Casting Streamers?

[dthirkell]

I can't seem to cast streamers to save my life, especially when they are weighted of if I need extra weight on the line. I have developed pretty decent casting with dries and nymphs. Any advice on the technique I should be practicing, so that they cast more than 10 feet or don't hit me in the back of head. I am currently using a 6 weight rod and 6WF floating line. Thanks!

[DutchDryfly]

I can't seem to cast streamers to save my life, especially when they are weighted of if I need extra weight on the line. I have developed pretty decent casting with dries and nymphs. Any advice on the technique I should be practicing, so that they cast more than 10 feet or don't hit me in the back of head. I am currently using a 6 weight rod and 6WF floating line. Thanks!

 

 

One advice, open your loops a bit.

[Klaas]

And make longer slow arm movements when casting with a short line.

 

Klaas

[birchy]

Chuck and duck!!

 

Use heavier & shorter tippet - like 4-6 feet of 3X or heavier.. try and slow down your casting stroke a bit and open up your loops. I think the more line you have out, the better it can carry the streamer out there. I will literally do a double haul and then duck down to a crouching position sometimes! hahaha

 

Although you can cast streamers with lighter rods, having a heavier rod like a 7 or 8 weight I think makes it a bit easier too.

[flymart]

Chuck and duck!!

 

Use heavier & shorter tippet - like 4-6 feet of 3X or heavier.. try and slow down your casting stroke a bit and open up your loops. I think the more line you have out, the better it can carry the streamer out there. I will literally do a double haul and then duck down to a crouching position sometimes! hahaha

 

Although you can cast streamers with lighter rods, having a heavier rod like a 7 or 8 weight I think makes it a bit easier too.

 

All great advice , rods in the 9ft-10ft bracket will make things easier aswell.

[toolman]

What flyline are you using? Most general purpose WF lines are not all that well suited to casting large flies/sink tips. Using a line with a short bullet taper will help you cast big stuff, even in the wind. I like and use a Guideline Bullet fly line on my 6wt. Most line mfg. will have similar tapers.

As for the casting advice, I would recommend a couple of hours with a casting instructor.

Good Luck!

[dthirkell]

Thanks for all the excellent advice...darn do I need to buy a new rod now? I think the suggestion of using a casting instructor may be a very good idea to shorten the learning curve.

[SilverDoctor]

By the way our own Toolman is a really great instructor.

 

Thanks for all the excellent advice...darn do I need to buy a new rod now? I think the suggestion of using a casting instructor may be a very good idea to shorten the learning curve.

 

[dthirkell]

I wonder what kind of fee a really great instructor like Toolman would charge?

[dthirkell]

Chuck and duck!!

 

Use heavier & shorter tippet - like 4-6 feet of 3X or heavier.. try and slow down your casting stroke a bit and open up your loops. I think the more line you have out, the better it can carry the streamer out there. I will literally do a double haul and then duck down to a crouching position sometimes! hahaha

 

Although you can cast streamers with lighter rods, having a heavier rod like a 7 or 8 weight I think makes it a bit easier too.

When you say 4 to 6 feet of tippet, do you mean the leader, or both? What would the set up be from fly line to fly?

[ÜberFly]

Normally, just go with 4' - 6' of "tippet" (from the line I use straight mono with a loop to loop setup) with no leader (but there are exceptions, obviously depending on how deep the water is that you are fishing, speed of current and if you are using a floating line, sinking line, sink tip, weighted or unweighted streamer, etc...

 

P

 

When you say 4 to 6 feet of tippet, do you mean the leader, or both? What would the set up be from fly line to fly?

[KnotLikely]

Thanks for all the excellent advice...darn do I need to buy a new rod now? I think the suggestion of using a casting instructor may be a very good idea to shorten the learning curve.

 

As appealing as a new rod and line are, unless your fly is obscenely weighted, your rod and line should be more than sufficient to get you way out past 10'. Spend the money on lessons, or meet up with someone from the board, most are more than willing to give out great advice for free, or hire a guide for a float, or walk and wade. Most guides will not only give you some pointers on your casting, they'll impart all sorts of knowledge upon you to regularly get you into more fish. Plenty of good casting instruction video clips on youtube, or most fly shops will have videos to buy/rent, or borrow.

 

I'm no casting instructor, but in my experience, and things I work on: generally people have to wide of a casting arc, in that they stop too far back on the back stroke, and too for forward on the forward stroke. Their stops aren't crisp, they cast too quickly and start the forward stroke too soon....watch Joan Wulff, one of the best casters ever. She's proof it's technique and not power; never in a hurry, always smooth, and can cast to distances most will never see.

 

[ericlin0122]

roll cast FTW, especially casting heavy flies and not worry about hooking yourself

[bowbuster]

roll cast FTW, especially casting heavy flies and not worry about hooking yourself

Roll cast? Dude said he was having trouble overhead casting streamers. Its even harder to rollcast them. Just practice . Slow everything down and open up. Lots of people to help u out on here.

[ericlin0122]

Roll cast? Dude said he was having trouble overhead casting streamers. Its even harder to rollcast them. Just practice . Slow everything down and open up. Lots of people to help u out on here.

 

Original:

I can't seem to cast streamers to save my life, especially when they are weighted of if I need extra weight on the line. I have developed pretty decent casting with dries and nymphs. Any advice on the technique I should be practicing, so that they cast more than 10 feet or don't hit me in the back of head. I am currently using a 6 weight rod and 6WF floating line. Thanks!

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where does it say overhead casting? and he is looking new technique.

how is it harder to rollcast streamer than overcast? I don't see any problem mastering rollcast, it also make you cast easier and further with streamer + sink tip. not happy with rollcast? why not learn single hand spey with instructor?

u just need to practice, and you don't need to buy a new rod.

 

 

 

 

 

[beedhead]

If your havin trouble gettin hit on your cast, try moving your casting arm a little farther from your body, and if you can and it feels comfortable, bend your wrist a little to the outside....It will keep the line and fly, a fair bit farther from your body, and on your shoot, twist your wrist back in, just a little bit, to straighten it out...It takes practice....I use this method when I have a bad side wind, but it might help you out...

 

Hope that helps....Jeff..

[pkk]

Toolman is a casting instructor??? Greg has a lot of knowledge, and is very helpful to alot of people. But he really hasn't had a fly rod in his hands as long as alot of the other people out there, that ARE casting instructors and have years upon years of experience. If you are going to pay, do some research. No offense Greg.

[SanJuanWorm]

Did someone mention the ducking part? Or is that just part of my casting technique?

[chiasson]

I had the exact same problem; I bought a really nice medium fast 9' 6wt and enjoyed it for everything but streamer fishing.

 

Some of the things that helped me were over lining my rod (I had a 7WF laying around) so that the rod would load with less line out. On another friends recommendation I've recently cut some of the front taper off to get it to turn over a bit more aggressively and now find I can cast a poly wit it. I get more distance by doing this and shooting line than using a #6WF and killing myself false casting. Of course, a dedicated streamer line would be even better; if I was hardcore into streamer fishing I would be getting one. The second thing that I found to help was to shorten my leader to about 4' and use relatively stiff mono, or fluro. This seemed to help help carry the energy from the line into the fly a lot better and prevent my loops from collapsing. Finally, I just had to lighten what I was trying to cast a bit and accept that streamer casting junk is never gonna be pretty. A six weight just wont cast huge wind resistant stuff (e.g., those huge bow river buggers, the ones the size of steelhead intruders) or heavy stuff (e.g., double clouser rigs) as efficiently as an 8 wt. I laugh now thinking back to my first season at some of the stuff I used to try and cast with a six weight.

 

I'd be really curious to try a really fast 6 wt with a dedicated streamer line?

[robert]

Did someone mention the ducking part? Or is that just part of my casting technique?

 

Always been mine when chucking for pike. I've taken the flies in the face too many times on the backcast and now make sure I have a good pair of safety sunglasses before casting.

 

God I can't wait til spring!!

[petti]

i once hit myself so hard in the back of the head with a streamer i seen stars....no joke. Practice, practice, practice

[robert]

Nothing like the barbell eyes on a streamer slamming ya in the head eh? Always feels like i'm casting a sledgehammer...

 

 

I was chucking for pike one time, this big beestard chased the streamer for a good 20 feet before he made the run for it. I got so excited, went to set the hook and missed. Still got the scar from that one on the side of my head lol.

[ironfly]

I'm not a certified casting instructor, but I've taught quite a few lessons, and I've seen this exact problem many times. Pretty much every time a caster "graduates" from casting little dries and nymphs, to big streamers. It's mostly about timing; they have a rhythm they've learned with small, nearly weightless flies, and they use that same timing when they start casting large weighted flies. The heavy streamer drops more than the little dry while the caster is waiting to change direction. I take my students back to basics, and get them to turn their head and watch the cast unroll, so that they match their timing to what's actually going on, not what they expect to happen due to their "little-fly habits". I may wind a few people up over this, but my advice would actually be to speed up a little bit. Soft rods and open loops are the textbook advice for streamers, but my students and I have had a lot more success with fast rods and the oval cast.

 

Also, a short leader is fine on a sinking line or sink-tip, but a 4-6 foot leader on a floating line will have that streamer swimming about a foot under the surface, if there's any kind of current at all. Pretty much useless. Don't worry about turnover, if the rest of the cast has gone okay, the momentum of that fly will have no trouble at all straightening out the line. Unlike a little nymph or dry, which needs a transfer of energy from the line to keep it moving at all. To illustrate, take a #16 Adams, and try to throw it across the room. Now, grab a #4 Beadhead Wooly Bugger, and do the same, but this time make sure you're not aiming at glass.

 

I hope this all makes sense, to some at least.

[BBBrownie]

Also, a short leader is fine on a sinking line or sink-tip, but a 4-6 foot leader on a floating line will have that streamer swimming about a foot under the surface, if there's any kind of current at all. Pretty much useless.

I hope this all makes sense, to some at least.

 

Not even close to true in my experience. I rarely use tips for streamers on the Bow aside from winter, where I use tips maybe 60% of the time. One of my most productive techniques on the Bow river is swinging Bow River Buggers or Muddler minnows in choppy, 3-5 foot deep mid paced water first thing in the morning, or in the evening. Often when drifting the Bow, if there isn't a pile of dry action coming on, especially in the morning, casting a dry line with a large streamer on 4-6 feet of 8 lb tippet hard at the banks, what we call "bangin the banks" so the streamer actually hits a rock on the edge, or very near, let it sink for 1-2 seconds and then give it 3 or 4 good strips, repeat, can produce amazing results, vicious takes, always big fish. Also, the streamer doesn't always have to be on the bottom, even in winter. There is a good overwinter hole that I have fished a number of times where the current is fairly slow to the inside, but the fish seem to lay out along the edge of the thalweg where the current is significant. I have fished it many times with a dry line and a slightly weighted large streamer, and I have fished it with a tip on (today actually). I generally do better in this particular hole in winter on a dry line, with an unmended swing. The fish that I take from this run are predominantly large browns, and they are definately moving up to the fly, as it is swinging fast and occasionally one takes right off the cast. I suppose what I am saying is that if you are presenting a swing and dependant on the type of water you are fishing (I personally don't generally fish streamers in fast currents), a 5-6 foot leader can do just fine. That is just the observations me and my crew find.

[bowbuster]

Original:

I can't seem to cast streamers to save my life, especially when they are weighted of if I need extra weight on the line. I have developed pretty decent casting with dries and nymphs. Any advice on the technique I should be practicing, so that they cast more than 10 feet or don't hit me in the back of head. I am currently using a 6 weight rod and 6WF floating line. Thanks!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

where does it say overhead casting? and he is looking new technique.

how is it harder to rollcast streamer than overcast? I don't see any problem mastering rollcast, it also make you cast easier and further with streamer + sink tip. not happy with rollcast? why not learn single hand spey with instructor?

u just need to practice, and you don't need to buy a new rod.

OK....either ive been fishing with something other than a fly rod or...........Does anyone else here think rollcasting streamers/tips is easier than overhead casting them, especially weighted ones.(not saying it cant be done if tip/flys are light enough but you need to have a good grasp on flycasting in general and proper setup) And not once have i hit myself in the back of the head rollcasting. Overhead , several times. Not saying im right but just from my experience......................................................................

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