# 4 How a Fly Rod Works

How a Fly rod works: You Don't throw the Fly, the Fancy Stick does the work for you.

  Sitting here writing articles about learning how to fly fish and understanding all the difficulties and struggles that new fly fishermen face, I take for granite that not everyone knows “How a fly rod works”. This makes me sit back and reflect on the time when I started my journey into fly fishing. But before we begin, let me tell you about a six-year-old boy. Who went to a pay-to-play trout pond with his father for the very first time? I still have the photographs of that day and fondly look back at the stringer of trout we brought home for dinner. As time went on, I was that little boy, who could not be pried away from the water's edge? I remember stomping down to the edge of the pond every chance I got, with my little tackle box and my zebco 404 in my hand with either some baloney or Velveeta cheese, that I had taken from my mom’s kitchen. I would stay on the water’s edge until my parents yelled at me to come home.

Fast forward to the age of 17. when the cabin we stayed at had a fly rod in the closet. My best friend and I spent the better part of two days trying to figure out how to make this giant Noodle looking thing work, and how to make it go. Low and behold, after much head scratching, and puzzled looks, we were able cast this thing, and finally to our surprise, catch a bluegill the size of a book of matches. From that moment forward, I was literally hooked on the sport of fly fishing. I read every book, watched every videotape or talked to anybody that would talk to me and tell me more about this sport, and basically taught myself how to fly fish.

I can truly appreciate someone learning how to cast a fly rod for the first time. During the time when I started, and being a former high school football player, I wanted to be able to throw that fly line, 100 feet. However, the harder I tried the less the fly line would go. You can only imagine my level of frustration of not being able to make it go! The funny part: the harder I tried, the worse it got. A fly rod does not respond well to brute force. It’s more like dancing with a noodle that only respects timing.

One day I had a breakthrough on the river. There was an elderly gentleman in his mid to late 70s, standing there, and without any effort, or strain perfectly, throwing a fly line 75 feet to the other side of the river. I sat there on the riverbanks admiring this man's skills. Finally, I was able to see the light of day, and the mistake I kept making over and over, it wasn't a matter of how hard you throw this fly rod, it was a matter of what I must correctly do to make it go further.

If you take a minute to watch a pro golfer swing and hit the golf ball, they do it with precision and grace, sometimes it looks effortless. They go into a back swing, by turning their body, bring the club back, load the hips, and turn back to the ball, and strike for an effortless swing, and the ball flies away.

 Casting a fly rod is very similar in fashion. You always hear a golfer talking about timing, well my friends, casting a fly rod is all about timing and not power, again NOT POWER!

As you learn to cast a fly rod, you will learn the finer points of timing in relation to a good cast. The better you learn timing the sooner you will go from a good caster to a great caster.

There is a flood of great fly casters on-line that will show you every trick you need to get going on your casting journey, but there is a concept I want you to wrap your head around. Let’s think for a minute about how exactly a fly rod work. If you think for a quick minute onto the thought of an Archer and his Bow.

The Archer holds the bow in front of him, places an arrow on the string, and pulls the arrow back. Once he’s pulled the string back, the limbs of the bow bend backwards, and you now have “Potential” energy in the limbs of the bow. Once the string is released the arrow is now driven forward by “Kinetic” energy, and the arrow flies forward.

Think of a fly rod as a “Bow”, if I bend the fly rod backwards, I’m now creating “Potential” energy, because the power is stored in the fly rod itself. The moment I “stop” the fly rod the potential energy is released and changed into kinetic energy and the fly line will now fly in the new direction, just like the arrow. When you can learn this quick Physics lesson, you will have a better understanding of the mechanics that makes it all work.

As I shared in my earlier example of not being able to cast 100 ft. without giving myself a hernia, it took me a while to grasp the concept of a fly but, trust me when I say you will get this over time, and with a little bit of practice you will tossing that fly like a missile.

As a beginner starting out to learn how to cast a fly rod, I always tell my students to go ahead and watch the fly rod and the fly line as it goes forward, and when it goes backwards behind you. If you watch it you will have a better understanding of the timing I spoke of earlier as to when to begin the backstroke from the forward stroke. As you get more comfortable with the weight of the fly rod in your hand you will over time begin to feel to rod “load” with the weight of the fly line. When we refer to “loading” up we are again looking at the bow and arrow example. The weight of the fly line as it travels will create “weight” or Potential energy, and we will then release this and change it into Kinetic energy, and this will cause the fly line to shoot off into its new direction.

We may have thrown out some big words, but we’ll cover these in a bit more detail later. I cannot stress enough the time you spend in the driveway, park, or pond, will pay huge dividends later in your quest to become the master fly fisherman, or fisherwoman that is lurking inside right now.

So, my advice right now is to get a fly rod in your hands, find a place to practice, grab a brew, some friends, or whatever else you may need, and get into the rhythm of casting your fly rod. There is nothing more therapeutic than seeing your line fly out into the distance without any effort at all.

So just like my 70-year-old man, “send it”, an see just how little effort is needed to make that perfect cast.

Have fun!

Cheers

Gary, AKA LaMachine

As Always feel free to hit me up with questions or comments.