The Steeple Cast

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Your "River Runs through It" cast won't always work.

On your lawn or in the driveway of your local fly shop, you will be able to practice the old 10 o'clock, 2 o'clock cast, loading the rod, maintaining your plane, keeping a rhythm.

But on the river, trees get in your way. Rivers bend and turn. Limbs hang over perfect lies.

Learning the perfect cast can be a lot like learning the perfect golf swing. In theory, you can always make it better, more efficient, transfer the load of the club better and so on. But on the course, as on the water, it's all about scoring.

What are the swings/casts that will help you in less than ideal conditions? And similar to learning the perfect golf swing, the learning process can become bogged down by physics, science, and too much analysis. Sometimes, it's just better to get out and try it.

There's no doubt that you'll need to know the roll cast, the reach cast, the double haul, the curve cast and the bow-and-arrow cast.

But there are other overlooked but useful casts that don't require hours of practice and don't look all that pretty—but they keep you catching trout.

These are blue-collar casts, not trick casts, casts you will use on streams and lakes over and over when you find yourself in unusual situations.

These casts include the crossbody cast, the S-cast cast, the sidearm cast, and the steeple cast. I'll walk you though each of these casts in the coming months. In this installment, we'll dissect the steeple cast.

Easy and Accurate
The steeple cast is useful in most places where a roll cast comes in handy, but has some additional applications. I've also found that many beginners and intermediates never quite get the hang of the roll cast, and find the steeple cast easier.

The steeple cast can be used when you have trees or other obstacles behind you. The cast is named for the fact that the back cast travels in a straight-up plane to the heavens, like a church steeple.

The steeple cast has a couple of advantages over the roll cast. One, the line is not on the water, so the line won't drag, spook the fish, or be affected by the current. And if you have extra weight on the line (splitshot or two flies), it's much easier to lift the line off the water to cast.

And with the steeple cast, you can change direction in midair and you can be more accurate with your target than with the roll cast.

Step-by-Step

1. Begin with your rod in the standard casting position.

2. Start your backstroke like a sidearm cast and then swing your arm into a vertical position. (The idea here is that instead of casting 10 to 2, your rod tip should travel more of a 9 to 12 path.) When the rod tip reaches the 12 o'clock position, stop the rod abruptly to load the rod and allow the line to lay out overhead.

3. Since this isn't a perpendicular cast and you start the cast out in a sidearm plane, keep your reel face facing forward and your arm angle mirroring the angle of the line until it reaches its apex. In other words, this isn't a cast where the line has a clear back-and-forth path, so you will need to let your forearm imitate the path of the line or the line will get tangled with your rod tip.

4. Keep the backcast (which is really an upcast) over your casting shoulder (and once you get the hang of it, bring your arm a little over your head). Keep the line high and tight, like a taut clothesline fastened to a point directly over your head.

5. Punch hard through the forward cast and stop your cast at the 9 or 10 o'clock position. If the line is getting tangled on the upstroke, your extended arm is not following the angle of the backcast/upstroke line. Another way to keep the line from tangling is to use more of an outward and upward sweeping motion on the backstroke, like waving a wand or leading an orchestra.

Article © Mark D. Willliams, 2000.