Fly Casting Hacks
For those of you not familiar with the term “hack” it is commonly used to describe a solution to a problem or a simplification to an existing problem.
The first hack I would like to talk about is yarn flies for casting practice. This is actually a number of hacks. To begin with here are the materials used for these hacks:
You see the standard yarn used for yarn flies. In addition a sample of the leader material I use for practice leaders. This is amnesia line, a colored nylon line. I find that using the colored material makes it easier to see my fly when casting to a target. For those of you requiring additional help to see your fly you can add a bit of flash to the yarn to give it some sparkle. Students often ask me how to attach a yarn fly to the leader. The first step for me is to tie the yarn to the leader material with an overhand knot as shown.
The knot has a number of advantages. It provides some extra density to the yarn fly so that it turns over a bit better. You can add more knots to make a heavier fly if you like. By tying the yarn to the leader you don’t have to worry about the yarn falling off while you tie the clinch knot in your leader to hold the fly in place.
The next hack is how to watch yourself casting. Many of us live in areas where we don’t have easy access to casting instructors. In this case some people will take videos of their casting for later review but this introduces significant lag between the time you are casting, the time you review it and the time you can make changes. Other people will find a reflective surface such as a picture window and watch themselves in the reflection. A higher tech solution is to couple a heads up display with a camera. This solution can be seen below:
A complete description of this concept can be found at http://www.flycastinginstitute.com/researchfiles/simbirski0406.html
I have found a company called Fat Shark that makes a product consisting of a camera and headset that is intended for use in remote control vehicles; however, it works well for this application as well. For more information check out http://www.fatshark.com/
That’s it for now. I hope you find these hacks useful. Please feel free to share your hacks with the group.