Operation Stillwater - first pics

After a lot of hard hard work and even more thinking an tinkering: The first few pics!

...a bit about the rod: This rod is a finished prototype for a rod-series specifically suited to fishing on reservoirs. When I started thinking about this rod the general idea was that I wanted to build a rod that is fun to fish. Not an overly stiff broomstick, but a rod that makes you wonder where that big smile on your face just came from!
A nice progressive bend, built with quality components and a classy look were the three key elements.

The rod is build on a blank from the boys and girls at CTS. In my opinion they build the best blanks in the world. I decided upon a length of nine and a half feet.

The extra 6 inches can make a lot of difference when you're fishing whether it's from the bank, the floattube or boat. The rod in the pics is a 6-weight but can also be build on a 5 or 7-weight blank if that's what your looking for. 

If you are interested in the rod or have a question, send me an e-mail (wavingastick@gmail.com) or send me a direct message @wavingastick on Twitter. 

Spring is here!

Here's a few pictures from fishing together with a few friends earlier this week.
In the morning the fish were cruising high, but nothing was hatching. We did see some flies floating by which might or might not be alder flies blown onto the water by accident. Even though there is some debate about whether or not these flies are on the trouts menu we gave it a shot anyway. I tied on a pattern that roughly fitted the ballpark and mimicked the struggle of the insect with a small twitch every now and then. As it turned out, this was a very successful tactic. The first two fish I caught made a bow wave in the surface and devoured the flies.
Even though it was a bright and sunny day there was a half hour when I caught the biggest fish of the day on a small black midge emerger during the sparsest of hatches. A 1,5kg fly that decided to tear of my whole flyline and quite a bit of backing. This doesn't happen very often on this water. The fish give you a nice fight, but this fish was very strong. One to remember and hopefully the first of many longlasting memories for the 2011 season.

Who Knows...

Went out for a quick and unexpected short trip this Sunday.
My brother in law wanted to go out and fish with a flyrod for the very first time in his life.
So on Saturday evening we went out into a field where I gave him a quick rundown on how to cast the flyrod and let him have a crack at the basic overhead cast and the rollcast.

When we were out on the water the next day, I noticed my brother in law having some trouble with the overhead cast and saw him naturally switching to the rollcast.
The whole experience made me think back of my first times out on the water with a flyrod and all the hundreds of tangles I had to untangle before I could finally get the fly where I wanted it to be.
But anyway, it was also clear what a great cast this rollcast really is.
It allows you to think about and there's lots of room to explore the strengths and weakness of your own technique and it very quickly lets you concentrate on the fishing.

I drove home with the reminder how good a practice-move it is to practice this cast. Because you only need to think about the flyline going forward, you can really zoom in and focus one of the many elements of which the cast itsself is made of.

That "breaking it down, zoom in and focus" - thing will be my mantra for the next casting practice sessions.
Give it a go as well, I think you will find many great and not-so-great things there.

And did I catch any fish?
Well, I did actually. The first rainbow on a dry fly for this season. Just over a kilo. Yeah Man :-)

the Five Essentials - part four & five

Shame on me! It's been almost 3 months since my last entry. But that's all about to change.

There's a new season with lots of things to do and lots of things to see.

Today I will talk about the last essentials. And Heck... I 'll even give you an extra one for free!!

Essential nr. 4: The Casting stroke. 

First of all a definition. The casting stroke is the motion in which you apply force to the line in order to generate a loop. This all may sound a bit technical, but to just say that we are talking about a cast isn't a 100% correct. For now, we'll forget this and stick to the subject; the Casting stroke. 

The size of the Casting stroke is generally determined by the length 
of the line to be cast. 

Now, what does this all mean? Quite a lot actually. You constantly need to adjust the length of the casting stroke to the amount of line that is outside of the rodtip. 

Remember this: Short line short stroke, long line long stroke.

I remember a drawing of this concept when I was learning the basiscs of the flycast. I will try to explain the mechanics: 60 feet of flyline weighs considerably more than 30 feet. 

Asuming that you make a well executed cast, the rod will bend deeper against 60 feet than against the weight of the 30 feet. If you don't adjust the casting stroke, you will deviate from the all important Straight line Path and thus ruin your cast. Not good and no fun at all. 

The key to good loop formation is to match the size of the casting 
stroke to the amount of bend in the rod  This is known as a Variable Casting 
Stroke. 

Essential nr. 5: 

There must be a Pause that may vary in duration at the end 

of each back cast and forward cast stop.

After making the cast you need this Pause to let the loop straighten. If you start the cast before the line is full straightened you will lose tension and not load the rod properly and the whole cast goes to bust. 

A longer length of line needs a longer pause than a short line etc. 

Easy to grasp, but difficult to execute perfectly.

Use these ingredients to make a smooth cast. Take it easy, don't rush it, don't use too much power, let the rod do the work and most of all: Have fun! 

The five Essentials - detour: the importance of a good backcast

A slight detour in the Five Essentials series; a short clip in which Steve Rajjef shows and explains the importance of a good backcast. Pay special attention around 1:00. Notice the Stop and the way the line goes backwards? That's what a good backcast should look like.

More Essentials tomorrow. A bit of talk about the Casting Stroke. For now, let's just watch that clip again...

The Five Essentials - part three "Straight Line Path"

Efficient loop formation requires the caster to move the rod 
in a Straight Line Path to the target.

First of all remember this: The line will follow the path of the rod tip. If the rod tip deviates from a straight line, so will your flyline. There may be circumstances were it is desirable to not cast in a straight line, but that is something I want to talk about later.

For now remember to keep track of what your rod tip does when you make a cast. There are 4 different paths that the rod tip can make when you make a cast. All of these paths result in a different loop shape.

“The first is the nearly STRAIGHT LINE PATH of the rod tip. This path generates a 
narrow LOOP and accurate placement of the fly. A narrow loop will show a top and 
bottom leg separation of approximately 20 inches. The top and bottom leg of the loop 
will also be in the same plane, that is to say that the top leg should always be directly 
above the bottom leg for maximum efficiency. Another advantage of the narrow loop 
is its ability to penetrate a wind. The smaller and tighter loop has less surface area and 
increases resistance to the wind
”

The second path the rod tip can travel is in a CONVEX PATH. The path of the rod tip 
in this instance travels in a large upward arc as opposed to a near straight line path. A 
convex path of the rod tip opens up, or widens the loop, decreases wind resistance and 
compromises accuracy.”


“The third path the rod tip can travel in is a CONCAVE PATH. The path of the rod tip 
in this instance travels in a downward arc. This path will form a closed or TAILING 
LOOP and commonly leads to the dreaded wind knot. The tailing loop will severely 
compromise full TURNOVER of the loop and accurate placement of the fly.”

Last but not least is the LATERAL PATH of the rod tip. In this instance the path of the 
rod tip no longer moves in a single plane but instead swings out to the left or right 
from the straight line path to the target plane. Know as the "Swinging Loop," the top 
leg "swings out" to the left or right of the bottom leg of the loop. The swinging loop is 
a casting fault.”


When I was in the early stages of learning how to cast a flyline, this essential was a revelation for me. Concentrating on what the rod tip does when you make a cast really gives you a sense of the control over the flyline we all strive for.

Just as a bit of a relief for before all of you go out to practice: The straight line only occurs during a part of your cast. The picture below is an excellent illustration of what to aim for. The picture is part of an article about SLP by Jason Borger and can be found here  http://fishfliesandwater.com/casting-mending/slp-straight-line-path-of-the-rod-tip/

The Five Essentials - part two

In the second of this series of five entries here is the next essential component of a good cast:

Proper acceleration of the fly rod.

In fly casting the function of the rod hand is to accelerate the rod so that it may 

load or bend against the resistance of the fly line. The hand accelerates the rod 

slowly at first and continues to increase in speed until the rod reaches a position 

perpendicular to the target at which point the rod hand accelerates even faster, and 

concludes, with a short, ultra fast stop of the hand. The majority of acceleration 

takes place near the end of the stroke.

In short: start slooooooowwwwwwwlllllyyyyy and speed up to a sudden and snappy stop.

This STOP is something Tim Raijeff talks about in this video. (the quality of the video itself isn't going to win anybody an Oscar for the best camerawork, but it well worth the watch.)

The Five Essentials

During my first fishing trip since a long long time this weekend I thought it would be nice to say some things about flycasting on this spot. Instead of writing about it check
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/8073149
for an animation about the first of Bill Gammels "Five Essentials of Flycasting"
During the next few days I will discuss these casting principles and hope you will you find it useful and fun. See you tomorrow.