Fly Fishing: Skills

music
ambience: Stream

It’s fly fishing season in the northeastern United States. One of the many skills you’re called upon to master in this sport is casting a weightless fly to a very precise location. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont.

“Frequently you are in a river with obstructions, fallen trees, bushes just behind you, currents that conflict.”

Austin Mac Francis is the author of Land of Little Rivers – the Story of Catskill Fly Fishing.

“And so there are certain types of cast, one is known as a steeple cast, where the fly line is supposed to come up, and you go straight up over your head and then forward. It seems impossible. There are sidearm casts, when you’re trying to cast under a low-lying limb, and of course, how far off you’re trying to cast is another matter. Most trout can be caught within 25 and 30 feet in front of you, but occasionally if you’re on a big river and cannot wade out deep enough, you may want to cast 80 feet of line. Now that takes some doing, to keep the line from falling into the water behind you.”

“This is a place here where the sidearm cast is better than an overhead cast. As you can see, the limbs are overhead, and so we can keep the rod out parallel to the stream and use the sidearm cast, always being conscious of what’s behind you. Let your line go out, get ready, there you go, put it upriver, here it comes, comes back down. No, turned away again. We’ll try once more with this fly and see whether that was a fluke or not.”

Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont, bringing you the miracles of science, with additional support provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.

Fly Fishing: Skills

If you can cast a weightless fly to a very precise location, you've mastered one of the many skills of fly fishing.

Air Date:05/27/2022

Scientist:

Transcript:

Fly Fishing: Skills music ambience: Stream It's fly fishing season in the northeastern United States. One of the many skills you're called upon to master in this sport is casting a weightless fly to a very precise location. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont. "Frequently you are in a river with obstructions, fallen trees, bushes just behind you, currents that conflict." Austin Mac Francis is the author of Land of Little Rivers - the Story of Catskill Fly Fishing. "And so there are certain types of cast, one is known as a steeple cast, where the fly line is supposed to come up, and you go straight up over your head and then forward. It seems impossible. There are sidearm casts, when you're trying to cast under a low-lying limb, and of course, how far off you're trying to cast is another matter. Most trout can be caught within 25 and 30 feet in front of you, but occasionally if you're on a big river and cannot wade out deep enough, you may want to cast 80 feet of line. Now that takes some doing, to keep the line from falling into the water behind you." "This is a place here where the sidearm cast is better than an overhead cast. As you can see, the limbs are overhead, and so we can keep the rod out parallel to the stream and use the sidearm cast, always being conscious of what's behind you. Let your line go out, get ready, there you go, put it upriver, here it comes, comes back down. No, turned away again. We'll try once more with this fly and see whether that was a fluke or not." Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont, bringing you the miracles of science, with additional support provided by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.