Aggravating casting problem - help!

Fly Fishing
1

Okay - I have a problem. Well, hell, I have a lot of problems, let me narrow this down to one in particular.

Over the past few months, I have a growing issue with my casting where, on the final cast, I’m finding the line wrapped around the butt of the rod. Sometimes it’s just wrapped once, sometimes it’s a fricken Christmas sweater.

Its a major issue, because, after that final cast, I have to untangle the line from the but, and sometimes it even jumps around the reel - in fast water, this is critical time lost. In shallow water, this prime strike time.

Any ideas what the heck I’m doing? I can’t figure out the cause, but it’s something recent and probably obvious.

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Sounds like you don’t have enough line to work with on your cast. If you’re shooting line, generally have an extra rod length to play with, making sure you keep the extra in your non rod hand and let it slide through your fingers as it lays out. Another way to think about it- make the OK gesture with your thumb and index finger, essentially creating another stripping guide that allows the line to slide through.

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You are separating your hands too much on the double haul. Bring your hands together at the end of each stroke..if that makes sense

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What @BrownDog said is true and a great tip. In addition, you may be letting your line hand free on that final cast. The line is shooting through the rod and increasing in speed, so the line towards the reel has a whip like effect and will wrap around the butt, or sometimes the rod and entire reel. I had this happen to me when I was learning how to shoot a lot of line.

Two things you can do…

  • Keep the line in the haul hand - don’t let it free. Make an “OK” sign in that hand and keep the free line in the loop between the thumb and index finger. This also helps keep the hand on the line so when the fly lands, the hand is on the line and ready to strip tight.

  • If you are not letting go of the line like I mentioned above, bury the butt of the rod into your forearm. It will actually improve the cast as well. Breaking at the wrist causes energy loss in the rod. Keep it ridged. There are casting straps to practice this.

I’ve seen a lot fish missed by letting the line go on the final cast. The fly hits, the fish hits, and the angler is still trying to grab the line and pull in the slack. If the line does get free, a good tip is to reach up and grab the first eyelet - the line is always there and that helps get slack out quickly.

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What @coconutgroves said.

I’ll also add my personal experience with faster rods. The trick he mentioned with forcing the butt into your forearm not only helps with the wrap but the distance as well. I learned this the hard way with my 12wt. I like to take my index finger and lay it on the cork pointed to the rod tip. That keeps the butt good n tight against my forearm. Feels kinda funny, looks kinda funny, but throwing to the backing is the result.

On my smaller rods, using your haul hand as an extra “guide” really helps as well.
Mad River Outfitters has a video on buried somewhere that I recently seen.

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I agree with the above…
One other thing (and only because I have observed this with my older son who I am bribing to practice casting daily).

My son keeps having the same issue, I watched him as he was casting and it was two issues- 1. Hands too far apart on the final haul and 2. at the end of his final forward cast, he canted the rod out to his right a bit (right hand caster).
This gave his line a great target to wrap around.

I am trying to work on all the above but he wants bigger and bigger bribes to

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Here is the wrist strap I mentioned in case anyone is interested. Note, as of this post it is out of stock at Wulff, but can be found elsewhere. There are also other brands out there.

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don’t let go of the fly line.

People letting go of the fly line misses more fish on the front of my boat than any other single thing. Learn to control the line and fly all the way through your cast and you’ll double your catch rate with whatever you’re fishing.

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Dude this used to happen to me all the time. Still happens from time to time but I guess I know now why. Used to drive me nuts! Even when I took a lesson the instructor was having trouble seeing how the heck I was doing it. I have been better about not letting go and that issue has almost gone away so I guess the others are right!:+1:

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Thanks all - I am guilty as charged on all counts. I have a TERRIBLE habit of dropping that line on the final cast - i know better and do the “okay” finger thing about 60% of the time and am a wild animal the other 40% (insert sign of fish being present and forget it).

Also need to explore this “hands too far apart on the double haul thing. No idea what you are talking about, but thats my first clue, now, isnt it?

As for the butt/forearm thing (a combination of words I never thought I would use), I will have to try that (and not in the kinky twister sense).

Thanks all - will report back tomorrow.

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On the double haul thing, your line hand should come up and follow your rod hand on the back cast, they should stay a similar distance apart as to when you began the cast. It’s easy to get lazy and keep the line hand down by your side or raise it only a minimal distance. It should feel up and in front of you (up towards your left shoulder if you’re a right-handed caster). Also speed over distance in the haul. You don’t need to pull 3 feet of line on the haul, just a small amount FAST. There’s a limit though. You’ll find it.

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An analogy would be comparing hauling to playing the violin as opposed to ripping open a button up shirt. :rofl:

With the violin, both arms and hands are closer together. Ripping open that shirt on the other hand… well, you get it.

In practice this means keeping the line hand higher, at chest level, and not taking the hand all the way down past the waist like you see in a lot of pictures.

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Awesome. Makes sense. Now, if you guys could join me on the boat this am and constantly remind me of this stuff, I might have a chance!

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An alternative to the store bought wrist wrap, and something I still use, especially on my 12wt is a piece of paracord made into a loop.
It’s a bracelet of sorts, that I slide down my forearm, to bottom of the butt, to keep in place. It’s amazing the difference it makes.
When I start dropping shots on my smaller rods, I’ll break it out but with them it’s usually it’s more on my wrist, and the center of the reel seat. It really helps limit the wrist break on the back cast.
And an even easier option, if you have a long sleeve shirt on.. Tuck the rod butt into the sleeve.

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As others have said it sounds like you are letting your free hand not control / dropping the line. It can happen to anyone at times. Just don’t let it become ingrained in your mind that it’s acceptable on every cast. Lots of variables casting flies. Don’t beat yourself up too much over it. If you watch fishing shows you will see even some of the best fly fisherman have a wonky cast sometimes when under pressure.

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Wonky casting when under pressure is my specialty!

Agreed with everyone that’s posted already. I struggle with the same issue when I let the line go on the final forward cast.

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Whelp, I learned a thing or two this fine morning.

1). You people are all crazy, turns out I was doing everything right and my form has been perfect. Why y’all gotta be haters?
2). Redfish suck.
3). Weather men suck. And just so I am politically correct, Weather ladies do too
4). The tide ALSO sucks.
5). Un-identified large species of fish that blow up on your fly and immediately steal it before you know what happened - suck
5. The wind (see if you can guess it?) . . . Blows (got you, didnt I?)

So, now that we got that out of the way, I did learn a few interesting things for real:

1). I am far worse about releasing the line from my line hand than I realized. Worse, even when I remind myself not to let it go, I still let it go. Apparently my left hand has a mind of its own.

2). Keeping my butt by my forearm is as hard as it sounds even when flyrods are not involved, but you all are right that distance is greatly and positively impacted when such things happen - even if it is a rare occurance because you suck.

3). None of that was actually the problem causing the looping around the butt. (This just sounds dirty, glad we are on a fishing forum).

So, here’s what happened. I did everything right about 3 out of 10 times that i remembered. I paid really close attention because everything that happens when I cast is as big a surprise to me as it is for everyone else. 10 out of 10 times, the cursed looped butt thing happened.

Turns out, it is NOT happening on my last cast, it was happening on my first cast. I tried everything to make it stop, but it magically happened. Dark magic, but still magic.

But it turns out it isnt magic, it was an unexpected other cause that I only discovered because the tide was so low that I had to get out of the boat and wade. Which meant leaving my stripping bucket behind.

Out of about 20 or 30 casts on foot - sans stripping bucket, not one single time did I get the butt loop phenomenon.

Then it occurred to me that all of this started when I started using the stripping bucket. Something about the angle of the line coming out of the bucket on the first cast is causing it.

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Can confirm, 100% accurate!

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I prefer larger opening baskets compared to tall and narrow baskets. I use a collapsable leaf bag, but that is only when it is blowing 15+. I place a casting mat on the deck instead of the bucket until that doesn’t work.

But you are right - a bucket will lock your line into place and change the angle of the fly line - but… something mechanically is still happening that can be prevented, even with a bucket. When on foot, more than likely your line was behind you, being pulled with the wind, keeping it out the way so to speak.

One idea - setup your phone and video yourself casting in the grass (I practice at a football field nearby - it’s great since distance lines are already marked for me). Take a look at the video from the side and see what’s going on.

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That is great advice @coconutgroves - thanks for taking the time to help me diagnose this - and you are definitely right, something I am doing is causing this and the bucket is exacerbating it. At least now I know it is my first cast, not my last. I have a go pro, so I’m going to have to dust it off.

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