Mike showed up on time with all the gear — everything he’d need for a long day on the river, including an optimistic disposition.

I suppose the way I guide is a little different. Troutbitten tends to find the die hard anglers, often accomplished in skill, knowledgeable about the game and ready to dive into the intricacies of fly fishing for trout. That was Mike, and I knew it right away.

We stood in the small gravel lot, gearing up and swapping fish stories, while I thought about what piece of river might provide the best starting block. The section upstream was woodsier and more scenic — also holding a few larger trout — while the downstream section flowed beside railroad tracks and was more wide open.

“How accurate of a fly caster are you, Mike?” I asked.

He replied with a confidence that I hear often.

“Pretty accurate, I think, Dom,” Mike said. “I mean, I can hit a pie plate and not just a hula hoop.”

We both smiled. In every book, article or video about fly casting, it seems one or the other or both of these targets are referenced.

Candidly, I’d be happy enough for hula hoop accuracy out there. Because day to day, it’s rare to find anglers who land the fly consistently in something the size of a kid’s backyard swimming pool.

Real accuracy with a fly and a fly rod is uncommon.

Maybe because rivers don’t have any perfectly drawn hoops floating on the surface, we’re all pretty generous about what a two-foot circle really is. (Fishermen are notoriously bad at measuring things anyway, right?) Truth is, a slim few anglers can cast with real accuracy and precision.

Hitting that pie plate once is nice. But can you nail it five times in a row? I talk about refining the drift a lot — making repeated presentations in the same lane, learning the currents and adjusting tension vs slack to improve a dead drift to the point where a trout finally eats the fly on the fifth or sixth presentation. Trouble is, if the landing point for that fly is a few inches off each time, then the adjustments necessary are different, and a whole new set of variables are introduced.

READ: Troutbitten | How To Be A More Accurate Fly Caster

So Much More Than The Fly

Here’s the next question that stumps a lot of anglers. Are you accurate with where the line lands? Do you have control over where and how the line, leader and tippet will land on the water or set up overtop?

I’m routinely stunned by how often that question is returned with a blank stare. Many anglers have never thought about it, and they surely haven’t worked on it. But I’d argue that the accuracy of line, leader and tippet is more important than accuracy over the fly itself. Because . . . where’s the fly going next? It’s headed toward whatever is attached to the hook eye, of course. Unique to fly fishing is our ability to position the line and leader wherever we like. We’re not sending just one thing to a target (the fly), we’re casting and positioning the attached line and leader in an effort to improve a dead drift or to set up for stripping and swinging streamers or wet flies.

This complexity of fly, leader and line — all headed toward their own target — holds true across disciplines. Land the dry fly on the pie plate, with the tippet and leader in nearby s-curves, providing slack for a dead drift, while the fly line sets up to the side. Land the nymph on target and choose how much vertical slack is provided through a well managed tuck cast. Then land the indicator in the same lane as the fly or hover the sighter in a tight line rig over the same seam as the fly and tippet, at just the right angle (We call this sticking the landing).

See what I mean? Fly casting accuracy is more complex than hitting the old pie plate.

READ: Troutbitten | Put More Juice in the Cast

Photo by Josh Darling

Hazards

Mike and I walked upstream, along the rough edge of a recently harvested field of corn.

“It’s pretty open on the left side,” I motioned. “The farmer here cuts the big trees, and they lay down in the water.”

Mike nodded. “Not a bad setup for a big trout around all that wet wood.”

“Right on,” I replied. “And we need pinpoint accuracy over the whole system to drop a fly among those branches.”

Mike’s silence concerned me a bit.

“So both sides are challenging to fish, but the far side is the outside bend. It has the undercuts and the low hanging branches. It’s kind of a maze to cast into, but it’s a fun challenge,” I said, pointing across the river with my wading staff.

“Which side, Mike?” I asked. “It’s your call.”

Mike stopped walking, and we stood at the edge of the field with a decision to make.

“Maybe that downstream section would have been the better choice,” Mike told me with a grin.

“Too late now!” I said, as I pushed him off balance. “So let’s hit the far bank. Go for broke. And we’ll work on punching the line under those limbs.”

Predictably, Mike struggled to push flies under the cover of low hanging hemlocks. The lowest boughs hovered a few feet off the water. And when he struggled, I repeatedly demonstrated the cast with Mike’s rod, accelerating dry flies, nymphs and streamers to the target. We fished them all in the next few hours. And Mike improved.

Near the obstacles of tree parts, most fly casters slow the cast down. But slow casting creates a windshield wiper arc instead of good, punchy casting loops. Accurate fly casting and great control always comes back to turnover, and that’s only achieved with speed. Our human nature is to be cautious — to be careful and slow down around the branches — but that only leads to trouble.

READ: Troutbitten | You Need Turnover

My friend, Greg, once put it this way: Crowd the hazard. Get as close to the obstacle as possible, because you’re more accurate at close distance. Good point, Greg.

The Real River

Backyard casting is great for refining the basics. But only the river, with moving water, can provide the true challenge of multi-point accuracy (fly, leader and line).

Furthermore, if you fish wide open rivers without much cover, then your definition of accurate is probably different than an angler who fishes tributaries choked with mountain laurel and deadfalls. Challenging situations are eye opening. Failure is humbling. But tying knots after the last snag is a chance for recalibration and a new approach.

I have anglers visiting from states out west who seem never to have encountered a bankside tree limb. Here in Pennsylvania, you can’t fish more than ten yards along the riverbank without needing some next-level accuracy. Either you have the accuracy, or you avoid some of the best spots. And I see a lot of that too.

Never forget what makes fly fishing unique. It’s our ability to place not only the fly on target but the leader and line at their own targets. All good anglers can hit the pie plate with an Adams, a Pheasant Tail or a Zoo Cougar. But have you thought about where the tippet and leader should land? That’s real accuracy.

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