NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/768942
less expensive than pre-made tapered leaders and spools of tippet. Once you become more comfortable with fly fishing you can begin making your own leaders that are customized to the species you are targeting and the waters you fish. Casting Perhaps the No. 1 reason people are intimidated by fly fishing is the anxiety of learning to cast. Yet, learning to cast is one of the great pleasures of fly fishing, for a good caster is rhythmic and makes it look effortless. A bad caster is dangerous, cracking the fly line like a whip and wrapping themselves and anyone around them in a tangle of line. However, once you understand what a fly rod needs to do in order to make a proper cast, learning becomes much easier. Fly rods need to do a number of things to work correctly – bend, abruptly stop and travel in a straight line. When the rod bends during a cast, it loads energy into the rod which is later transferred to the fly line. This transfer occurs when the rod is stopped at the end of a cast, allowing the line to shoot through the air and lay out on the water in a straight line. Most beginners focus too much on the movement of the rod and don't pay enough attention to abruptly stopping the rod. You can power the rod as hard as you can, but all your effort is wasted if you can't transfer the energy to the fly line. The second error that most beginners make is not moving the rod tip in a straight line; if your rod tip moves straight, so will your line. If it dips and arcs, your line will follow and soon become snarled in the trees and grass behind you. The plain truth is that you aren't going to learn to cast by reading about it: find an open area where you can practice. A lake or pond with an open area along the shore is perfect, but a grass lawn or field also works great. It is also sensible to leave the fly off at first, and practice with just the fly line to make sure you don't inadvertently hook yourself. The basic overhead cast consists of two motions, a backward cast and a forward cast. Begin by stripping around 15 feet of line off your reel and putting it in front of you. Next, lift the line off the ground using your forearm and then, using your wrist, flick the line behind you and continue to move the rod back until it is in line with your ear. At this point, make an abrupt stop and pause for a moment to allow the line to unfurl behind you. Starting out, it is helpful to watch the line in order to perfect your timing. Once the loop in your line has straightened out behind you, make a smooth acceleration forward and stop the rod again when it is in 64 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2017 Scott Johnson fly fishes for trout at the Soldier Creek Wilderness Area in Dawes County. PHOTO BY JUSTIN HAAG PHOTOS BY JEFF KURRUS