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The reach cast is a
The reach cast is a casting
Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a ''casting'', which is ejected ...
technique used in fly fishing
Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly diffe ...
. The reach cast involves casting the fly lure over flowing water, such as a stream, and then just before the fly lands, moving the arm and fly rod
A fishing rod is a long, thin rod used by anglers to catch fish by manipulating a line ending in a hook (formerly known as an ''angle'', hence the term "angling"). At its most basic form, a fishing rod is a straight rigid stick/pole with a ...
in the upstream direction to arrange the fishing line so that it produces less apparent drag in the water. The technique allows the lure to more closely resemble a free-floating insect, resulting in greater chance of it being taken by a fish. Reach casting also allows an experienced caster to pitch curved casts in order to get the lures into difficult places.
Reach casting is most commonly used in fishing freshwater stream
A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...
s for trout
Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...
although the reach cast is also used in some saltwater fishing where one can stand in the shallows and there is a consistent current moving in one direction.
A reach cast is considered a type of mend during the casting stroke, an in-air mend prior to the fly landing in the water. Without this cast adjustment, the line would grow taut immediately upon impact with the moving water's surface and would pull the fly against the current or across it, making its motion become more unnatural to the fish seeking an insect that has just landed on the water.
In many streams, current may flow more slowly along the edges where it is shallower and there is drag introduced by the shore, and surface-feeding trout and other fish tend to linger in the still part of the water. When casting a line across a stream, the line can land in the swifter-running portion of the current, and would pull against the fly lure that lands in the slower-moving water. The reach cast introduces some slack to compensate for the faster-moving water, allowing the fly to land and move more like a floating insect.
See also
*Spey casting
Spey casting is a casting technique used in fly fishing. Spey casting can be accomplished with either a normal length fly rod, or a rod referred to as a double-handed fly rod, often called a Spey rod. Spey rods can also be used for standard over ...
References
{{Fly fishing Fishing techniques and methods Fly fishing