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Casting Instruction Courses

Bass Fishing Casting Courses

Learning The Basic Overhead Cast

The basic overhead cast forms the foundation of most other casts . In essence, it consists of lifting the line off the water , pushing the line up and behind you and then waiting for the line to extend before casting it forwards to present your fly to the water .

Therefore there are three variables to manage :

Firstly Lift

To master lifting the line off the water correctly it is important to regard yourself as a clock . Your head is at Midday and your feet are at six O’clock .
When lifting line off the water , make sure your line is straight to your rod tip and your rod tip is at seven O’clock .

Raise the rod SLOWLY until the rod reaches about 10 O’clock – at this position most of the line has been raised OFF the water thereby reducing the friction between the fly line and the water surface (This becomes even more important when using Intermediate or fast sinking lines ) and then accelerate the lift until the rod reaches Midday . You will find that the momentum of the movement pushes your rod back to 1 O’clock , this is where your rod should be once the Lift is complete – the acceleration is what will project the line back behind you.

Secondly Back Cast

When the Lift is complete the line should flow UP and BEHIND you in a straight line – try to ignore the temptation to watch the line go behind you, this will push you off balance for one thing and take your eye off your quarry – in time you’ll be able to feel the line fully extend and tug at you, indicating the time to push the line forward.
This is what we call “Loading the rod”. If the Back Cast extends beyond the 1 O’clock position the line is in danger of being pushed into the water behind you, this will cause two things to happen:

Thirdly Forward Cast

The forward cast begins as the Back Cast ends or Tugs at your line. So once the line is fully extended behind you project the line forwards – at this point you have two choices:

If you want to achieve the first scenario, aim the line slightly downwards (8.30 o’clock position) and then check your line. Inorder to check your line you tighten the line between your fingers at the appropriate distance – this will allow the leader to project forwards and “Turn-over” properly.

If you want to achieve the second scenario you need to project the line forwards to the 10 o’clock position thereby keeping the line above the water in preparation for another Back Cast.

This section will be covered by False Casting later on.

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