I recommend working on your fly casting.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

First, I would have someone working at a fly shop or at a fly club or a good fly fishing guide cast your outfit and tell you if it is balanced or any good.

Then I would get some good help with your casting. Maybe only an hour lesson at a time.

With a weight forward 5 floating line you should be able to cast a fly or small piece of yarn about 60 feet (measured) with 2 back casts.

The biggest complaint we get from guides is when they get clients who can't cast very well and this makes their job very hard.

Finally, we got to the point that we would talk people out of going on some of our group trips unless they worked on their tackle and their casting.

This is something to do every so often until you are happy with your casting.



Jeff Putnam, Mike Powers and Andy Guibord teach fly casting in the Sacramento area.


On Saturdays you can go to some of the casting clubs in California or in your state.

The Golden Gate Angling & Casting Club in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco is a good start.

.

[browndude3649]

GG park is a great spot, nice people and helpful. Bring a lunch, if the main gate is for some reason locked go to the horse stables entrance and drive down to the pond parking lot.

The Galvan community park (Santa Rosa Yulupa ave) has a pond also.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

How many casting clubs are there in California?

Golden Gate

Oakland

Long Beach

_______ ?

[Larry S]

Bill,
Pasadena has one, as well.

www.pasadenacastingclub.org

Best to all,

Larry S
Sun Diego

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Thanks Larry......

[Carl Blackledge]

Santa Rosa has a World class casting pound, hardly anybody uses it. I use it for testing flies.

Carl Blackledge

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Wow.....I did not know that Carl.......



*We have the lower American river flowing clear and headed to the West where it meets up with the Sacramento river.

I is very close to Kiene's Fly Shop, which is great for practicing two handed / Spey casting.



We have American Shad (May/June), Stripers (Spring/late Summer), King salmon (Oct/Nov) and Steelhead (Spring/Fall/Winter) runs.


We have some good local senior guides & instructors too:


Andy Guibord - 916/849-1529 - American river and Delta

Bruce Porter - 916/257-7441 - American river

Jeff Putnam - 916/366-7554 or 916/607-1312 - American or Rogue rivers


These guys can help you with just about anything to do with fly fishing.

[avidangler]

"
The biggest complaint we get from guides is when they get clients who can't cast very well and this makes their job very hard." This made me laugh out loud. You take people fishing for a living quit your crying!

[avidangler]

I gotta get lessons on casting my striper rod,I'm having issues.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

False cast very little......none or once?

1) Medium distance: Roll cast to get the line and fly on top, make one back cast and then shoot the line.

2) Longer distance: Roll cast to get the line on top, make a back cast, a forward cast and another back cast and shoot the line.


Have a short leader........6 feet ?


Open up your loop a little or drop the tip on the final forward cast.


The Rio Outbound Short integrated line with a 30' Type 6 sinking tip cast nicer for most that a T-14 head with a running line.


Boat or surf?


Andy teaches lots of shooting head classes.

[Ralph]

"
The biggest complaint we get from guides is when they get clients who can't cast very well and this makes their job very hard." This made me laugh out loud. You take people fishing for a living quit your crying!

I know many guides who believe their ONLY job is to put the client over fish. I also know many other guides who use the opportunity to teach their clients not only how to cast, but tie knots, select flies, enjoy the wildlife, etc. Bill Lowe was of the latter. Other guides would snicker at the take out because so many of Bill's clients didn't catch as many as theirs. It was because Bill would spend hours coaching his clients, instead of just taking a bobber for a ride down the Yuba. Other guides (some very well known ones at that) might have ridiculed Bill, but Bill got the last laugh because he had more repeat bookings than anyone I know.

[lee s.]

Absolutely great point Ralph.
We usually don't even care to talk to a guide that "I can get you more fish."
I once had a guide friend ask as to OUR day, which had been quite good, and not thinking of HIS client, we told the truth. Later we apologized after finding out theirs wasn't. From then on we would ALWAYS get them to answer first, and we would be at least a few behind.
....lee s.

[avidangler]

Good guides will teach people,make you laugh,work their butt off and make sure you get your money's worth. They are few and far in between. The rest will come and go. The good ones will be around for a long time.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I know many guides who believe their ONLY job is to put the client over fish. I also know many other guides who use the opportunity to teach their clients not only how to cast, but tie knots, select flies, enjoy the wildlife, etc. Bill Lowe was of the latter. Other guides would snicker at the take out because so many of Bill's clients didn't catch as many as theirs. It was because Bill would spend hours coaching his clients, instead of just taking a bobber for a ride down the Yuba. Other guides (some very well known ones at that) might have ridiculed Bill, but Bill got the last laugh because he had more repeat bookings than anyone I know.

_____________________________

Bill Lowe was in a league of his own. He was a complete gentleman at all times. A great lose to Nor Cal when he passed.

Thanks Ralph for you and your wife's great contributions to our wonderful sport.

[Ralph]

Good guides will teach people,make you laugh,work their butt off and make sure you get your money's worth. They are few and far in between. The rest will come and go. The good ones will be around for a long time.

To be fair, there must be communication between guide and client BEFORE booking. Some people truly want nothing more than shots at fish while others want to shorten their learning curve and expand their fishing abilities and others want to be entertained with a great shore lunch etc. If the prospective guide doesn't ask the client what they expect, the client should initiative the conversation or move on.

[DLJeff]

Totally agree Ralph. If you as a client don't make your wishes for the day known, you are trusting to chance your guide will do what he or she can do to make them happen. If you want quality over quantity; or you want quiet and solitude over social conversation; if you want challenging fish over not so challenging fish, you have to talk about it. I just got back from bonefishing and my preference is for my guide to drop me off on a decent flat with the right tide and let me wade fish it. I can go at my own pace, I can explore, I can pick up starfish and take photos of birds and sharks and sting rays. Plus I enjoy the sense of accomplishment when I do it myself. I often try to get my guide to string up my second rod and wade with me, he takes on side, I take the other. Most don't want to fish alongside clients. My objective is to be able to wander off on my own. If I'm on the bow and the guide is working his butt off poling, I feel obligated to concentrate and try to catch every fish we see. Some guides don't like to let their clients off the leash and I understand that too.

But I think Bill's original point has merit as well. I have been (and I suspect many people have been) on trips with people who's casting ability was not up to the necessary standard. I've been with people on tarpon trips and I could tell from the first time they got on the bow that they would be lucky to even feel a tarpon tug. Same for bonefishing. Everyone has to start somewhere but if you're going to book a trip as your starting point, and you are expecting the guide to provide casting instruction, you should clarify that up front. Some guides are good instructors, some aren't, some like to teach, some don't, and hopefully you're talking to one who will give you honest answers to those questions.