Practicing on your casting can be done best using a regular fly rod. What's the alternative when it's not possible to cast outside with a rod? Use one of the many practice rods! As of this moment there are three real practice rods available: the Echo Micro Practice rod, the Orvis PractiCaster and the Redington Form Game.Redington's practice rod called the Form Game rod is different from the others that it comes with a real fly line made by Rio. The fly line is modified to be able to cast with this 5 foot rod and comes as close as the real deal. It's not the best casting rod and line combination, but it's functional.
The other practice rods use some kind of poly yarn rope to emulate a fly line and it works excellent in living room or indoor type of situations. When used outside, especially when there's a breeze the yarn rope has some trouble keeping its path. The Form Game rod is more of an outdoor (lawn) alternative due to the length of the line (30 feet) and the speed of the fly line. I've even heard that some folks use the rod as a real fishing rod!I have both the Echo Micro Practice rod as well as the Redington Form Game. Both rods are pretty identical in length, build and action. The Redington rod looks a lot nicer because it has a nice cork grip rather than a foam grip (Orvis has a cork grip as well). In fact, both rods will cast the yarn rope that comes with the Echo as well as the fly line that comes with the Redington rod.
The Echo rod comes with a line that's made up of two different kinds of material. The main part looks like a piece of material that's used in outdoor gear while the last part is made of a long piece of glo bug yarn. There is no 'fly' attached to it. The Redington rod comes with a big fluff of yarn knotted directly to the tip of the fly line as a 'fly'. I revised this part with a loop connection and a piece of 2x tippet which makes it a bit more durable.
So, which one to get? Both rods do a pretty good job as a practice rod to improve ones casting. The Echo rod setup works amazing in the living room without needing a lot of space to cast. The yarn line has enough drag in the air for a fairly accurate feedback. But I'd say get the Redington Form Game. It's just more versatile as a teaching tool and a practice rod. Both rods make a great set up to get kids into casting because it's a lot of fun trying to knock down a row of empty cans using the 'fly'.
I do hope both Redington, Orvis and Echo will offer replacement lines because eventually the lines will get wasted with a lot of use. Especially when used outdoors on pavements etc.
