Practicing your cast from a skiff while you are fishing is a habit that costs you fish, and in this How 2 Tuesday I explain why and what to do instead. The short answer is that your casting practice should happen before you ever step on the boat. Once you are on the deck, your job is to be ready, not to false cast, because the fish so often show up exactly when you are not prepared. Get ready, stay ready, and you will make your guide very happy.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
No. Your practice should happen before you get on the boat. Once you are on the skiff, you want to be confident in your skills and simply ready for your shot, not casting and casting and casting. False casting and practicing while fishing leads to wind knots, lost flies, and missed opportunities, because the one shot of the day often comes when you least expect it. Be ready, not rehearsing.
Off the water, at home or anywhere that is not your fishing time. Put two hula hoops out in the yard at different distances, stand with one in front of you to simulate the deck, and practice picking up, making a couple of false casts, and dropping the fly into a target. Then pick up and shoot to a second target at a different distance and a different time on the clock, like an eleven o'clock shot at forty feet and a ten o'clock shot at fifty feet.
Several things. You can put a wind knot in your leader, so when a fish finally shows up you hook it and break off. A little barracuda about twelve inches long can come up and snip your bonefish fly clean off without you ever seeing it. And the bonefish, permit, or tarpon may cruise through during what seemed like a slow moment, when your line is in the air instead of ready in the boat.
Strip your line out, then restrip it back into the cockpit or your stripping basket so it lays out clean, and stand in the ready position. That is how great anglers do it. They are not false casting and practicing when it is time to fish. The practice already happened off the water, so on the boat they are simply on point and ready to deliver the moment a fish appears.
Yes. If your guide hands you a beautiful crab for permit and you keep practice casting to see how far you can throw, you will tire out or kill that crab. When the permit shows up, your bait is no longer frisky and you miss the shot. Cast it once or twice to learn your distance if you must, then keep that crab in the water and lively until the moment that actually counts.
Because it shows respect for the fish, the guide, and your own time, and it keeps the day's opportunities alive. Just like bow hunting, where you do not practice shooting arrows while you wait for the deer, you do your reps ahead of time so that when the shot comes you make it with one cast. A ready, confident angler who is not wasting shots is every guide's favorite person on the deck.
Here is the routine I want anglers to follow so they are dialed in the moment a fish shows up.
Great anglers do not stand on the bow false casting when it is time to fish. They get the line laid out, stand ready, and wait. The practicing already happened somewhere else. I describe exactly what that ready position looks like in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Some days you get lots of action, and some days you get one shot, and it comes exactly when you are practice casting and not prepared. A wind knot or a snipped-off fly at that moment is heartbreaking. I tell what I have watched happen on the deck in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Practice casting a live crab to test your distance will tire it out or kill it, and a dead crab will not move a permit. Keep the bait in the water and lively so that when you do cast it, the permit pounces. I get into how to manage that bait in the episode, so press play in the player above.
How 2 Tuesday is my weekly series where I break down one fishing skill at a time, from knots and casting to gear, tactics, and the habits that make you a better angler. Watch and listen to every How 2 Tuesday episode from Tom Rowland.
practice casting · skiff · fly fishing · double haul · wind knot · stripping basket · bonefish · permit · tarpon · barracuda · live crab bait · How 2 Tuesday · Saltwater Experience
I am Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast How 2 Tuesday series I break down one practical skill or lesson at a time, from fishing technique and gear to the habits that make you a better angler, in short, focused episodes you can put to use right away.
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