Practice, Practice, Practice
The last few days have seen me down the park practicing accuracy. I read an article by Bruce Richards on fun ways to practice and he uses multiple paper plates as targets in different locations and patterns. I just used a backpack, rod case and reel cases as targets. You then just start with the fly in your hand each time and cast to the targets. I cast at all targets and then moved to a different spot and did the same again. It really helps honing distance judgements and the aim itself. I’m certainly having fun with this practice. I’ve been asking the guys on sexyloops to help...
Read MoreA small thaw
Yesterday saw another meeting of the glasgow casting club, it wasn’t the greatest day but none the less I’m sure some people learned something. The main problem at the moment is the water is still half covered in ice so the space for casting on water is relatively limited. I did my first casting demonstration – this was on the foundation casting stroke. It was focussed on trying to develop a sound, more efficient, pulling stroke amongst the members. Most suffer from throwing the arm forward, fully extended and applying too much power. It’s a work in progress. It also...
Read MoreOrvis Hydros vs Helios Review
The Orvis Hydros is Orvis’ latest addition to their rod range. It is meant to be the same blank but with cheaper components; the guides and the reelseat. The rod of each range that was tested was the 9′ #5 tip flex. The rods were tested with a variety of lines namely, Snowbee XS, Rio Gold and SA Mastery Distance. There is a difference, a big difference. The review is based on the opinion of three seperate casters casting both rods on water and then in the field against a tape. On water both rods are very good, in fact dammed difficult to tell anything between them. I mean a...
Read MoreReview: Single Handed Spey Casting by Simon Gawesworth
Simon Gawesworth’s latest release as of now (January 2010) is focussed on single handed spey casting as the title “Single Handed Spey Casting” may suggest! The books opens with a brief introduction of basic fly casting mechanics before moving onto the foundations of spey casting and then into the more advanced casts themselves. The book is split into 6 main sections where groups of different casts are detailed. On the front cover, the subtitle is “Solutions to: casts, obstructions, tight spots and other casting challenges of real-life fishing” and it certainly...
Read MoreNew Purchases
I’ve been looking for a new rod for quite some time and I have tried a fair old selection of them. The rod of choice I was looking for was a 9′ #5 with a fast action. After trying a fair selection the choice was narrowed down to the Sage TCR and Orvis Helios both of which are cracking rods but the Orvis just edged it in the terms of fish-a-bility. In terms of sheer casting performance, the TCR is quite the rod but it’s just a bit too much work for fishing situations in my opinion. Orvis have introduced a new rod to their current line up, it’s called the Hydros....
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