Casting: What A Fly Rod Needs To Do (1 of 16)

Tom: Casting is one of the great aspects of fly fishing. Many find the rhythmic motion is relaxing and even therapeutic. Like other activities, such as golf or tennis, you need to learn the essentials and practice in order to achieve success. But the key is that it's easy to learn. I can't think of a better person to introduce the basics of casting than my friend, Pete Kutzer. Pete's an instructor at the Orvis Fly Fishing Schools and has taught thousands of people to cast a fly rod. He truly loves teaching, and his enthusiasm is infectious. Pete: Hi, I'm Pete Kutzer from the Orvis Fly Fishing Schools. And if you really want to catch fish, the first cast you've got to learn how to do in fly fishing is the reverse double mocha spiral cast. Just kidding. All fly rods basically need three things in order to work. The first thing they need to do is they need to bend. When that rod bends, we call it loaded. It's loaded with energy essentially. The next thing that rod needs to do is come to a very abrupt stop. That's going to transfer the energy from the rod into the line, getting that line to roll out. When we cast, we need to make this rod bend and stop twice. Bend and stop, bend and stop. Once behind us, and then once again in front of us. The third thing we need to get this fly rod to do is we need to get that rod tip, that I'm pointing right at you, to move in the straightest line possible. Straight to the back cast and straight to the forward cast. If I get that rod to move straight back and straight forward, the line is going to travel straight back and straight forward. If I travel in an arch, come up and down, up and down, that's going to send that line down into the ground or into the water and down into the bushes behind you. So just think, bend and stop, bend and stop, and travel in that nice straight path.