[LeeCatchum]

When I do the pick up for the snake roll my anchor lands to far upstream. What do I need to correct?

Thanks - Lee

 

[Carl]

A couple of thoughts...

First might be too obvious, but first time I tried the snake I wasn't thinking--there was an upstream wind. Needless to say not only was the anchor too far up--I wore the loop. So downstream wind is one piece of the puzzle. (Although--the snake is a very dynamic cast and can be managed in an upstream wind with practice--it's not my first choice in those conditions)

I find that placement of the anchor depends on how high I bring the rod and how much energy I apply when 'flipping the pancake'. I don't bring the rod above approx 10 o'clock or 2 o'clock, as appropriate.

Hope that helps.
Carl

 

[Rick J]

A common cause is when you come around and back to form the D-loop often you will kick the rod tip behind you - this happens often if you bring the rod too vertical - if your upper hand swings outwards so the palm is facing forward rather than the knuckles facing forward you just rotated the hand out - this will put a big kick in the rod tip behind you and cause the tip of the line to flip into a bloody L up in front of you.

As mentioned in the previous post if you keep the rod angled more to the side and concentrate on bringing you hand straight back and not rotate it this could solve your problem

 

[t_richerzhagen]

Plane of the egg

Simon G talks about the 180 principle. You want the d-loop to be going 180 degrees to your cast, so make cartain that the tip of your rod (remember the line follows the path of the tip) moves parallel to the direction of the cast. Also, you can begin the cast quite slowly, so do not try to rush that part of the cast.

 

[Nooksack Mac]

When I started learning the snake roll, the fly usually landed too far in front of me, halfway to where I wanted to cast to. I paid more attention to tracing the big oval with my rod tip, with more emphasis on the part of the oval that goes behind me. Soon I was dropping the fly closer to me, where I wanted it.
Also, I started with trying to snake-roll a full, normal amount of line, which is probably a mistake. If you start with just a rod-length of line and leader beyond the rod tip, you can easily drop the fly wherever you want. Master that, then begin extending more and more line.

 

[Bob Pauli]

Re Snake Roll,

Lee,
Make a smaller oval. Think of a sliding scale with extreme small oval placing the anchor farthest away to extreme large oval placing the anchor upstream.

Adjust the oval to give yourself the anchor point you desire.

 

[Dr. Swing]

All of this is excellent advice. I have had trouble with this problem myself in the past (and on my bad days now!) One thing I found is that when I am facing directly down stream, right at line, I have this problem. A stance that faces my target has been a good first step in doing all of the above.

 

[LeeCatchum]

Thanks for all the good advice. Bob's comment about making smaller circles was the secret for me. The snake is now pretty reliable on both sides and even cross-handed.

Thanks again - Lee

 

[Feiger]

something i learned from john and amy hazel from lessons i took from them this summer on the deschutes, and re-iterated in their new instructional DVD/video, is the "90 degree" principle when starting the snake roll cast. in effect, where you start your rod, in preperation to "drawing" your egg shape with the tip, needs to be 90 degrees to where you want your cast to go. want to snake roll directly across stream, 90 degrees is a rod pointing directly down stream. want a 45 degree down stream cast, start your rod pointed down stream 45 degrees, behind you, TOWARDs near bank. want to cast 45 degrees UPSTREAM, start the rod 45 degrees down stream towards the opposite bank. this made a HUGE difference for me in problems i was having with this cast. in following the "90 degree principle", you set the line up to follow Simon G.'s 180 degree principle that is so often quoted and taught (rightly so). sounds like you've solved some of your bugs, but you may want to keep this in mind the next time you're on the water...
feiger

 

[fredaevans]

I'm with Bob on this one.

Lee,
Make a smaller oval. Think of a sliding scale with extreme small oval placing the anchor farthest away to extreme large oval placing the anchor upstream.

Adjust the oval to give yourself the anchor point you desire.

Shorter the line/up stream wind ... lighten up .. or you'll have the line drapped around your head. The 'Snake,' like the snap T/circle or Steve Choate's 'single spirl. are very dynamic casts. If you're running a short line, you've got to sloooow it up, or the line will not go where you intended.

Anchor too far up-stream .. so? ... just 'aim' farther up-stream with your cast. Sounds simple, and 99.9% of the time, it is.
:smokin:

 

[Skilly]

I am glad that others have chimed in on this. I have had the same problem, now if the snow bugs will vanish and it ever gets above freezing again, I will go see if it works for me.
If not I will have to put the plow on my suv and plow my way to the Rogue and have Fred teach me.

 

[juro]

Good stuff! The 180 deg / overpower comments above were key for me as well.

Also give this a try:

The snake roll has an initial "C" loop shape going forward before it's pulled back into a "D" loop in the normal way.

=> Wherever you push that "C" loop forward is where the anchor wants to be.

I have tried this for hours to make sure the theory is correct, and am confident it's true.

Therefore aim the forward part of the egg in the direction you want to put the anchor, and as people said no need to hurry thru the spiral provided the final "flip" as Simon puts it is strong enough to form a proper "D" loop.

 

[Dana]

I teach the same thing as Juro with new snake rollers. You can put your anchor anywhere you want, all you have to do is draw your circle (I prefer a rather flat oval) so that the front part or nose is directly above the general spot where you want your anchor to land.

 

[mickgbell]

Buy Michael Evans second video series, he explains the snake roll in great detail.