[ZachMatthews]

I am learning to cast in something of a vaccuum down here. On a wide open river with lots of room, I can bang out a nice switch cast, but the head is so far back it is basically a waterhauled back cast and I know that isn't exactly kosher.

Yesterday and the day before I intentionally put my back up against the wall, and I figured out a cast I'm sure there must be a name for. It seems easiest to do when switching sides, from line going away upstream to a downstream cast, or from line dangling downstream to an upstream cast.

Basically I just make a short roll cast which aerializes some of the line, then before it has landed I come up and back again and make a forward cast, which if I do it right lifts off right as the first half-roll touches the water and it zings out there. In the air the line looks like a spiral going away from my position- is this the snake roll?

Zach

 

[kush]

Zach,

I don't know about a name for that cast, but if you want to see video clips of various casts (including the snake roll) go here - http://www.speypages.com/speypages.htm and click on casting videos.

 

[fishNphysician]

Kush

I just viewed Dana's "spiral roll".... looks just like the modification I have made to my own cast when doing a snake roll with a heavy sinktip in deeper pools.

With the rod in the hangdown, I lift straight up to clear some line from the water and get that heavy sinktip closer to the surface... then launch into a standard snake roll, albeit from a higher starting point . Works great for me.

Dana's demo shows only one wind-up for the spiral, but I still do a double wind-up like on the std snake roll.

 

[kush]

Doc,

What do you mean by double wind-up?

As for snake roll vs spiral roll - same cast...

 

[fishNphysician]

The way I understand it is the classic snake starts from a fairly low rod position, with the first motion being a backward sweep toward the bank (that's what I refer to as the first wind-up), following thru with a big circular motion, followed by a second more forceful backward sweep of the rod to set up the D-loop (the second wind-up), then finally the forward launch to complete the cast.

If you watch Dana's two clips on the snake and the spiral, the difference I see is that the spiral roll starts with a lift from the hangdown position (presumably to clear the line from the water), then the roll to set up the D-loop, then the forward launch. Subtle difference, but makes getting a heavy tip out of a deep slow pool a bit easier... at least for me.

 

[Berlin]

Hi Zach,

This sounds like you are using what is described in single handed casting terms as the "roll cast pick up" where we make a high roll cast to lift the line and go into a back casy (be it a switch or overhead) and then going into your main D loop from this.

In this case it sounds like the roll cast pick up is not picking up all of the line but as you pull back to go into the Spey/switch the loop you formed travels down the line picking it up.

Is this what is happening? If so its a narrower version of the spiral Spey/C lift/ Snake lift or a roll cast pick up into a Switch/Spey.

Cheers,
Carl

 

[juro]

Zach -

If the fly is touching down about a rod's length in front and to the casting side, then your "water-hauled backcast" just might be a good switch cast and quite kosher. The water-haul is an important component of any spey cast.

As you can see in the numerous videos Dana has provided for us, the backcast is placed under the rod tip and infact the water is used to 'haul' tension into the cast.

If the line profile looks something like this, then your water-hauled backcast is in fact a good switch cast:

[1](sketch shown in an abbreviated scale for space reasons)[/1]