High backcasts ? casting into the wind

[Wildfisher]

When  in NZ in February and casting into the wind, our guide for the day told me to keep the backcast high ? in other words keep the casting arc the same but tilt the whole thing  forwards. I did not find this easy, 40 years of ingrained muscle memory and all that good stuff,  but have come up with a practice solution that works.

Stand 2 feet out from a 10 foot high wall. Then practice casting.

Amazing how easy it becomes.

[alancrob]

When casting a big hairy fly in Canada a few years ago the guide kept telling me to keep the back cast high to avoid the bushes around me. I coped to a extent but found it hard to go high yet push to the far bank.

I can see how the same principle would work into the wind but I have more fundamental problems to keep working on with my seriously crap casting.   :lol:

A.

[haresear]

One thing to remember into the wind is that if we cast an "up cast" rather than a "back cast" it mustl straighten out as it falls. We just need to tilt the whole casting arc forward.

It makes sense into the wind to forcibly slow/stop the cast with the line hand, to get that straight turnover we are looking for. Sometimes that means slowing the line with the line hand as the loop unfurls and sometimes it means a definite stop, ot even a pull back. It feels like we are sacrificing distance, because there is less fly line on the water. That doesn't matter though, as what we want is the effective presentation of the fly. 

I had my 10 year old nephew out for his first 30 minute casting lesson today and we had a following wind. I had him casting "up" on the back cast and he was casting a hell of a tight loop for a total beginner. He'll do just fine if he sticks at it. His back cast is pretty damn good, because he listened and applied the theory of casting.

Alex

[rabbitangler]

An 'up' cast is no bad thing, even in a normal wind. If you can haul at all Fred try to haul on the forward cast, this gives more speed & more energy to turn over the fly

[rabbitangler]

a good tip for a high back cast is stopping the back cast sooner, before the hand gets past the head, as the rod tip is still rising as it were, not easy on longer casts though,

A perfect description of an up cast and tilting the casting arc forward zoomer

[haresear]

one to try is making the back cast in a concave curve ending straight up, casting the line straight up, with a haul it goes er..really high, cant go too high or your forward cast is straight down but it cures low back casts,

alex should have said this

:lol: :lol: So that's why Zoomer's back cast is better than mine - seriously.

Alex

[Malcolm]

I use a variation for casting into the wind somewhere betweenzoomers and the truly high back cast. Basically it is a side cast with a gentle concave curve like going into the first third of a hauled spey. The forward cast is then angled slightly down.