Q: “I saw a fly-casting article that said you should not shoot line through your hand to reach the
target. Do you have any comments on this?”
_–Randy Summers
_
A: I don’t agree, and neither would almost any widely experienced fly-fisherman. To obtain accuracy with spinning tackle, your finger traps the line over the target, and with plug-casting, your thumb does the same.
A big mistake flats anglers make is shooting the line to the target and then dropping the line. Control of the fly as it nears the target is lost, and if the line is dropped, the angler must take his eyes off the fish to grab the line again to start the retrieve. Allowing the line to flow through the hand lets it enter the first guide more smoothly, and on the shoot, the angler can watch the fish and stop the fly on target.
