The reach mend or aerial mend
Here's
a very useful cast. Takes a little practice, but is a very
useful addition to the repertoire.
What we are trying to do is put a
kink in our fly line as we cast instead of the traditional
straight line presentation.
This has benefits in coping with drag
by creating some slack line, that can reduce or eliminate
the drag.
ie Casting across different current lines, or if a fish is
sitting in front of an obstacle such as a rock. Often even
when you are directly below a fish there will be different
current speeds that will cause drag.
It's easy enough to
do......On the presentation stroke, stop your rod, and as
the loop starts to roll out, move your rod tip to one side
then back to center, before continuing to lower it as you
would normal do. This results in a curve (in the direction
you moved your rod tip) in the line as in the diagram. Now
that's the easy part. Controlling it so you can do it on
demand and to the degree required for a particular
situation requires practice!
The interesting thing is
that it doesn't effect your accuracy, as it occurs after
the fly is already on it way to it destination, although
judging distance is more difficult.
If you're good at
shooting your line, you can shoot your 'kink' well out
across the water.
Taking it further you can
wiggle your rod tip left and right to create the 'kinky'
cast (better know as a wiggle cast) which can be useful
when casting straight up stream or down for that matter
Buy your 'flies by the dozen' & Save!
