Video Pro Tip: How to Avoid Hitting Your Rod with Your Fly

Welcome to another installment of “Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor,” in which we answer readers’ questions about their biggest fly-casting problems. Reader Larry asked for help with this:

Sometimes my fly hits the rod on the forward or backcast. How can I avoid that?

In this lesson, I’ll explain why a smooth acceleration is so important to a proper casting motion. If you start a forward or backcast slowly and then speed up too fast—or even worse, “flick” the rod tip—your line and fly can intersect with the path of your rod. There are three possible bad outcomes of this situation: 1. your cast collapses entirely, 2. you create a nasty line tangle that keeps you from fishing, or worst of all, 3. you nick or even break your rod altogether. Learning to apply smooth acceleration will save you time and money, and it will make you a better angler.

Other installments:

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor I: Casting Heavy Flies in the Wind

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor II: Roll-Casting for Accuracy & Distance

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor III: Casting in the Wind

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor IV: Casting Accuracy

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor V: The Curve Cast

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor VI: Casting Angles

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor VII: How to Double Haul

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor VIII: Fixing Tailing Loops

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor IX: How to Make Delicate Presentations

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor X: The Steeple Cast

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor XI: How to Avoid Hitting Your Rod with Your Fly

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor XII: Don’t be a Creep

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor XIII: Parachute and Pile Casts

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor XIV: How to Make a Reach Cast

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor XV: How to Make a Tuck Cast

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor XVI: How to Make an Aerial Mend

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor XVII: How to Make Roll and Switch Casts with a Two-Handed Rod

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor XVIII: The Basic Cast

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor XIX: The Bow & Arrow Cast

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor XIX: The Basic Cast

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor XX: The “Ready Position” and Fishing from a Boat

Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor XXI: The Basic Back Cast