams.

I hope this helps, like I said hopefully you can find some illustrations or someone to show you these techniques on the bank. That's how I learned them, there just seems to be a limit to what a guy can learn about casting just by reading about it.

Grouse

Thanks for that info Grouse

There is more to this fly fishing than I thought.
I am looking forward to it. Peter

Hi Peter, anything i say here is coming from pretty limited river fishing so take my answer as a theory starting point!

You've got the idea right in the sense of what you're trying to do is place slack line in areas where the current is detrimental to what you're trying. For example if you were casting straight across and the middle of the stream had a fast current, you'd cast across then move the rod tip upstream, shoot line some line, and return rod to centre. You'd then have a mend of line upstream creating a bow to delay drag on the fly. That's a reach cast but the names aren't important.

There are honestly a million different ways of creating slack line. Some of these have actual cast names and you could do much worse than by reading some of this: Sexyloops Flycasting Contents If you scroll down you'll see "presentation casts". As you are doing, wiggling the tip - take that a step further and think of where you want you're wiggles or slack. The tip will do whatever you want to do to the line. Move the rod tip to the side immediately after stopping and you'll get a wave travelling down to the end of the line. Delay it and you can make it much nearer the rod. Experiment with it and see if you can solve the problem. Try the casts mentioned on sexyloops. And let us know how you get on Or if you can, get along to an instructor or a casting club near you and ask for a demonstration/advice!

Scotty
I've struggled with reach casts - so I'm going to pile in here. The "reach" at the end of the forward stroke - is this a quick flick of the wrist upstream and the back to the starting point or a more deliberate movement (slower flick up and stay) or something else. I always seem to collapse my cast when trying to do this, but it's something I've wanted to be able do for ages.

__________________
Steve


"There he stands, draped in more equipment than a telephone lineman, trying to outwit an organism with a brain no bigger than a breadcrumb, and getting licked in the process." Paul O'Neil

Morrisdancer
Give me a shout when the trout season starts, a crash course is on the cards.
The deal is you bring the sandwiches

Will take you up on that Buzz.
What do you want in them ? Peter

When ever you make a mend it is best to do it as slow as possible, if you go to fast the rod will load on you and this can then send that extra energy up the line and straighten out the wiggles you are trying to put in.

For a reach cast you make the cast then reach the rod slowly in the direction you want (usually upstream) as far as you can, then allow the line to settle on the water. Then track the flies down stream as normal, the reach gives you all that extra drift.

For casting across currents, use an Ariel mend, that is draw, a V or a U in the air with the rod tip then allow the cast to land. The some you make the movement the closer to the leader the mend will be.

Frank

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Frank Williams APGAI

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Steve - depends on what you are trying to achieve, as in how much line and how far upstream do you want it. A small movement will have a "tighter" bow and will place less line into it, a deliberate large movement out and back will have a bigger effect.

If i'm understanding you right, is your fly pinging back towards you? And the cast collapsing not far out? When you reach, shoot line into the reach. So cast forward, move the rod (direct line where you want it to go) and shoot line into the mend then return the rod. If you don't shoot line in the reach direction you will likely pull the cast back to yourself.

Does that make sense?

Peter- he wants egg mayo

EDIT: and what Frank says! I should say, if you are not shooting line, you need to be careful with your movement as Frank says.

thats such a valuable bit but easy to overlook.