Cathy Beck’s Double Haul.
For some, almost every fish is a fish of a thousand casts because they false cast incessantly. Learn to double haul and be done with it
By Skip Clement
If you’re addicted to false casting, every trout or bonefish you catch could easily qualify as the “Fish of a Thousand Casts.” And if persisting with those practice at-bats, you might find yourself at an orthopedist’s office scheduling painful rotator cuff surgery – it’s exhausting to false cast.
While any overhand fly caster does have to false cast, they can drastically limit those ‘practice swings’ by learning the double haul. Learned, you can expect to false cast much less [the goal one false cast], and those trout and bonefish could then quickly become the fishes caught with fewer than a thousand casts. You should have caught at least 100 fish with a thousand casts.
Minimize false casting
Looking at minimizing false casting another way is that the fly is in the water more, not in the air. You’ve decreased the physically demanding workout of total casts per day by actually fishing more.
It is too, without question, that the fly line’s shadow on the water will spook any fish during a false cast. I ruined my best shot a 30-pound [+/-] permit in Key West with a false cast.
Any fish near the surface or in the shallows of the flats can see the line passing overhead – a million years of being preyed upon by birds kicks-in and adios every time.
Do you remember the greatest fly fishing movie of all time? Yeah, I’m sure you do – A River…….., well you know the rest. If not, watch video clip of it [it extols the “false” cast].
Remember that scene in the book where Norman is false casting away – something about enticing a fish to rise.
Conclusion:
Practice, practice, and practice. It’s fun learning to be good at fly fishing, which is impossible if you’re not a competent fly caster, and you MUST learn to double haul. If someone says, you don’t need to know how to double haul. They’re definitely a liar – oops, I mean politician.
