Looking away from your target is the surest way to miss it. Think about that. Whether you’re shooting a bullet, an Adams dry fly or a basketball, staring down your mark is the first order of business. An intense focus on one point, one objective, gives your brain the needed information (and the time) to calculate all the intricacies of performance that will send the fly, the bullet or the basketball to its goal.

So then, do not watch your fly casting loop on the backcast.

Here’s more . . .

I had guided Mark a couple years earlier, just as he was getting into fly fishing. I liked his approach. I appreciated the way he looked at the river, sorted through the options and enjoyed whatever experiences came his way.

Now, after another hundred days or so on the water, Mark’s skills and knowledge had improved tremendously. I was happy for him.

The streamer bite had been solid so far that morning, but Mark had missed more trout than he’d hooked. Sometimes, trout just short strike streamers, and there’s not much you can do, but I didn’t think that was the problem. So after just forty-five minutes of watching, I had some advice for my friend that I was certain would make a difference.

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“Looks good, Mark,” I told him. “I think we can convert some of those hits by being more accurate with the fly placement.”

Mark stopped casting for a moment and reeled in a few turns. He questioned me.

“Really? I feel like I’m getting the fly where I want, Dom. I’m right on the bank there.”

Mark turned to look downstream at what he’d already fished.

“I hit that log pretty well too, don’t you think?” Mark gestured with his hands about twelve inches apart. “I mean I put it right there.”

I run into this idea a lot. The larger the river is, the wider the range of what “close” means to people.

“Yeah, but a foot away isn’t very tight, Mark.” I continued . . . “If a trout is laying next to that log and you put the fly twelve inches away, you’re asking a lot more of the trout than if you land the fly one inch off the log. Right? It also gives him a longer chance to see it as the fly drifts, glides or is stripped away from structure. See what I mean?”

Mark nodded in agreement.

“That makes sense,” he said. “So you’re saying that pinpoint accuracy matters a lot.”

“Absolutely!” I replied. “So if you . . .”

Mark interjected quickly.

“. . . Well, I don’t think I have that kind of accuracy yet,” Mark said, shrugging his shoulders,” although I’m getting better. I guess I can hit a spot the size of a firepit but not the size of a silver dollar,” he chuckled.

“Well you have all the tools now,” I assured my friend. “Your cast is there, you can read water and make good choices about target selection. But you have one bad habit to break. And when you do, it’ll make all the difference.”

“What’s that?” Mark asked, as he stripped out some fly line again.

“Stop looking behind you while casting.”

Mark thought for a moment.

“I guess I do that a lot, huh?”

“Yes,” I told him. “It’s a beginner’s habit that you can break in a couple hours if you pay attention.”

Mark nodded and started casting again, eager to make the change. And as he threw the first false cast, he looked only at the edge of the undercut.

“You already know what’s behind you, right Mark? So there’s no use in looking back. Of course there’s nothing wrong with looking around before you cast. You need to know your environment and understand the obstacles around you. Where can you send that back cast? You already know that, so don’t look back.”

Mark crept toward the bank a bit. Then over the next few minutes, his body posture changed. He had more focus. Mark was more intent on the target, because his eyes never left it. He stopped thinking about the cast because he wasn’t watching it. Instead, he began to trust what was happening in the air with the line and leader, actually willing the fly into place. He was now thinking about the delivery and what would follow.

“At this point you can easily feel the rod load,” I continued. “So you don’t need to look at your backcast anymore. You can trust it. You’ve cast tens of thousands of times, so you already know what’s happening back there, just by what you can feel in the rod.”

Mark’s efforts continued to be more focused, and his accuracy improved quickly. But what stuck out to me most? His poise, his stance and his attitude toward each cast. Mark was fishing harder, with more purpose, because all of his energy and efforts were ahead of him.

Because he was no longer distracted by looking at the backcast, Mark saw more of the river. He settled into the nuances of the water ahead of him, and he nailed the delivery, over and over.

Fish hard, friends.

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READ: Troutbitten | Category | Fly Casting

Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com