How To Roll Cast - Fly Fishing (with video)

Fly fishing is a great way to spend a day - if you know what you are doing, but if you are new to the sport it can be almost as frustrating as golf. For new fly fishing anglers casting is probably the most difficult aspect of the sport to learn. Fortunately with the advent of the Internet learning good casting techniques is as easy as watching a few videos and trying the techniques for yourself!

The roll cast is used when obstacles, such as trees, rocks or other anglers, block the angler from making a normal back cast. This situation arises quite frequently (especially on smaller rivers) and the roll cast is a must for all fly anglers to learn.

How to perform a roll cast
Fortunately the roll cast is not as advanced as many new anglers believe. Actually a roll cast is simply an overhand cast with different timing! This video shows the technique for the roll cast in good detail and is very easy to follow. After watching this video I suggest heading down to your local park to practice this technique.

Deepwater Jigging Technique (with video)

With the advent on braided fishing line deepwater jigging has undergone a resurgence in the last decade like never before. Jigging is an effective fishing technique using a metal jig and produces good quality catches of fish. Many anglers enjoy this style because it is a very active form of fishing.

Jigging Technique (How to jig)
The technique for deepwater jigging might be quite energetic, but fortunately it is also very simple. Once fish are found on the sounder the anglers drop their metal jig to the required depth. The jiging technique itself basically requires a fast raising (whipping motion) of the rod tip and a quick wind of the reel to regain the line. It is often described as the "pump and wind" motion. It is illustrated best through video and I have found a couple of good videos of this technique on youtube.





For deepwater jigging you will require:

• Metal lures of various weights and colors.
• Solid rod and reel combo (usually a spinning reel).
• Strong Arms!
  

Truths About Lure Color

I found this great article by Greg Vinall and while I have only posted the first part to whet your appetite - if you like where it is going visit his complete article here (it really is fantastic)

The day had been slow. For the fifth or sixth time I steered the canoe close to a rocky dropoff on the Hopkins Estuary and enjoyed the gentle drift afforded by a light breeze that was running parallel to the shore. It wasn't the best day for fishing, in fact I hadn't raised any piscatorial interest at all. It was bright and warm with plenty of boating traffic to create a disturbance in what is essentially a fairly small waterway. Perhaps if I'd been prepared to soak baits quietly in a deeper hole or under the shade of some overhanging vegetation I might have done better, but that would have been giving in. Instead I persisted in flicking small crankbaits at any rocky structure I could find along the steep foreshore.

I started trying to convince myself that I was happy just to be out here enjoying nature, the warm sun on my back and the song of a whistling kite overhead. Without really thinking about it I made yet another lure change, this time from a pink and yellow pattern with a black spot amidships to a small black deep diver with just a hint of silver scales. I deftly flicked the little lure into a small pocket behind a large rock, gave it a second or two to sink, then cranked over the little Chronarch baitcaster, gave the lure a couple of gentle twitches and idly began my retrieve. Whack! Two turns of the handle was all I managed before the lure was nailed by a stud black bream that proceeded to go berserk in only two feet of water.