Other Ways To Get A Natural Drift (8 of 14)

If you're trying to cast across conflicting currents, like you have over there, it's always better if you can, to wade as close as you can to get as close to the current that you're fishing into. I could cast all the way across to that slower current, below that island, but I'm going to have an awful time. My line's going to be twirling all over the place and I'm never going to be able to keep control of my fly. Maybe you can't cross the river. We have other things in our bag of tricks. With a longer fly rod, you can keep your rod high, and try to keep most of the fly line off the conflicting currents. When casting across currents like I did up here behind this rock, it's always a good idea to keep that rod tip high because the current in the center of the river would have dragged my fly right out of there too quickly. If that doesn't work, you still got other options. Every piece of water is like a fingerprint, with unique current lanes, and sometimes you have to try a number of different angles and presentations to get what we call a dead drift, or drag-free drift. Believe it or not, we have still not exhausted our bag of tricks.