Rhythm for fly fishing

When it comes to dancing I make a good fisherman. For those that way inclined, however, fly fishing may be your calling. It’s all about feeling the rhythm.

Use rhythm and technique over power and force when learning to fly cast. It’s like hitting a golf ball... it’s all about the sweet spot and technique not brute strength and forcing the issue.

Line control is essential for a successful fly-fishing technique. This line control extends to the air and on the water.

MENDING YOUR WAYS
Stay in touch by 'mending' to avoid surface drag on your line and fly. The art here is sustaining a drag-free presentation with precise timing and execution.

Mending is the process by which you counteract the effects of current on the fly line, thus enabling a longer dead drift.

Becoming accomplished in your mending technique has benefits of enabling you to keep your fly for longer periods in the strike zone and lengthens your drift.

For fly fisherman this equates to a larger number of hooked and landed fish.  Fly-fishing can therefore work very efficiently on barramundi and Murray cod because you can hold the fly in the strike zone for longer periods of time.

The most honest and realistic drift possible is what you are trying to achieve, if your fly drags on the surface you will not get a bite.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
You’re bound to miss hook ups, especially early on where adrenalin and eagerness cause premature strikes. I’ve found, particularly when a brown trout takes your dry fly, delay your strike by saying: “God save the queen” in your head before striking.

This gives the fish time to take the fly properly and avoids missing the strike by pulling the fly out of its mouth to quickly.

So, remember, work to entice a fly-fishing strike.

EXTRA TIPS
When fly-fishing for pelagics this will mean tucking the rod under your arm and stripping as fast as you physically can.

If targeting trout, avoiding bright shiny reels that cause a reflection when casting. These light flashes can be easily seen by and scare fish before you have a chance to target them.

Work on all aspects of this enchanting art form to put all the odds in your favour.

Yours in Fishing,
Paul Worsteling