AboutGary Tchida Expertise My background includes 20+ years of freshwater fly fishing experience angling in a variety of conditions on lakes, streams, and rivers. I have knowledge of tactics on a number of species including Bass, Trout, Panfish, and Salmon to name a few.
In addition to my knowledge of species, I am able to answer questions on gear and tackle selection.
Experience I have fished (both fly and conventional tackle) extensively for over 20 years.
i just started fly fishing last fall.i started out with a 6 wt. rod and reel .i have been able to teach myself to cast this set up satisfactorily using small poppers(size 8-10-12) for panfish and small largemouth bass.
i now want to try casting larger poppers for bass. i tried casting the larger poppers with my 6 wt. rod spooled with wf line. when trying this for many hours and more often than not hitting myself in the back of my head or whizzing the fly just past my ear i didnt get any better at casting the large poppers. i bought a heavier flyrod and reel thinking i needed a heavier wt. set up (8 wt.rod & reel spooled with 8 wt wf line ) to cast heavier poppers. no luck here either,still smacking my head with the poppers.
so my questions are:
do you need heavier wt. set ups to cast heavier poppers?
is poor casting technique the cause of my hitting my head with the poppers?
can large poppers be cast with lighter wt setups?
the popper on the left is the largest i can cast without hitting my head with the popper when casting either the 6wt. or 8wt. set ups
the one on the right is the size i want to cast but cannot without smacking it into my head.
any help,hints,websites you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
pic enclosed
Answer Ed,
I apologize for the delay in getting back with you, I was out of town and didn't mark my status as such. I would generally use a larger setup with poppers because they are so wind resistive that they take the extra power that a heavier outfit can supply.
What may be at issue is your casting technique. There is a tendency with heavier flies to really power your casting strokes which will compromise the loop on your backcast and is probably the reason why you're getting hit in the head. Because the fly is moving slower through the air as a result of the size of the fly, you really need to slow down your cast and make sure that the fly has time to get through the forward and back casts.
You may also want to experiment with holding the rod more at an angle to your side (45 to 60 degrees) instead of the higher or normal casting position.
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