How to make a better roll cast
Roll casting is an essential skill for any angler, especially those targeting trout
Gink & Gasoline
It isn’t flashy, but a good roll cast will catch you a lot of fish you might otherwise miss.
Roll casting is an essential skill for any angler, especially those targeting trout. Many of the mountain streams where trout live have little room for a backcast. A good roll cast opens up a lot of water that’s unfishable by any other means. It’s usually one of the first casts an angler learns, and because their understanding of fly casting is limited, anglers often learn the cast poorly. Very few go back and fix the problems they developed early on.
A few of the skills which are key to a good roll cast are:
- Making a robust D loop.
- Keeping the path of the rod tip flat on the casting stroke.
- Smooth acceleration of the cast to an abrupt stop.
Once you have the basics of the cast down, you can add a haul and shoot line for more distance. Roll casting this way is very effective on all types of water. Watch this video and learn to make a better roll cast.
Originally published here.