The trick to becoming good at casting is not a secret, high technology or revolution. It’s all about practice, practice, practice. Show up at the park, the pond, your backyard – it doesn’t matter. Tear a hundred casts, three times a week, and improvement will occur. It’s that simple. The hardest part is showing up and taking the time.

I guided fishermen for twenty years in Alaska. I saw countless guys arrive at the lodge, decked out in the latest Simms gear, sporting a fly rod that cost more than their first car. But ask them how much time they actually spent foundry this thing, how much time do you show up and spend on work? A day or two a week before the trip, or they don’t train, they just fish and count that as training.

Flip Pallot casting a fly line without a fly rod. This is the true understanding of good technique.

A basketball player or golfer would never approach their mechanics that way. The athlete knows how to practice his movement over and over again. Find the groove and work on it until it becomes muscle memory. Fly casting is the same thing. Repeated practice builds a better understanding of the rod and line, moving beyond technique to a deeper understanding of casting.

Opportunities to learn have never been more available. Go to YouTube or TikTok and good instructions are at your fingertips. I’ve been casting a fly rod for a long time and always find myself searching YouTube for casting instructions. Here’s one I found recently that has me working on tighter curls.

George Daniel – “Practice out of the water in a field… where you can focus on the actual technique rather than catching the fish.”

Good education is important, but there is no substitute for being there and putting in the time. Think about how children master skills through repetition and experimentation. It’s disguised as a “game”, and they do it over and over again. This is how children learn a skill when an adult isn’t around to teach them. Combine “game” with periodic instruction to refine your technique, and you will become a good spellcaster, but you have to put in the time.

Show up, put in the time, add some good instruction, and there’s no reason to be a bad spell caster. Practice, repeat, rinse and repeat.

“The gods do not deduct from the time allotted to man the hours spent fishing.” -Herbert Hoover