Tongariro Roll Cast

[Tom Smithwick]

Good video Bill. It well illustrates how the rod tip is used to essentially draw an ellipse in the sky with the line. Less apparent is the change of direction. The cast is started with the line "on the dangle" on the caster's right side. The ellipse is drawn with the rod pointing downstream, the fly splashes down in front of the caster on his right side, and the D loop forms behind the caster at a right angle to the river. The forward cast goes straight across the current, effecting a 90° direction change. If the fly is a good distance downstream at the beginning of the cast, or a bit of a downstream wind keeps it further away, you can draw the ellipse twice in one continuous motion and pull the fly in closer to you. A spey cast will be more efficient if the fly, leader, and forward part of the line are lined up with the loop of line headed across the river.

[William Anderson]

For those of you who, like me, is/was not familiar with the "snake roll" cast ...