Graeme Christie | Tuesday, 26 May 2026
From talking with fellow anglers, practice represents something not so fun, or at least it pales next to the fishing. The benefit for me has been a big lift in fishing success as my technique has improved. Still doesn't get me out of the legwork. Walking, travelling, boat prep and gear organisation. All that still has to happen. After all there are other elements to the fishing success too.
There were bikers behind me doing tricks. I wondered, briefly, if I'd hook one of them on a back cast. That'd run out into the backing.
I was at the park with the Sexyloops HT 8wt rod and 120 foot Scientific Anglers 6wt MED line. I go to the 8wt for fishing and distance work both. Warm up first. Always. No vicious hauls cold, just short stuff, working on being straight. Straight is always a worthy start.
The wind was at my back. My back cast wants work, it always wants work. A small motto of mine is to practice the things I am not so good at as this is where the bigger gains are to be made. Rolling the leader out to full length into the wind with the orange fluff on the end, that's the test. Easy to dump the fly early. No man's land delivery, then the whole thing blows back at you. The fix I'm chasing is stopless: low back cast under the wind, forward cast high to ride it.
Then the distance work. I think about the Northern Hemisphere comp guys when I do this. The numbers they put out, the way they move. I get some good distance, but the technique still needs work. Straighter, power at the right moments, long arm travel, long fast hauls. I tried a few things. Grip position. Haul timing, especially on the back cast. Aiming the back cast as low as I could get it, the forward up at whatever angle the wind wanted.
123.4 feet. I had practiced the day before and done a gym workout this day as well so all things considered I was happy with that. Distance casting is a sport type activity and the injury potential is real, as David noted a few days back. Something I'm more mindful of as I get older. You want to keep going in whatever you enjoy.
The sun went down on the park. Plenty of people out and about. Lovely day.
Paul's snakehead cast. You've probably seen my video. It's a hard one, but everything in it transfers. A slip and haul on the lift. Another haul on the delivery. Worked it into the wind as well. Changes the feel of it all. And where you aim on the forward and back casts. All those aspects are needed not necessarily all the time but some all the time when fishing and others often enough when fishing that regular practice just improves.
All of that applied last weekend on a stillwater, fishing for browns. Line hand work especially. Never lets go. Lets the line flow, then stops it dead to deliver straight, then loops the running line up under the trigger fingers in your rod hand. Ready to strip. Ready for the eat.
Hard, windy day. Landed one, lost another. Credit, I reckon, to this park work. Though stillwater teaches another lesson too: cover ground. If it's dead or hard, move on.
My 6wt and 7wt tips arrived for my two other HTs. Fit perfectly. The spare parts I needed. Didn't have to send the rods back. Paul's fit system works very well. Cheers.