Paul Arden | Monday, 15 June 2026
Nick and I made a video last week of the fly casting drills commonly used in the first lesson for our Intermediate Level fly casters. What is an intermediate level flycaster? Basically where many casters who practise will get to their own over time without coaching and then plateau. Which is also where most of my students come in for lessons. They may have been fishing for 15 or 50 years and have a decent fishing cast but now want to be better.
These are really just separate drills without the coaching, for students to study after the lesson. We don’t include them all necessarily. And depending on the student, others may be appropriate. These are however very commonly given during the lesson. This first lesson involves accuracy casting to targets, as well as distance casting and finally an analysis of the Double Haul.
1 Min Power 0.32
2 Narrow->Wide 2.54
3 All Planes 5.38
5 Walking 8.04
6 Strip Hauling 10.46
7 Lift and Flip 12.31
8 L&F and Haul 18.36
Intermediate DH 22.24
9 Closed -> Open 23.19
10 Checking Shoot 27.04
There are eleven more of these videos to come, so hang on to your shorts.
Wild Bill
I was very sorry to hear that my good friend Bill Gammel died just over a week ago and the funeral was on Saturday. Very young. Maybe 1 or 2 years older than me I think, and it was completely out of the blue for everyone.
Bill went fishing, came home, didn’t feel too well and then he was gone.
I’m not sure if there is anyone else who has done more for fly flycasting instruction. Bill and his father’s Five Essentials really helped us to analyse and understand flycasting, like nothing else before or since. And their Essentials have certainly stood the test of time. They’ve been bashed around and yet still hold together.
I’d usually hear from Bill every year and he would often send photos of his sons catching fish, of whom he was very proud.
I will put together a small video later in the week about Bill and his influence on the flycasting world. I have a few stories that I tell of us fishing together, that I usually mention when discussing his Five Essentials at workshops.
Like everyone else I’m still a little shocked to be honest. My thoughts go out to his wife Tiffany and to his sons.
Bill was one of a kind and it was a privilege to have known him.
Cheers, Paul