The most common Casting Errors
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In these little animations I will show you the most common casting-errors. I observe these errors very often, but with a little bit of practice it is very simple to correct the causes for these errors. If you know the reason for such an error it is easy to kill the cause in doing excercises, believe me.
By the way, doing exercises is one of the real secrets to become an advanced caster or an expert caster. Personally I try to do casting exercises every day or as much as possible. Don't be too shy to stand on a meadow or at the bank of a river/pond and throw a line. During fishing there is not the right time for practice, or experiments, then you should better catch fish ;-)

But now let us talk about the errors. I hope the following animations will reveal the secrets of these errors for you.
Have fun and take care !

<- casting direction
open loop
open or non Loops This error is caused by circlelike motion of the rod tip (the rod tip follows a convex path). The casting arc is too wide. First, try to cast in a narrower arc. Second, you must cast with a firm wrist. A moveable wrist is - especially for a beginner - a bad thing because you get an uncontrollable lose connection to the rod. So, lock your wrist and you will get a narrow loop.
tailing loop Tailing Loop on forward cast In this case the rod tip follows a concave path during the stroke. The rod tip undercuts the plane in which the rod tip has to move. The line will follow the rod tip, therefore the line follows the upward drive of the rod tip. Then a tailing loop is made and the fly will hang up on the line/leader. Too much power at the strokes combined with a too small casting arc are the reasons for that. To avoid this, you must open the casting arc and reduce the power of the strokes. The rod tip must follow a straight path.
no timing wrong Timing Timing means to give the line enough time to roll out and straighten. If you cast forward or backward to early, then the line will collapse, caused by the lack of speed. Only a straight line can be accelerated in the right manner. If you wait to long the line begins to fall down and the stored energy in the bended rod will leave, because the rod will unbend. You get no speed to the line, but line speed is essential in fly casting.

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