Workshops and Clinics
The Texas Fly Fishing School offers a variety of workshops and clinics that may interest you or meet your fly casting needs. Here is a sample of what we're prepared to offer:
Beginning Casting Workshop
Learning fly casting isn't something that can be effectively condensed into a one day workshop and be a useful experience for the student. We recommend that the beginner learn over a few weeks, learning an absorbable amount of material in each session, followed by a week or two of practice and experimentation. Our first beginner class generally takes about three hours, followed by three more 1-2 hours sessions.Our beginning fly casting class series is designed to teach a person who is brand new to fly fishing the basics of fly casting. We assume that the student hasn't received any organized fly casting instruction and has had little exposure to fly fishing in general. When you complete this class, you will have the necessary skills to start fishing with a fly rod. You will learn:
Double Haul Clinic
- What fly fishing is, what a fly is, the types of fish that you catch on a fly and why choose fly fishing as another method of fishing?
- Fly fishing equipment: proper assembly, care and maintenance of gear and considerations when selecting gear to purchase.
- Casting mechanics: Grips, stance and style, rod arm mechanics, how fly casting works and some of the essential elements of casting that will get you started with fly fishing.
- Specific casts: the pickup and lay down cast, the roll cast, false cast, shooting line and some basic presentation casts.
- Practice methods to help you work on your skill improvement.
One of the essential tools needed by most flycasters is the double haul. Its power in increasing line speed and distance to the cast makes it the cast that flycasters ultimately need to be able to perform to achieve greater control over their fly line. Once learned, many experience casters find it difficult to stop hauling.
This short clinic is designed to give the intermediate casting student the ability to use hauling techniques in their everyday casting and to start casting greater distances than can be achieved with a single hand cast. You will learn to:
- Single haul, used to increase rod load and line speed in one direction; the
- Double haul, which is a haul on the back cast and a haul on the forward cast; and
- Shoot line properly in conjunction with the haul to get the desired results - a well directed, tight loop at a greater distance than could be achieved without the haul.
Distance Casting Workshop
Most fly fishermen become interested in improving their casting distance shortly after they've learned basic casting skills and once they find a need to cast beyond their distance abilities. The core principles used to cast 30 feet are the same as those used to cast 100 feet. Increasing casting distance requires learning and applying a core set of principles and following a disciplined practice routine.
Developing the skills to cast longer distances will result in a greater ability to cast well in most situations.In this casting clinic, the student will learn the fundamental principles needed to cast longer distances including:
- Review the five essentials of fly casting including:
- mastering stroke length adjustments
- mastering proper timing
- mastering proper use of power
- Loop analysis –
- analyze a loop and learn to adjust your cast based on the character of the loop configuration.
- importance of loop shape and line speed
- Use of the double haul
- techniques to fine-tune hauling speed and line carry.
- proper use of line hand
- Shooting line
- Importance of drift
- Timing of rotation
- Relaxing while casting
- Step by step practice method
Learning the Essentials Workshop
This intermediate level casting class builds on the initial essentials taught in the Beginning Fly Casting class and expands to include all five essentials of fly casting. It's a relatively technical class with an emphasis that is chosen because it lays the fundamental building blocks required to perfect most casting skills and to make you a better fly fisherman.
In this class you will learn:
- The five essentials of fly casting:
- The rod tip must travel in a straight line path.
- Vary the size of the casting arch according to the line beyond the rod tip.
- Pause between each cast; vary the stroke length and the timing.
- Power must be applied at the proper place at the proper time.
- Keep slack to a minimum.
- How to analyze your cast and make adjustments to correct common problems.
- Practice drills that will help you build your casting skills in a step-by-step manner.
Casting Challenges Clinic - Coping with the Wind
The purpose of this clinic is to provide the intermediate flycaster with a tool kit to deal with environmental challenges that can turn a bad day into a good day. Wind is a fact of life along the Gulf Coast. A perfectly good fishing day can be ruined if you don't know how to manage casting in windy conditions. Many people just go home because the wind is too much for them. Developing good casting skills and applying a few techniques can make the day's fishing enjoyable rather than frustrating.During this two hour clinic you will learn: The effects of wind on the fly line, how it impacts the presentation of the fly and what different skills and techniques are needed to become an effective flycaster in the wind.
Team Building through Fly Casting Workshop
Fly casting can be a great leveler. Great fly casters come from a widely diverse spectrum of people, spanning professional and economic backgrounds, athletic ability, gender, age and much more. By combining men and women of a team with varying athletic ability and diverse professional background into a sport that requires a high degree of skill to develop, a quality team building experience can be achieved. Consider adding a half or full day of fly casting to the agenda of your next team building retreat.FFF Certified Casting Instructor Preparation
We offer preparation training for candidates to the Federation of Fly Fishers Certified Instructor exam. First and foremost, the exam is designed for casters who want to become casting instructors, not casters who want to certify that they're great casters. We will make an assessment of your casting and instruction abilities as they pertain to the requirements of the casting certification program. The exam guidelines are posted on the FFF website - > http://www.fedflyfishers.org/Default.aspx?tabid=4457 . We will help you develop a plan that will contribute to your success in passing the test. In addition, we offer mentoring opportunities that will give you the teaching experience needed to become an effective casting instructor.