Graeme Christie | Tuesday, 14 April 2026
Paul messaged me the other day to say a cyclone was coming in. I confirmed that yes, one was indeed on the way. His response was not concern for life or property, but encouragement to go and try for 200 feet in the wind. There is nothing quite like a challenge from Paul to get me out there on a stormy day.
Staying motivated is important. With casting, there comes a point where improvement stops being accidental and starts requiring actual work. Someone I used to train with in another sport had a rule: don't practice the 80% you can already do, practice the 20% you are not so good at. That's where the gains are. So I appreciated the message. It was well timed.This is not a story of training that 20%, but at least the weather conditions are difficult and mastery of this represents improvements.
The cyclone came and went quickly. Auckland got off fairly lightly, which was fortunate. Other parts of the country were not so lucky and took a proper hammering from the rain and wind. They will take some recovering from. But with Paul's encouragement still ringing in my ears, I gathered up the practice casting gear and headed to the park to make the most of what the tail end of the weather system left behind.
Paul has taken me through his full casting programme, and yet some parts still manage to slip through the net. I expect that is just how learning works. I am always impressed with Paul's patience to work an area of difficulty and thrash out what it takes. You get shown something clearly, you understand it hazily, and then the next day your body goes out and starts to perform. It's not an overnight process and there is quite a bit of talking to the imaginary Paul in my head. So from time to time I still have a lesson with him to recalibrate and check if the Paul in my head aligns with the actual Paul.
Out of all the areas of the casting training I genuinely enjoy long-distance casting, which helps on a day like this to take me to the park. The park casting has been an absolute revolution to my fishing. Teaching is obviously critical, but it's the countless hours afterwards that ingrain it into day-to-day fishing — fly in the water more of the time, a much higher catch rate, and a lot more enjoyment out of a day on the water.
I strung up the rod with the six-weight line, stood there in a stiff wind coming from behind, and got to work. Straight-line path on the forward and back cast. Full haul. Fast haul. Reach as far back with the casting arm as possible. Keep it vertical and tracking straight. Then send it.
First cast: 116 feet.
Not bad. But clearly not 200. A bit more focus. Keep going. Concentrate on timing. Do not interfere with the cast by trying to help it too much, which is one of my more reliable habits.
Second cast: 119 feet.
Better. Still not exactly threatening any world records. Keep pushing. Better timing. Better haul. Straighter tracking. Do less wrong.
Third cast: 117 feet.
Went backwards. At least the wind was honest about it. I was still a very long way short of 200 feet, but there was no point being discouraged. Just do better.
Fourth cast: 125 feet.
That felt more like it. Now it was getting darker, which was not ideal, because unlike fishing, casting practice after dark doesn't seem to quite bring the dividends. One more go. There still felt like there was a bit more there. The wind may have been above competition allowance, but at that point it seemed silly not to take what the weather gods were offering. What the hell. Try harder. Be better.
131 feet.
Awesome. I was very happy with that.
Then I packed everything up in the fading light and thought about what to work on next time. More distance, obviously. More accuracy too. I should have included the hoops and scoring games that day, but I knew the light was going and I wanted to have a proper crack at distance while the wind was there.
So no, I did not make 200 feet. But 135 in a cyclone tailwind will do.
Also, it is nice to know that when extreme weather is approaching, some people think about emergency supplies, and Paul thinks, "This could be worth twenty extra feet."