Simple, Effective Advice that Will Make You a Better Angler
Mark Raisler has spent a quarter century guiding the Missouri River in Montana, a river famous for prolific hatches, big trout, and technical fishing. Mark is one of the best dry fly anglers on the river; he even helped Rio design a fly line specifically for fishing dries on the Missouri. Until just a few years ago, he also worked as a certified ski instructor. Mark has spent his life teaching people how to use their bodies to perform precise, technical movements.
Over the years, Mark’s watched more people cast fly rods than just about anyone walking this earth. He’s seen more refusals than a strip club bouncer and made a career out of knowing which casts will, and will not, convince fish to eat. Though learning to present small dry flies on long, light leaders to picky fish in the wind is complicated and difficult, Mark offers this simple, effective advice:
“Cast every day."
“If you want to be a good dry fly angler who has success on a tailwater or spring creek where presentation is important, and making the right cast early is the difference between winning or losing, you have to practice consistently.”
Simple? Yes. Easy? Not so much, but Mark practices what he preaches, and his suggestions may not be as complicated or time consuming as you’re imagining. The key is short, consistent practice.
Two to 10 Minutes a Day
“Over the years, I’ve developed a routine that takes about 10 minutes. I think it's really important to keep it short. Lots of short periods are far better than going out once a month and casting for an hour and a half.
"I don't practice 30 minutes, ever. I practice more like two to 10 minutes. Nobody should practice casting for 30 to 60 minutes. That gives you an opportunity to get tired. When you’re tired, you start developing bad habits instead of reinforcing those good habits.”
Mark's Routine
“I line up next to a sidewalk or other straight line that I can use as a reference, and I start with a horizontal cast [casting completely side-armed, with the rod parallel to the ground]. I start with the line behind me and make a half a cast forward. If the line straightens out parallel to that sidewalk, then I've done it properly. If it goes too far left, I’ve overpowered it. If it lands too far right, I’ve underpowered it.
“I do the same thing but focus on my back cast, letting it drop and seeing where the line lands in relation to the sidewalk. I can trace the sidewalk as the straight line. I can move the rod tip along that same straight line, and when I do that, then I get a straight cast.
“Then I start making full horizontal casts [still sidearm, parallel to the ground], really paying attention to my rod tip and where the line lands. I'm watching everything, double checking everything, training my brain to interact with my hand and establish that communication path. It’s a reinforcement tool to recognize rod tip travel, which dictates everything. You can see what a deceleration of rod tip or rod speed does. You can see what overpowering does. You can see what under powering does. You can see the motion; all of the elements, or components, or factors are in front of your eyes. So, that's a great reinforcement tool and a visual tool to recognize proper stop, proper acceleration, proper rod tip travel path.
“I do about a half a dozen of those, and then I start doing standard overhand casts while focusing on the same mechanics. I make a back cast. stop, pause, look at my rod tip, come forward and see where the line lands in relation to the sidewalk. Start short. Focus on precision and muscle memory, but I only do this for 30 or 45 seconds.
“After the regular cast, I work on more advanced slack line casts. S-cast, pile cast, tuck cast, parachute cast—all these casts that we need to implement at times on the stream, but we don't practice a lot. I'll do one or two of each. After that, I spend 90 seconds practicing my reach cast to both sides. It’s important to train the brain to connect the cast to the secondary motions you need to perform after the cast, whether that be a reach or an air mend of some sort.
“Finally, I do a few long casts and practice carrying line in the air, but only a couple of times and only as far as I can keep good form. It’s important not to get tired or reinforce bad habits.”
Use a practice rod to "clean the garage"
Mark usually uses a practice rod for his daily regimen. “You can do this same routine with a full sized fly rod on a lawn or at a casting pond, but I really like using the practice rod.”
Practice rods are miniature fly rods that allow you to cast in a confined space. Mark likes to use his garage. “Pretend you're cleaning the garage,” he suggests. “You can tell your wife, “Hey, I'm going to clean the garage again, Honey.” After four months your garage will still be a mess but your cast will be looking great.”
There are many options on the market, but Mark particularly likes the Echo Micro Practice Rod, because the long yarn tip gives a lot of visual feedback. “Things are happening kind of in slow motion in front of you. You’re not casting 60 feet of line, you're casting eight, nine, or 10 feet of yarn to emulate the same timing as you would with a lot of line off the rod tip.”
Multitask
Even if you don’t follow Mark’s routine, just spending a few minutes a day, a few days a week, with a rod in your hand while you’re doing something else will make a huge difference in your casting.
“Multitask. We spend a lot of time on the phone and on the phone is the best. You can do it while you're vacuuming or mopping. Out in the backyard with the dog or the children is a great place. Aim at leaves on the tree. Aim at stuff on the ground. Just walk around your yard and pick out different targets. I use the practice rod on my couch watching television. The cats love it.”
Casting is Athletic
“The idea was first introduced to me by Macaulay Lord, a longtime L.L. Bean casting instructor. I met him in the nineties and he asked me, “Hey, do you practice?” I was like, “Yeah, I practice.” He said, “Do you have a practice regiment?” And I said, “No.” The idea of having a regimen, skills that you perform on a daily basis, hadn’t occurred to me, which is crazy.
“It’s about reinforcing fundamentals, and fundamentals get you through everything. Professionals practice—be it baseball, or golf, or basketball, or skiing, or whatever, professionals practice. Most golfers go to the range. Most golfers get lessons once or twice a year from a pro. Most anglers don’t. If you want to be really good at something, you just can't do it three days a year. Sure, you’ve been doing this for 30 years, and by the third day of your trip you start to turn the corner, but next year you’ll start all over again."
Short time investment, big impact
“I had a client fishing with me some years ago. We were fishing tricos and PMDs and the wind was blowing the Missouri River average of 12.4 miles an hour. We were 15 or 20 feet from this fish, and he couldn’t get it done. After a while he said, “I can't cast in this wind.” So, I showed him. The fish was only 15 or 18 feet from the rod tip. I caught his fish, and he was angry. "
“I told him, “If you don't practice, what do you expect?” He's like, “I'm pretty good.” I said, “No, you're not. You can’t cast 15 feet in the wind. I mean, you're not good, man. You think you're good, but you're not good.” And he got pissed.
“He came back the next year on a group trip, and I saw him in another boat casting a distance from me. I was like, “Is that Phil?” I pulled up next to him and said, “Phil, you look great. Did you take lessons?” He's said, “I did. I was really angry with you, so I went home and signed up for a lesson, just to prove how good I was, and then I realized I wasn't any good.” Now he practices two or three days a week and he’s turned into a really wonderful caster.”
Consistency is key
“My upshot is, two minutes of practice is better than no practice. Two minutes is also better than 20 minutes. Short, consistent sessions are good. Long, inconsistent sessions are bad. It's immediately noticeable for an angler who's come back to a difficult fishery after a year and has put in regular, short intervals with a rod in hand.”