Learn Timing & Loop Control When Fly Fishing

Video Transcript

"Hi! I’m Jim Dowd with Zoar Outdoor. I’m here on behalf of expertvillage.com to talk with you about fly casting and fly fishing. In this segment, we will talk a little bit about timing and loop control. Timing is what refers to allowing the line to straighten out in front of you or behind you after you have made your speed up and stop. Good timing is just when the line straightens out before you initiate the next part of the cast. So forward straight, back straight, forward straight. Good timing means that the line and the leader has straightened out in front of you. Bad timing results in a bad cast, so if I start too soon all the line jams up in the air and it doesn’t go very well. If I start too late, the line falls to the water behind me and results in a poor cast. So good timing again is just waiting for the line and the leader to straighten completely before you before you initiate the next part of your cast. Loop control has a lot to do with timing. Loop control uses timing to initiate your stroke, and the arc of your stroke determines how big your loop is going to be. So if you start at a 45 degree angle going forward to a 45 degree angle going back, you get a fairly narrow loop. If you drop your hand on either the forward or the back cast, you will get a big wide open loop. So make your stops precise 45 and you’ll get a nice tight loop. There is one more loop you should know about which you will recognize when you see it; it is called the crossed or a tailing loop, and that’s from an unsmooth application of power. You start too soon, you start too hard, and what happens is it throws a sine wave in the line, and it results in a big old tangle like you see here in what is called by some people a casting knot or a wind knot. The knot happens when you throw your loop in a cast; it goes underneath the trailing line. So the key is good timing, wait for the line and leader to straighten out in front or behind you, and precise stops and your cast will improve. Practice this. You will be amazed to how much it improves your casting. "