SOL Reality Check. Casting at 25′

Disclaimer: If you are a nymph angler fishing with a guide, disregard this article. If you are an angler looking to move beyond guiding fly fishing w/out a guide or competent nymphing rower, then read ahead. I write this article with improvement as the option. Not bashing any group, no, I am speaking to the anglers who like to dry fly fish or would like to move into dry fly fishing this fishery, and those who cannot measure believing that 22′ is a long cast in that awful 3mph wind.

You know what surprises me the most about dry fly anglers visiting Montana’s Missouri River? The fact that most, the overwhelming majority of these anglers have a very difficult time casting 25′ accurately. Almost all are hobbled at 20′. And, add the daily average wind speed of 12mph, most are lost. Shutdown. Crippled with the situation, unnecessarily battling the daily common wind speed, and the distance.

If I asked said anglers, the self proclaimed dry fly experts anglers, if they could cast 20′-25′ landing the fly into a Hula-Hoop with a 3′ diameter, every one of them would emphatically state…YES! no problem. I’ve been fishing longer than you have been alive son. 

The Missouri River offers plenty of opportunities. The angler is the one with the rod in hand. It is the responsibility of the angler to execute. When dry fly fishing the angler and the fish, one on one, mono a mono.

So, today the take away is simply this. If you want to come to the Mo, and catch a few on a dry fly, forgetting about the dead drift portion of the equation, you better be able to cast at least 20′ accurately. 25′ would be better, or how about 30′!?!?! Most, most anglers have no idea how to execute a 30′ cast. I PROMISE YOU. If you believe you are GOOD, and you have fished for decades, then you best be able to pull off a very common distance here on the MO of a 25′ cast.

MOST CANNOT.

I am not writing about blind fishing a dry fly from a boat with a competent rower. I am not talking about fishing a hopper. I am talking about casting at one fish in particular, not a pod of 50 or 100. I am speaking about posted up, aiming at one fish, like deer or elk or rabbit hunting. Trying to present to a fish, a big one, one fish, and make a cast, and drift accurately. Not one time. Nope, that does not make you good. That makes you lucky. But the 1st cast, and the 10th, and the 57th. And not the 46th cast perfect, after missing, dragging, catching the trees beside the fish, changing flies, and then one of the randomly landing casts does, yes does drift perfectly over the fish…and then proclaiming that the fish will not eat the pattern. Wrong fly.

How many shots when firing at a deer in the woods should you expect the kill shot to be? The 1st? The 56th shot? How may shots? How many?

Ahh, I don’t need to practice, I’ve been fishing forever son…

Therefore, if you want to come to the Mo for the PMD, the BWO, for the Trico, to fish the caddis, to test your skills, I suggest you do a bit of soul searching first. Or practice casting once in a while.

I only swing the golf club every couple years. Wouldn’t it be freaking silly for me to assume, that I could strike the ball accurately, and have it land in an area that I aimed for? That’d be dumb. That’d be ignorant. It’s be just like many anglers that visit the Mo for dry fly Valhalla.

I suggest you get good at casting 25′ accurately. Landing in that Hula Hoop 18 of 20 times. Or 15? Most, many who have false illusions and expectations about technical dry fly fishing ought to do some soul searching before the attempt is made. Before the vacation is planned, before you address the rising trout.

I, A Boy of Summer, suggest you become familiar with your fly rod. With distances, with accuracy, stopping the rod tip high, and certainly not dropping the rod tip to the water every single cast.

The Boys of Summer are gone. Yessir. A time to get ahead of the curve, pun intended, with your fly cast. Now is the time to start getting a grasp on you future, your 2025 Plan. It includes finding the ability to cast accurately at 20′-30′. Lots, often, nearly every time, on demand.

Happy Hump Day.