Vertical casting stroke - The foundation cast

I decided cut this part from the previous post to make a separate post about the vertical casting stroke, as it really is what every fly fisher(wo)man should learn as the foundation cast. This cast, certainly for trout fishing, could as well be useful for 80% (80/20 rule) of all situations.

The last couple of years it dawned on me how fly casting is pictured as difficult to learn. In spite of all the books, articles on the internet and especially videos on Youtube about fly casting. Maybe instructors just want to make it look like rocket science? My guess is that most instructors just don't know what the foundation cast is!

The foundation cast, the vertical casting stroke, is actually very easy to learn. Just pretend you're running: move your arms back and forth while holding the lower arm at an angle. Notice your elbow is going up and down, this is the key to understand the vertical casting stroke (aka San Fransisco's Golden Gate casting club style)!

Casting with a fixed pivot

Very often I see casting where the movement is fixed at a 'pivot' (or joint). This is commonly either the wrist (especially with beginners) or the elbow with the lower arm moving back and forth like a wind shield (or a metronome). Or even worse, side arm casting with the lower arm moving 'outside' (away from the body). 

If the casting movement consists of movement only at one pivoting point (joint), this will result in a casting stroke with the tip of the rod that follows an arc (visualise the wind shield of a car screen). The fly line will follow the tip of the rod and the loop will be (very) wide.

The result will be the same what ever the angle a caster is holding his/her rod. Casting in an arc, or 'wind shielding', will result in loops that will either get wider or even turn into an inefficient 'S-loop' if you also rotate with your body (see video below).

The vertical casting stroke

The basic vertical casting stroke involves the shoulder (much stronger muscle than your arm muscles!) to pivot, similar to how you move your arms when you run, while the elbow and lower arm act as a 'steering wheel' to get the right casting arc depending on the distance you want to cast. The wrist (no more than a hair's movement!) gives the final acceleration at the end of both the back and forward cast.

The vertical casting stroke is surprisingly easy to master even to a level of looking effortless, because casting should be effortless!

Here, Whitney Gould shows the basic vertical casting stroke. Notice the elbow moving up and down (and not moving away from the body as in the side arm cast). The difference from the 'running arm movement' is that the 'back' swing of your elbow (end of the forward cast) stops around the lowest point (just above your hip). By the way, don't forget to adjust the angle of the casting stroke as well as the trajectory depending on the distance you're casting!

 

Here's one of the many casting 'instruction' videos on Youtube. This guy is showing his casting as so many casting instructions show as being the basic casting stroke: side arm casting and here even with the upper arm raised up which puts a lot of stress on the shoulder. Notice on his back cast he is also rotating with his body resulting in an inefficient S-loop: look at the loop of the fly line the moment he starts to rotate his body.

First of all this casting 'style' which I see so often is very tiring (do this the whole day and you'll end up with a very sore shoulder). In fact some people seem to even get casting injuries! Using this casting style is also very difficult to get consistency in the casting stroke. Try this with your non casting arm and you'll notice how difficult it is to get your back and forward cast move & look the same (= rod tip traveling in one plane, at any angle for that matter).

With the vertical casting stroke it's quite easy to cast a nice tight loop traveling at a vertical plane with the non dominant arm in a matter of a few minutes!

How do I know this all?... 😀

Update 1 Juli 2024:

Listen to this podcast with Maxine McCormick. The youngest fly casting world champion. Here she explains how the basic casting movement works. There are many tips by Maxine, around 37:00 Maxine talks about what she calls the up & down movement where the shoulder rotates, much like the running movement.

Update 30 Dec 2022:

Check out this video of John Juracek showing the foundation cast.

This video shows how effortless and beautiful the vertical casting stroke looks like. Because that's what good casting is: effortless

Casting tip: vertical vs side arm casting

The majority of the people I see casting are holding their upper arm raised slightly up with the lower arm canting away from the body: side arm (not horizontal) casting.

Sometimes side arm casting is preferred like casting with weighted or wind resistant flies to keep the fly as far away to prevent from getting hit. However for most trout fishing situations casting a vertical casting stroke is the way to go. 

Why? First it’s much easier to master a good casting stroke (even to a level of looking effortless, because casting should be effortless), it’s much more accurate. Try shooting an arrow with a bow with the bow holding away from your body! And it takes less ‘casting room’ (illustration by Joe Mahler).

Problem with side arm casting

The most common problem with side arm casting is that the body turns a bit while moving the arm back during the back cast. This causes the casting plane to curve resulting in an inefficient 'S-loop'. A good way to prevent the body turning is putting the same foot as your casting arm forward with your stance.

Horizontal casting

As mentioned earlier the horizontal cast, the rod held more or less horizontal parallel to the water, is not what is meant with the side arm cast. The horizontal cast is used for certain conditions like casting under a branch or get a fly to kick over to get a curved delivery cast.

A 'sealy' Badger

To finish off the weekend a fly with body made of a mix of fox fur and tobacco color dyed seal's fur. The badger hackle with the dark center gives the fly a nice contrast.

Tying with DAAFT

It was already almost a year ago the DAAFT, a re-grouped bunch of tiers with many with the original DAAFT history, to enjoy a day of tying together.

A few pictures of the flies from a frame with flies from the former American members of the original DAAFT, including a nice deer hair mouse from my late friend Chris Helm.

SID

Here's my buddy Andreas Andersson's signature fly called the Sid

Greenwashing by companies

So these 'food' and beauty & health (🤣) companies are making a mess with plastic waste (packaging).

I was wondering how our fly fishing industry is doing?... 🤔

Para Rab

As 'small' a country South Africa is in fly fishing, and there aren't many fly fishers around in South Africa I've been told, there are some seriously stuff coming from that country. Fly fishing authors like Tom Sutcliffe, Ed Herbst, Peter Briggs and recently Gordon van der Spuy. But also bamboo rod maker Stephen Boshoff.

Here's video where my friend Gordon van der Spuy ties a parachute version of the typical South African dry fly the Rab, which has its link to the skaters and variants from the times of Edward Hewitt.

Same fly different video.

I like this one better

Little unknown stream in Chile

Small streams are so much fun, I love them myself.

Here's a great video of the Jensens fishing a no name stream in Chile. Probably the same trip where this great video was from.

Conover

The Conover, an oldie favourite of the Dettes.

I used a mix of muskrat dubbing and dyed red seal's fur for the body. The hackle is an amazing golden badger from Collins.

Light Hendrickson

Stamp of approval! 🎓

Thanks Mike!

Blue Esquire, Pink Lady's handsome brother

I have been looking for the right shiny blue material to use for the Blue bottle Humpy. I looked at dubbing (like ice dubbing alike) and thread/tinsel. None of the ones I saw had the bright sheen, durable and the right price. Then I found this streamer wing material that is incredibly tough, has the right sheen and there's so much in a pack that I'll never run out of it.

Recently I've been using it for other styles of flies. One is a variation on the Pink Lady, I named Blue Esquire, but now with the shiny blue body. I have no idea if fish might like it but I like the looks of it.

Maison de la Mouche - Paris

Visited this famous fly shop in Paris back in 2019.

This historic fly shop opened its doors in 1934, which was visited by Charles Ritz and Hemingway.

Yet closed its doors a year later after our visit.

Devils Crook variant

A winged spider fly with some inspiration by the Devils Crook.

Spiders can be very simple and effective, but they can be a bit boring to look at. Adding a pair of mallard wing (stubs) just behind the soft hackle does make it a lot more appealing. The smooth body of raffia, a tuff of fox dubbing in the thorax and this fly has the looks of an emerging caddis.