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[#103910]I just finished watching a video where Joan Wulff demonstrates and explains the "reach cast".. basically this cast is used to bring the fly line up stream from your fly to reduce drag on the fly..
.. now.. in the video all the discussion was that this "reach cast" should be used when dry fly fishing.. now my question is this..
is the "reach cast" only used for dry fly fishing or can it or should it be used for other types of flies.. ??
MacFly [cool][/#103910]
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Without seeing the video, I would think Drys cause they are on top and require a lighter touch.
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what I got from the video is that when dry fly fishing you want the fly to lead the line down the flow of the water.. and not have the line lead .. if the line leads it will "drag" the fly behind it causing a less natural presentation.. if the fly leads the line it gives a more natural looking presentation....
when I was fishing in TN I noted this same thing when I was casting.. I usually cast upstream and then would let the line pull the wet fly along as it went downstream.. and then at the point when the line was downstream of me Id tighten up a bit and let the litte bit of line continue on and the water itself continue to push the fly downstream..
not sure if this is the proper way to do that or not.. that is why the video caught my interest .. I would think. but am not sure. .that if you reach cast a wet fly (wb, black ant, etc) the water will push it down stream more naturally and the line.. controlled by the ff'er would drift downstream behind it..
at least that is what I see.. but we all know my perspective is warped at time.. :-)
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It is true, you want a DRAG free drift, but on Dries and nymphs.
On Dries you want the line BEHIND or EVEN with the fly and NO tension, let the fly drift as if there was no line attached.
Same thing with nymphing with an indicator, you want the indicator LIKE the dry fly. Let the nymphs roll freely.
Now with bait fish imitations, like Clousers, Woolly Buggers, or Bunny flies, you want the line to pull them so they go nose first down the river.
Same with Czech Nymphing, you want the line to pull the nymphs in DEEP pools.
I am sure you know by now, if you try to mend the line on a DRY fly, you can lift the fly off the water. That is why getting the line in the right place on the cast can prevent this.
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I think I was doing a little of both.. and was able to catch fish either way.. but..
what you say about using the indicator as a dry while nymphing sounds logical.. guess I never really looked at it that way.. :-)
MacFly
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hehe I think I tried just about everything.... line leading.. line trailing.. snaking a bit more out to get a little more distance.. and MacLarry still outfished me about 5 to 1.. but.. I can proudly say I did not get skunked once.. and.. as I said in a different post.. the biggest fish I caught was on a fly I tied.. :-)
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for the most part we were catching small bass, trout, bluegill, crappie.. and one beautiful sunfish called the redear sunfish... its also know as a shellcracker sunfish.. the ones we were catching had beautiful bright red to redorange bellies..
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[left]needless to say a good time was had on the water by all of us.. including my grandson who did some swimming (okay splashing around) and he did manage to catch one fish off my fly rod..
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[left]MacFly [cool]
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Getting line to feed out of the rod to prevent the fly from landing short of the desired current seam can be problematice. It was for me for years until Doug Swisher's son demonstrated my short coming at a free casting clinic I attended.
I was moving my rod too rapidly to the side thus not giving the line time enough to fly out of the guides. I slowed my follow through movement down and it solved the problem.
In the Joan Wulff video she was stopping the follow through at about a 60 degree angle to her side. Randy, I think that is Doug's son's name, said that if you do the follow through 90 degrees to the side that you will get a longer drag free drift. That is true but it also takes more expertice. I had to stop the rod higher in the air and have additional line speed to get the line placed correctly.
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![[Image: happy.gif]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/images/gforum/happy.gif)
Sometimes one may mend up stream & other times mend down stream depending upon the flow of the water & if an eddy should be present. I will snake line out as my fly reaches the end of it's swing. Thereby keeping a natural drift for a bit more distance.![[Image: bobwink.gif]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/images/gforum/bobwink.gif)
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