With a little bit a practice, it is not all that difficult to become a good fly fishing caster – even though to the novice angler, the art of fly fishing casting may look extremely tricky. You can have the ideal fly fishing equipment and the perfect fly fishing fly, but unless you know how to cast property, you are wasting your time. You need to be good enough at fly fishing casting to be able to land your fly at a specific target location on the water’s surface. This article describes the basic fly fishing casting techniques for the novice angler.

It is recommended that the beginner learn fly fishing casting from a fishing instructor, but there are plenty of books, DVDs, and online guides that teach fly fishing casting. The two main fly fishing casting techniques used today are the overhead cast, and the roll cast, and all other fly fishing casting techniques are variations of these two techniques. The beginner will start with the basic dry fly fishing method where a floating line is used which floats on top of the water. With dry fly fishing, it is easier for beginner anglers to see the line, and to detect a strike on the line. Also, using a bulky fly fishing vest can impede your casting stroke, and beginners are advised to use a smaller fly fishing chest pack or lumbar pack – there are a wide range of Fishpond pack models to choose from for the beginner angler.

When practicing fly fishing casting it is important to ensure you practice in a location with enough clear space, such as a open field. You need to have 45 feet of open space in front and behind you if you are practicing 45 foot casts, and for this distance also ensure that you have 20 feet of space on either side of you. To be safe, it is a good idea to wear a hat and glasses/protective goggles. Ensure you use a yarn fly on your fly fishing line, which is a fly with no hook. For your fly casting practice sessions, place targets out in front of you, then you must try to hit these targets when fly casting (hula-hoops can be used).

Overhead Cast

This is the most commonly used fly fishing casting technique, and most beginners should start using this technique. This technique has two sequences, the back cast, then the forward cast. With the back cast, you are lifting the fly line off the water in front of you, and up over your head until the fly line is behind you. Before the fly line touches the ground behind you, initiate the forward cast sequence. The forward cast part of the technique entails you bringing the fly line back over your head, and landing the fly on the water – hopefully in the exact location that you aimed at.

Roll Cast

The roll cast is used when you have obstructions behind you, such as bushes or trees, that prevent you from doing the back cast using the overhead casting technique. This technique is also useful in strong winds where you don’t want to lift the line too high into the air. In order to perform a roll cast, lift the fly rod up slowly until it reaches the one o’clock position (just past 90 degrees). This will cause the line to slide backwards on top of the water, without the line lifting off the water’s surface. Do a firm forward cast once you are in this position – this will complete the cast.

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While fly fishing is conceived to be one of the most restful hobbies you'll ever engage in, there is still a certain amount of skill requirement in order to be successful. You might have heard so much about the cast and about tying your own flies and may wonder how to really improve your fly fishing techniques in order to improve your catch broad. There are just a few simple things you can remember in order to affect your time on the water a more enjoyable experience and to just plain old catch more fish; let’s review these few simple things to remember about your fly fishing techniques.

Being gentle with your cast is important and probably the most important of all fly fishing techniques. Many anglers make the error of attempting to force their project the direction you do with typical fishing. Remember that you're not trying to achieve too far ahead of you and certainly don't want to sink your bait the way you do with average fishing. Your target is to just skim or flit your fly over the top of the water. You also desire to remember that with fly fishing, the fly is virtually weightless and the line is heavy, so the line forces the fly and not the different way around. If you give your line just the smallest bit of guidance you'll see how it forces the fly behind it and how the fly then skims the water. Practice your cast as part of your fly fishing techniques as much as you can. You can stand in the yard and just apply a line without a fly. Aim for about ten or fifteen feet in front of you and keep practicing until you can hit it perfectly.

Other ways to improve your fly fishing techniques is to get sufficient with working the line. With typical fishing you ordinarily have no slack in your line but with fly fishing, that slack is necessary for when you pull the line up for different project. Getting used to how it feels to control the slack with your secondary hand may take some practice. As you exercise your project, practice covering that slack so that it doesn't get tangled up in the line and so that you have enough slack overall. Both hands are going to be important when it comes to your fly fishing techniques so get used to how the line feels to you and what it takes to control it.

While you’re exercising your fly fishing techniques, remember not to get too taken up in instructions and the “proper” way to cast. If you do, you might find that you’re lost on the enjoyment of fly fishing overall. Anglers have been successful with fly fishing for hundreds of years without fancy schools or teachings, so you don't need to worry too much about these matters. Do the best you can with your own fly fishing techniques and remember to enjoy

What is Nymph Fly Fishing

Nymph fly fishing is a more difficult fly fishing technique than dry fly fishing, as the nymph is under the water’s surface, and cannot be seen by the angler. Novice fly fishermen learn dry fly fishing first, because the fly is easy to see, and then progress to nymph fly fishing at a later date. If there is no insect surface activity (or hatch), or when fishing in deeper water, nymph fly fishing can be more productive than dry fly fishing.

A nymph is an aquatic insect still in the underwater, or adolescence stage of development. Generally, the insects you see on top of the water are adult insects that have grown out of the adolescence stage. When nymph fishing, the flies that are used imitate insects in the adolescence (or underwater) stage of that insect development.

Why is Nymph Fly Fishing Difficult?

The difficulty with nymph fly fishing lies with the fact that the fisherman cannot see when the fish takes the nymph, unlike dry fly fishing. Because it’s more difficult to detect a strike, the novice angler may not know when to set the hook. Also, quite often the novice angler cannot tell the difference between a fish striking the nymph, and the nymph bumping against underwater obstructions such as logs and rocks. The nymph itself may also end up hooked to an underwater log or rock, and its always frustrating to get the nymph unstuck.

Dry fly fishing is two dimensional. As nymph fly fishing is three dimensional, the fisherman must work out the depth of the nymph for the best chance of catching fish, and modify his line set up accordingly. Also fish don’t tend to strike a nymphs as hard as they do dry flies on the water’s surface, so it’s more difficult to know the exact time to set the hook.

Equipment Required for Nymph Fishing

For successful nymph fishing, you will need a strike indicator. A strike indicator  is a brightly coloured object that floats on top of the water, and when this indicator bobs in an unnatural manner that means you have a strike. The norm is to tie the strike indicator to the leader a reasonable distance from the nymph, or to tie the strike indicator to the fly line.

Next, you will need some small weights to put on your floating fly line or leader to get your nymph to the correct depth. Alternatively, you can use a sink-tip fly line instead of a floating line with weights. Another useful item for nymph fly fishing is a good pair of polarized sunglasses which will reduce the glare reflected from the water and enable you to see the strike indicator clearly. The type of fly fishing rod you use will depend on the size of the river or stream being fished – generally, the smaller the river or stream, the shorter the rod required.

Dead Drift Fishing Technique

The most common nymph fly fishing technique that even a beginner can master is the “dead drift” fishing technique. This involves casting directly across the river, and letting the fly line drift downriver whilst keeping any slack out of the line. Perform an upstream mend if the nymph is drifting too quickly, or a downstream mend if the nymph is drifting too slowly. In the event of a strike, the angler just points the rod at the fly, and lifts the rod to set the hook. The fisherman wades downstream with this technique of fly fishing.