The shape of the loop is dependent on the bend of the rod. The rod tip must travel in a straight line in order to form a good loop. If the rod does not bend enough - in other words, the tip of the rod is pivoting resulting in the rod tip traveling over what would be a straight line instead of bending - the loop will be open. When the loop is open, the line will land short and off of the target. If the rod bends too much, so the rod tip goes under a straight line, the loop will "tail", or travel under itself, often hitting the tip of the rod or the back of the angler's head!

How do we keep the rod traveling in a straight line? There are a variety of analogies that often work. Here are a few that may make sense to you. To see how rod tip movement effects the fly line, set some line out on grass or water and wiggle the tip of the rod. First, make small motions, then larger ones. Make motions in straight lines, then circular motions. In your mind extrapolate these motions and imagine how such movement influences that travel of the rod tip and the fly line.

Here are two basic techniques that will help to fix loop forms. The open loop - you'll know you've got one if the line consistently falls short of its target and gets blown off target by the wind - can usually be fixed by using less wrist motion during the casting stroke. Try practicing your cast with the butt of the rod tucked into a shirt or coat sleeve, or by looking at your hand while you cast and maintaining the gap that exists between the butt of the rod and your wrist throughout the casting stroke. Keep the wrist firm, but not tight. The tailing loop can usually be fixed by either using less force during the same stroke length, or by keeping the same amount of force while increasing the stroke length.

Many articles and books have been written on fly casting, and rightly so. There is nothing that will do more to help a person catch fish than through improving their fly casting technique. Getting the fly in the right spot is pretty important for most fishing conditions, and that starts with good casting. The writers often use the concept of a clock face to indicate how far the rod should move for a proper cast. So, if perpendicular to the ground is 12 o'clock, you'd have a good idea of where 2 and 10 are, right? While this works fine, it's how the rod travels from 2 to 10 that makes or breaks the cast. The rod tip has to travel in a straight line. One way to think of this is to imagine you are in a room. The walls of the room are straight, as are the corners and the ceiling. Imagine that you start the tip of the rod in one corner of the ceiling, and travel to the other corner of the ceiling. The rod bend is necessary to keep the rod tip traveling from one corner to the other along the line that connects the corners. Get it?

The rod can bend at the tip, in the middle or near the butt. The deeper the rod bends, the longer the casting stroke needs to be in order for the rod tip to travel in a straight line. We'll add to this portion in the near future.

Is this helpful, or confusing? Please let me know, and I'll keep working on tips and thoughts on casting. There are lots of them.

The best way to work on casting is to do just that: practice casting apart from fishing once in a while. Let someone at your local fly shop give you a few pointers, or take a class. Replace poor habits with good ones - this takes some time and discipline.