Here’s a great video from the series called “Getting Started in Fly Fishing,” from Brian Flechsig of Mad River Outfitters in Columbus, Ohio. The first 13 episodes were in-the-classroom discussions in which Flechsig taught the viewer the basics about fly-fishing equipment, aquatic entomology, and flies.
Here, he finally gets out of the classroom and into the field for an extended lesson on how to fly cast. There are tons of good short videos about casting online–many by our own Pete Kutzer–but Flechsig spends a full half hour explaining his method for getting new anglers casting a fly like a pro. There is a ton of information here, and you may need to pause and rewatch a couple segments to really understand Flechsig’s point, but even proficient fly casters will find this video useful.
There are many different ways to conceive of and teach fly casting, and you may not agree with everything Flechsig says here (I don’t). But there is no doubt that anyone who follows his instructions is going to be ready to go fishing with a fly.
Excellent advice on fly casting!
Wow, perhaps I’ve misunderstood something, but he totally lost me on the clock stuff. Assuming your head is high noon and your feet are 6:00, unless you can levitate, you can’t start a cast from 7:00 (as this would put the rod tip below and behind you). Also, on the 10 and 1 thing, if your rod trajectory is further behind you on the back cast than it is in front of you on your forward cast, your line will be going from lower behind you, to higher in front of you, completely the opposite of what you would want in most cases for a typical cast (exception being when back casting to your target). While he makes some other good points, I find this section of the video extremely confusing, as I’m guessing many beginners would.
In this scenario, your head is the center of the clock, not 12. 12 would be directly above your head.
I couldn’t agree more. The clocks were reversed at one point and he lost me on that, but the rest of the info was great.
Yeah, the clock was confusing me for a second, then I realized it’s just because he’s oriented to cast to the right in the video. If you imagine him facing the opposite direction it comes together. Great tutorial in my opinion, thank you for the tips!
Great information and instruction. Can’t att nd his classes from
My side of the continent, so I have to watch his videos and I always learn something. Can’t wait for the next ones to be out.