Thread: Educate me on fly rods

Thanks, DB4D.

Are those "practice rods" worthy of consideration???

Originally Posted by jimp

Are those "practice rods" worthy of consideration???

I have that very same rod.

I think it's worth it, but I've got a bad case of "casting sickness". I pick it up and cast a little almost every single day. It helps to learn the casting stroke, IMO.

You can do the same thing with just the top sections of a fly rod and a piece of yarn. Like he says in the video, though, the mini rod flexes more like a real rod. Either method allows you to practice indoors.

To continue the topic of practice in the backyard:

How much mono in terms of lenght does one use for back yard practice?

I ended up getting the Cabelas RLS combo I linked in a previous post, a 9' 5wt, came with the backing, WF line and leader, it arrived earlier this week, had the day off today sooooo....... ran some errands this morning, then this afternoon I stopped by one section of my home lake that has a fishing pier thinking this would be a good place to practice with the fly rod. I did not remove any of the leader that came on it from Cabelas, and is about 7-9' in lenght (guessing here). Started casting and rod felt good but since this is my first fly rod, have nothing to compare to.

I did notice some things so I'm gonna ask some dumb questions for the more experience fly casters:

Is it normal to "hear" the line and leader swishing or cutting thru the air as the line goes back and forth with the casting motion?

I did not have lure on at this time, just the WF line and leader and could hear it, and occassionally a slight popping sound behind me . I assume the popping sound would be the "cracking of the whip" I've read about which is not a good thing either (bad timing ??) on the movement and change of direction during the cast. I did have a good line loop most (?) of the time on my forward cast, could not tell on the back cast, was afraid to look and the thought of getting smacked in the face with line/leader did not appeal to me all that much.

After a while, I tied on a Betts small popper with legs, the smallest in a variety pack I ordered when I ordered the rod combo. Still heard the line cutting thru the air, so starting to assume this is normal, but did not hear the slight popping sound behind me anymore. I still had the original lenght of leader on when I tied the small popper on. Soon started to hear a slight thump behind me, (remember I am on a fishing pier with a 3' high railing). I soon buried the hook in the railing (the popper hitting the railing behind me was the slight thump I had been hearing). Pretty much ruined that popper, as the slight thumps I had heard took their toll on that little sucker.

Now for my question about casting with the popper:
The package said (I read this AFTER I was finished with this practice session) to attach the poppers in this variety package to a leader of 4-6' in length, and I had the original length of 7-9' of leader. Will the extra 3-5' of leader affect the casting of a small Betts popper or any smiliar size popper, and to what extent. I noticed in my casts with the popper, that the popper was traveling in what I assume is a figure 8 path. I had a nice line loop on my forward cast but on the backward motion, the popper would fall forward/over and then come up as it was approaching me/my position, continuing to rise.

Sorry for being wordy, but trying to give enough detail so someone may be able to visualize what was going on since no one else was there to see it.

To continue the topic of practice in the backyard:

How much mono in terms of lenght does one use for back yard practice? 7-9'

I ended up getting the Cabelas RLS combo I linked in a previous post, a 9' 5wt, came with the backing, WF line and leader, it arrived earlier this week, had the day off today sooooo....... ran some errands this morning, then this afternoon I stopped by one section of my home lake that has a fishing pier thinking this would be a good place to practice with the fly rod. I did not remove any of the leader that came on it from Cabelas, and is about 7-9' in lenght (guessing here). Started casting and rod felt good but since this is my first fly rod, have nothing to compare to.

I did notice some things so I'm gonna ask some dumb questions for the more experience fly casters:

Is it normal to "hear" the line and leader swishing or cutting thru the air as the line goes back and forth with the casting motion? You might hear a slight noise, but not much. You might be using too much effort and not letting the rod do the work. You can definitely make it noisy.

I did not have lure on at this time, just the WF line and leader and could hear it, and occassionally a slight popping sound behind me . I assume the popping sound would be the "cracking of the whip" I've read about which is not a good thing either (bad timing ??) on the movement and change of direction during the cast. I did have a good line loop most (?) of the time on my forward cast, could not tell on the back cast, was afraid to look and the thought of getting smacked in the face with line/leader did not appeal to me all that much. Don't be afraid to watch your backcast. It's actually good to watch your backcast, especially when you're just starting out.

After a while, I tied on a Betts small popper with legs, the smallest in a variety pack I ordered when I ordered the rod combo. Still heard the line cutting thru the air, so starting to assume this is normal, but did not hear the slight popping sound behind me anymore. I still had the original lenght of leader on when I tied the small popper on. Soon started to hear a slight thump behind me, (remember I am on a fishing pier with a 3' high railing). I soon buried the hook in the railing (the popper hitting the railing behind me was the slight thump I had been hearing). Pretty much ruined that popper, as the slight thumps I had heard took their toll on that little sucker. Try to keep your backcast high. Think UPcast more than BACKcast.

Now for my question about casting with the popper:
The package said (I read this AFTER I was finished with this practice session) to attach the poppers in this variety package to a leader of 4-6' in length, and I had the original length of 7-9' of leader. Will the extra 3-5' of leader affect the casting of a small Betts popper or any smiliar size popper, and to what extent. I noticed in my casts with the popper, that the popper was traveling in what I assume is a figure 8 path. I had a nice line loop on my forward cast but on the backward motion, the popper would fall forward/over and then come up as it was approaching me/my position, continuing to rise. Shorter leaders are easier to cast, but longer leaders are usually better for fishing. Also, bigger flies like poppers are harder to cast. What size is the leader (what X)?

Sorry for being wordy, but trying to give enough detail so someone may be able to visualize what was going on since no one else was there to see it.

Two more tips:

1) Don't try to cast a lot of line at first. Twenty feet of fly line is plenty to catch fish. Gradually increase from there. It's better to cast 30' well than 50' poorly.

2) Watch some Youtube videos or get a casting DVD. Just by watching good casters, you'll learn a lot.

Thanks for the replies DB4D

After posting my questions, I was thinking about the session, and I probably was starting to rush my entire casting motion as I was letting a bit more line out. I felt like I was "getting behind" after letting some additional line out as the line seemed to start sagging or dropping down. Looking back I should not have let any more line out until I could and can maintain a consistent cast and loop, etc. and then start learning that.

Next practice session I'll try and watch the back side of my cast, but still not real comfy with that idea. Seems like the line was a bit closer to my shoulders/head area than I'm used to, but I'm not used to fly fishing either. Felt even more uncomfortable with the hook whizzing around.


Will try the upcast next time

Is the figure 8 flight path normal for what I attempted to do, leader being too long per manufacturer.


The leader used today is the one that came with the outfit, I looked on the cabela site and it did not specify the size of the leader. since the rod is a 9' 5wt, what size mono can I use as a leader to practice with.

Yeah, I need to go to utube bad. Again, thanks for the tips and info.

Originally Posted by jimp

Yeah, I need to go to utube bad.

Here is the first of three videos on casting. (The first two are practice, and part 3 is "on the water".) He does a good job, and his Youtube channel has a lot of other good videos.

... and this one is good because you can clearly see the line, and he goes over common errors.