David Southall gives us a great tip for fishing off of our "wrong " shoulder
This is another cast that I use quite often as I regularly fish from the ‘wrong bank’ of my local rivers, casting over my left shoulder (I am right handed). This cast is used when there are obstacles on your natural casting side or you want to make a cast at a different angle than you can make from your natural casting side.
The more traditional or classical way of backhand casting involves the rod hand moving to the opposite shoulder during the back cast. Further backwards extension is prevented by the caster’s body. This limits the stroke to the traditional stop at the 1 o’clock position. The Italian Style back cast involves raising the casting hand above the head and tilting the rod horizontally (see diagram). This facilitates the extended stroke and drift typical of the Italian Style, allowing the caster to get more distance with more control and it can form the base for others casts such as the backhand overturned cast (a slack line cast).
Steps:
1. Commence as outlined in the Angular cast - with the rod parallel to the ground/water, the line and leader extended fully along the ground/water and with no slack line at the tip of the rod. As with the Angular cast, make sure that you have two loops. Plus a little extra, held in your non-casting hand.
NOTE: The important thing to remember with this cast is that the casting stroke is exactly the same as the basic Angular cast EXCEPT that it is made in a different plane. Therefore, learning and performing this cast is made easier if you understand and stick to the technical elements of the Angular cast.
2. Now commence your back cast, but this time angle your arm upwards, above your head and across your body.
3. At the same time making sure that your non-casting hand is also elevated so that it is level with and forward of your face (the Italians say that you ‘kiss the line’). This reduces the angle of the line against the stripping guide.
4. Now you can make both the backward and forward casts in the same way that you make an Angular cast except that the rod movement is above your head. This allows you to open your casting action, something the classical position does not do.
However, there are some subtle differences:
a: On this new plane of casting, the thrust/power snap will need to take place just before the rod hand reaches the front of your forehead. This leaves a small but sufficient space for dampening.
b: The final delivery is made by keeping your casting arm in the same plane and by extending it straight out in front, generally in front of your face.
5. Again, this cast is similar to the Angular cast in that the plane in which you cast is higher in the back cast than in the forward cast. In other words you cast at your target.
As with the Angular cast it is essential that the rod tip tracks along a straight line with the only exception being the slight angular deviation during the thrust/tap. Remember that it is this slight deviation during the thrust that controls the size of the loop that is generated.
On my home rivers I often have to cast under a low canopy of overhanging trees and I find the following variant useful. By cocking my wrist so that the rod tip tilts low to the water I can execute a very low, horizontal, Back Hand Cast. Furthermore, by sweeping the rod tip up after the thrust/ power snap (during the vibration damping/forward drift phase) the landing of the line can be delayed thus delaying drag. I’ll be talking about the Totally Under the Tip Cast, a great cast for fishing deep under overhanging trees and for cutting under the wind in a later article. The TUT Cast also involves an upward sweep of the rod tip at the end of a horizontal stroke to delay the landing of the line and leader.
FFM UK will be running courses and demonstrations (some are free, others very low cost) on the following dates:
June 7th……………………….. Burnsall Show, North Yorkshire
Weekend July 18th……… .......River Annan, Hoddom Hall, Scotland
August 15th………………….. ..Lowther Show, Cumbria (NOT CONFIRMED YET)
October TBA……………….… River Dee, Llangollen, North Wales
Further information about this casting style can be obtained via the following sources:
- Check out You Tube FFM UK
- Check out our Facebook page Fly Fishing Masters UK
- Check out the FFM UK website www.flyfishingmasters.co.uk/
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Contact Philip Bailey (FFM UK’s top instructor) via the website about courses & demo. Days.