Solution to "What Would You Do?"
I showed Gene a Puddle Cast which is often also called a pile cast. Gene combined that with a right reach mend. That created enough slack to catch the fish.
The puddle cast is performed by high forward cast above the target with a wide loop and immediately dropping the rod when the fly is above the target. The puddle cast is the best cast to use when there are conflicting and unpredictable currents such as rises in an eddy or whirlpool. This cast collapses so that much of the leader and tippet land in a puddle on the target.
The loose loops of line and leader on the water also absorb drag until the tippet finally is straightened and the fly is pulled away. You can increase the amount of leader in the puddle if you have enough skill to under power the cast so that there is more leader stacked in the air above the target.
If you need more slack, keep adding mends until you need to follow the line with the rod across your body to the left to extend the drift. That series of casts, and mends will give you the longest drift.
The puddle cast is one cast you should learn to fish those impossible lies that can frustrate the best fly fishers. It is a little used cast because most fly fishers have never heard, seen or used it; and therefore, don't think of it as a possible solution. But it's a surprisingly easy cast to perform. Aim your cast high and drop the rod. There are no fancy curves or mends. It's all timing as to when you drop the rod and that is easily learned. I would practice it by putting a hula hoop on the ground, and then try to get my leader and fly to puddle into the hoop. Another method of practicing is to do it on the water, using the pocket behind a boulder as the target. Try it and you will see how effective it is in keeping the fly in that slack water behind the boulder.
But a puddle cast is only part one of the solution. The second part of the solution is that the puddle cast is difficult to control in the wind. Usually you go to at thinner tippet to reduce drag. Paradoxically, sometimes you may have to go to a thicker tipper to give you the extra control you need in a breeze to put the fly on target.
Every rule has an exception and this is one of them.
You should note that the “puddle cast” is really a puddle mend. The fly line is mended DOWN after rod stop.
I use this cast anytime I have to cast over a section of fast water to a slot of feeding fish in slower water.
Below is a photo of a Madison River boulder directly in front of Jim Greenlee’s home. During one visit, Jim Greenlee told me that the fish stack up in seam "A" and you need to cast from the bank at "B" across that fast water. Night after night, he said fly fishers tried unsuccessfully to catch those fish. I told Jim that I thought I had a cast that cold catch those fish. That evening I caught quite a few fish using the puddle cast.
I showed Gene a Puddle Cast which is often also called a pile cast. Gene combined that with a right reach mend. That created enough slack to catch the fish.
The puddle cast is performed by high forward cast above the target with a wide loop and immediately dropping the rod when the fly is above the target. The puddle cast is the best cast to use when there are conflicting and unpredictable currents such as rises in an eddy or whirlpool. This cast collapses so that much of the leader and tippet land in a puddle on the target.
The loose loops of line and leader on the water also absorb drag until the tippet finally is straightened and the fly is pulled away. You can increase the amount of leader in the puddle if you have enough skill to under power the cast so that there is more leader stacked in the air above the target.
If you need more slack, keep adding mends until you need to follow the line with the rod across your body to the left to extend the drift. That series of casts, and mends will give you the longest drift.
The puddle cast is one cast you should learn to fish those impossible lies that can frustrate the best fly fishers. It is a little used cast because most fly fishers have never heard, seen or used it; and therefore, don't think of it as a possible solution. But it's a surprisingly easy cast to perform. Aim your cast high and drop the rod. There are no fancy curves or mends. It's all timing as to when you drop the rod and that is easily learned. I would practice it by putting a hula hoop on the ground, and then try to get my leader and fly to puddle into the hoop. Another method of practicing is to do it on the water, using the pocket behind a boulder as the target. Try it and you will see how effective it is in keeping the fly in that slack water behind the boulder.
But a puddle cast is only part one of the solution. The second part of the solution is that the puddle cast is difficult to control in the wind. Usually you go to at thinner tippet to reduce drag. Paradoxically, sometimes you may have to go to a thicker tipper to give you the extra control you need in a breeze to put the fly on target.
Every rule has an exception and this is one of them.
You should note that the “puddle cast” is really a puddle mend. The fly line is mended DOWN after rod stop.
I use this cast anytime I have to cast over a section of fast water to a slot of feeding fish in slower water.
Below is a photo of a Madison River boulder directly in front of Jim Greenlee’s home. During one visit, Jim Greenlee told me that the fish stack up in seam "A" and you need to cast from the bank at "B" across that fast water. Night after night, he said fly fishers tried unsuccessfully to catch those fish. I told Jim that I thought I had a cast that cold catch those fish. That evening I caught quite a few fish using the puddle cast.
This is a different boulder than in the earlier photo. However, these situations occur all the time on the Madison River, and very few fly fishers can successfully fish them but now you known how it is done.
Henry Kanemoto
Henry Kanemoto
