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On another thread a comment came up about casting angle - in general when winter fishing what angle do you cast across the river? Some seem to think that something close to a 45 degree angle makes more sense than say a 90 degree angle while others like a 90 degreee angle. I recently watched Dec's video and he seems to like a more angled approach as he thought the fly got fishing quicker.
I don't normally have a set pattern but vary as the water varies. I don't necessarily believe that the fly needs to be under tension to be fishing. A well designed fly will fish dead drift or under tension. Casting straight across does a couple of things especially if you put a bit of a reach cast into things. It will often allow the fly to get deeper quicker. You are also covering significantly more water. If you cast an 80 foot line at a 45 degree angle you are essentially out in the river around 57 feet or 23 feet less than if you cast at a 90 degree angle. Unless you are fishing a specific section of water you are missing alot of potential holding water. I will in fact soemtimes cast at a 45 degree angle upsteam to get the fly very deep then dead drift through a section and follow up with a swing with fly under tension. I have had steelhead grab the instant the fly hits to to final dangle. I guess I normally fish more of a right angle than a number of my friends but at times it just makes more sense to do the more angled approach - seems generally eaiser with less line manipulation through the swing
Which brings up another commen difference amoung flyfishers - mending - some think you mend once and leave it alone as any mend will disturb the fly and make it less likely for a fish to grab. One of the best steelheaders I know does a constant twitch mend making an effort to actually move the fly. I think you can postion the line with gentle mends with little impact on the fly - this seems easier with long belly lines where you can gently lift large amounts of line with not much disturbance of the fly but it can be done with short belly lines also. I used to mend much more than I do now but still will often mend several times through a drift if I think it will slow things down (assuming that is what I am striving for).
I don't normally have a set pattern but vary as the water varies. I don't necessarily believe that the fly needs to be under tension to be fishing. A well designed fly will fish dead drift or under tension. Casting straight across does a couple of things especially if you put a bit of a reach cast into things. It will often allow the fly to get deeper quicker. You are also covering significantly more water. If you cast an 80 foot line at a 45 degree angle you are essentially out in the river around 57 feet or 23 feet less than if you cast at a 90 degree angle. Unless you are fishing a specific section of water you are missing alot of potential holding water. I will in fact soemtimes cast at a 45 degree angle upsteam to get the fly very deep then dead drift through a section and follow up with a swing with fly under tension. I have had steelhead grab the instant the fly hits to to final dangle. I guess I normally fish more of a right angle than a number of my friends but at times it just makes more sense to do the more angled approach - seems generally eaiser with less line manipulation through the swing
Which brings up another commen difference amoung flyfishers - mending - some think you mend once and leave it alone as any mend will disturb the fly and make it less likely for a fish to grab. One of the best steelheaders I know does a constant twitch mend making an effort to actually move the fly. I think you can postion the line with gentle mends with little impact on the fly - this seems easier with long belly lines where you can gently lift large amounts of line with not much disturbance of the fly but it can be done with short belly lines also. I used to mend much more than I do now but still will often mend several times through a drift if I think it will slow things down (assuming that is what I am striving for).