[T.E.Shuler]

Heres another casting game for you guys to try. And I came up with this one on my own just goofing off.

Take two soccer balls, basketballs, whatever and place the first one 35-45 feet infront of you, place the next ball 15 feet behind the first ball but dirctly inline with the first ball.

Now take a tape measure, and place the end of it directly in the middle of the lane behind the first ball and stretch it out to the left hand side if your right handed caster, to the right side if your a left handed caster. Stretch your tape out to about 20 feet or so.

What you do is stand with your casting shoulder directly inline with the two balls, and cast a positive curve cast between the two balls without hitting either ball and measure how far to the side you can get the cast to curve!

Its pretty challenging and helps give you something to gauge your performance with a positive curve cast. Positive Curves can be used for all sorts of things, from casting around obstacles to mending line up or downstream.

This game is diffrent from having a target to aim for with a positive curve. Having a target gets you used to hitting a certain mark, which is good to do for accuracy, but you dont want to get in the habit of limiting yourself or you cast. By practicing getting more of a curve you can effectivly increase the range at which you can hit a targets or make larger mends.

[FLY#1]

Im getting to really like casting in the yard!! I need some more tudoring on the post and neg casting!! I just cant get consistant! Ill try the soccer ball and tape thing!!!

[phg]

Well, I've never used the balls and tape measure, but there's a small Rose-of-Sharon in the middle of the back yard, and I practice curving around it from about 30' away. My object is to have the fly appear on the opposite side without the line hitting the bush.

With one of my bamboo rods, I've actually been pretty successful curving both ways, but I need a lot more practice to become consistent.

You make a good point, though. Most of the time, on the stream, I'm not casting to a specific point, I'm casting for a specific drift, so getting the line to land where I want it is just as important as getting the fly to land where I want it.

[T.E.Shuler]

Paul,
Thats pretty cool, thats how I first started learning to perform curve casts, was to cast around my mom's Rose of Sharon when I was younger. If you mess up and get the bush, you have a mess! Kind of makes you really try to get it right!

[bamboo10]

This was interesting, always worked on accurarcy at about 6 to 8 ft. on a curve cast, never really tried to see what distance you could get.
At 40 ft. with a 8 ft. 5 wt. bamboo got to 20 ft. then with a 9 ft. 5 wt graphite got out to 26 ft. before the wind started to blow.
GJ

[sagerod911]

Well I don't think my casting abilities are ready to practice a curve cast (yet).

But I did build a stand with a hul-la-hoop and PVC to hold it up. Step off about 10 or 15 paces and practice loop control and accuracy. Saw Lefty do this at a demonstration, he made it look easy.

Hint - look through the center of the hoop for a target...Aim Small Miss Small

[TGoodwin]

Hey Eugene,

Thanks for posting that drill. I'll play around with it this week.

Here's a variation on your exercise that I use a lot when I'm working on curves:

Place a 30 inch ring in front of the bumper on the driver side of your car. Then go stand at the corner of the rear bumper on the passenger side of the car and try to hit the target without touching the car with the line.

I like this one because your hand movements have to be short and sharp or you'll whack the rod on the car. Plus you have to walk around to the front of the car to see if you hit the target. Sometimes I hurry the casts a bit when I'm practicing, but I'm forced to take my time with this one.

Anyway, thanks again for posting your drill. Always looking for new stuff to try.

Ty

[delikid]

need all the help i can get