I have always thought I have a pretty good cast.  Sure, I have my bad days when nothing works.  I can't get the fly where I want it to go and when it does get there it is all wrapped up in a knot.  But there are also days when everything seems to be working well.  When just thinking about where I want the fly to fall has the ability to make it happen.  I'd like to say there are more good days then bad but that would probably be wishful thinking. 

My casting is good enough to see me through 90% of my fishing.  I don't get away much anymore but most of my days are spent in a kick boat on the Missouri River.  I can usually get my line out where I need it but every once in a while I'll get out of position and will be unable to pump up a long enough cast to reach a rising trout.  I love fishing out of the kick boat but it can be pretty unforgiving.  I don't have an anchor so if I blow a cast I am soon drifting past the fish with no way to get back to it.

As I mentioned, I don't get out fishing much anymore.  I am here at the shop six days a week and that doesn't leave much time to get out of town and onto a river.  So, I am looking to give Coastal Cutthroat a try.  We have them all over Puget Sound and they are easily accessible.  They are in very shallow water and close to shore so you can work a beach just by wading and casting.  Still, the Sound makes for a big body of water and it would be good to have a longer cast.

With all that in mind, I signed up for a series of three casting classes this month.  They are designed to work on our basic form as well as develop a double-haul.  With luck I will end the month with a better & more efficient cast and have the ability to throw out a long one without having to work up a lot of false casts.  Our first session was last night and I think my cast was worse at the end of the hour then when I walked into the building.  That is not to say that it was a waste of time.  Actually, it was just the opposite.  The problem is that I need to quit doing several things that are now second nature and try to build in better habits that just don't feel natural right now.  The instructor came by and commented that I already had a pretty good cast.  He then suggested that I'm using too much wrist and am trying to overpower or "pop" the cast.  The next time by he noted that I could probably cast more efficiently by dropping my arm a little and trying to relax my arm and shoulder a bit.  Next he suggested I make my forward cast a little higher.  Finally, he noted that my Winston was a little on the slow side and wants an easier more subtle cast. 

So, by the end of the hour I was trying to stiffen my wrist and forearm, lower the rod, cast higher and slow everything down.  Basically, I had improved myself right into a shit cast.  Nothing felt right. Nothing looked right. And I kept finding myself falling into old rhythms and motions.  Now I know the instructor is good and that you often have to deconstruct a cast, or golf swing, before you can start building a new and improved version.  Still, it was a little disconcerting to feel like I was twenty years younger and fishing a fly rod for the first time.

Next Monday we are going to work on hauling.  There was a short two day period a couple years ago when I was able to double-haul a little and cast a nice long line.  Since then it has been like the proverbial rubbing of the stomach and tapping of the head for me.  I can get one half of the motion going but flail with the other.  The result is usually me standing there with fly line coiled all around, and over, me.

So there you have it.  In an effort at self-improvement I have actually made things worse.  I just hope that I am able to follow-through with the rest of the process and am able to pick through the rubble of my current cast and find the pieces needed to construct a newer and better cast.  I'll let you know how it goes.