Reach cast

Walter & Group...

Phil Gay responds re. his true reach CAST:-

Gordy,

 

    An interesting thread on this one.

 

    What I descibe as a reach cast in my video is done as follows:  Get you false cast alinged  on the line you want your fly to land.  Make a normal backcast and then as you are accelerating forward start moving the rod to the left/right at whatever amount you need to get the desired line position on the water.  I describe this manuever as making an L with the rod if going right and the opposite to the left.  It is very important that the rod never stop moving.  Done proerly the line should be in a straight line from the tod tip to the fly.  RSP occurs when you start moving the rod left or right.  Therefore the direction of the fly is determined when you start the left/right movement.

 

    I can understand why some would consider this a mend versus a cast and in reality it may be when we complete our final definition of terms.  (  Likely 2020.)

 

    I might as well put in an ad for the video which is available directly from me or on Amazon.  "Presentation Casts for Trout"  Besides the reach there are a lot of fun and effective casts on the video.

 

Phil

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COMMENT:  I'm remiss in not knowing about Phil's video.  Since I do know of Phil's fantastic ability to teach trout fishing casts and tricks, you may rest assured that I'll order my copy toot sweet and after studying it will report back to the Group.

As Phil says, you can order it from Amazon.  In the event you would prefer to get it directly from Phil, here is his email contact:   trotabot@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Gordy

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From Jerry Puckett....

Gordy,

 

Jason Borger, "The Nature of Fly Casting" page 181, states, "As my father use to say, there are only two ways to cast a fly: straight or curved.  Either the line goes straight  and can then be mended, or it curves and then be mended.

 

Is the reach cast a curve cast?  If so, would that be an acceptable curve cast on the MCCI test?

 

Jerry Puckett

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Jerry...  NO.

 

 The reach cast is a straight cast in that its layout is a straight line between the rod tip and the target.

 

Of course, one can combine this with a curve in which case I'd see it as a compound cast.  (Mack Brown would call this one of his "enlightment casts".  A whole lot of things are done before RSP with this one !

 

The caster can also finish the true reach cast and then make a curve mend after RSP which will result in a purposely done reach cast with an upstream (or downstream) curve mend.  Mend, because it would have been done after the cast.

 

Both curve casts and curved mends have curved layouts.  Some importand differences:

 

1.) The curve mend is performed after the cast.  The curve cast is done during the cast.

 

2.)  The curve mend has a curve limited to the mended segment of the line (the portion of the line which has been repositioned).

THE LINE BEYOND THE MEND IS STRAIGHT AND ALIGNED WITH THE LINE BETWEEN THE ROD TIP AND THE MEND !  (Dennis Grant and I did some casting together a couple of weeks ago, and he emphasized this.)

 

3.) The curve cast typically has the curve all the way out to the fly.

 

Having said all this, In the real world of fishing, it is true that one can achieve an even longer drag free drift by combining a curve mend with a reach cast the mend being made in the same direction as the reach.

 

Definitions are at this point a work in progress, as Phil intimated.  My working definition for mend:-

 

MEND:  REPOSITIONING PART OF THE FLY LINE AFTER THE CAST.

 

Gordy

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