Learning The Roll Cast

While fishing at Bennett Springs State Park two weeks ago, one of my goals was to practice a roll cast.  I hadn't yet done a successful roll cast on the water simply because I didn't know how.  Last August when I went fly fishing for the first time my brother had attempted to show me the roll cast, but whether from his not explaining very well or my not listening very well, I just didn't  get it.  More than likely it was my YBS (Younger Brother Syndrome) that caused my mental disconnect.


When I took the Orvis Fly Fishing 101 class a month ago I made a point to ask about roll casting.  I knew that it would be crowded at Bennett Springs and didn't want to have to remove my fly from another fisherman's vest, hat or ear because I wasn't paying enough attention to what or who was behind me. Ryan from Feather-Craft explained it to me pretty well.  Well enough that I thought that I had the general idea down and would be able to roll cast at Bennett.

The Outlaw Fishing Trip

The Outlaw Fishing Trip started six years ago with my brother and brother-in-law.  Both of them were fly fisherman and decided to organize an annual fishing trip with the guys in our family.  My father, father-in-law, and my brother's father-in-law rounded out the group.  When my father ended up being the only one on the trip that wasn't somebody's in-law I started calling it the "Out-law" Trip.  The name has stuck.  We've gone to Bennett Springs to fish and have some male bonding time almost every year, and every year has been great.  


Fishing at Bennett Springs State Park has been good to me and bad to me. That first year got me hooked on trout fishing because I caught my limit every time out.  But each successive year my fishing was more and more unsuccessful.  And last year I didn’t catch a single trout.  I ended fishing the stocked pond at our cabin.  But this was all with a spinner rod.  Now I’m a fly fisherman.  This year would be different...

It wasn't Branson... It Was Better

So I didn't make it down to Branson, MO last weekend.  One brother had to work late on Friday and we decided that the other brother coming from Indiana shouldn't have to endure sixteen hours in a car with a bad case of Poison Ivy.  Eight hours would be enough.  But we still wanted to go fishing Saturday morning.  So where could we go that would keep us close to St Louis?  The answer was Westover Farms outside of Steeleville, MO.

I had enjoyed two previous trips and knew I wasn't going to be disappointed with this trip either.  They have multiple types of fishing areas available, a quiet stream, a meandering creek, babbling brooks, even a small pond.  You will find the type of fishing you enjoy as well as getting to spend some time in rural nature's splendor.

Fly Fishing 101

Last weekend was my dad's 70th birthday.  And today my brothers and I are taking him to Branson, MO for the weekend.  We're going to see a show, do some fly fishing and just have a good time hanging out.  But I wanted to plan something with just me and my dad to celebrate his birthday.


Then a few weeks ago I saw a tweet from @thisisfly about Orvis Fly Fishing 101 classes. Perfect!  The class would be a good refresher for him (he's only been fly fishing once) and a chance for me to work on my form as well.  And the class is free!  So last Saturday he and I headed to Feather-Craft Fly Fishing in St Louis and had an hour of learning about casting with one of their instructors, Ryan.

Here are some of the high points of what we learned: