Have been reading Don Larmouth's "Tarpon on Fly" and wanted to follow up
on one of the comments on the SWQC. While the roll cast delivery is a
fantastic way to begin the quick cast, according to Larmouth (don't have the
page reference) - the roll cast delivery works very well with a wind to your
back, helping to pluck the fly from your fingers as the loop unrolls in front of
you. With a wind to facing the caster, just the opposite is recommended...
a backcast 180 degrees opposite the target!
A bit of advice from me, and Larmouth talks about Florida Keys
tradition of providing LUNCH for your guide - make sure you remember to put meat
on the sandwich - no less than 1" of tightly packed meat under a bed of cheese
is appropriate. Not putting meat on a sandwich may be worse than
bringing a banana on board... which apparently is bad luck.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jim...
NOTHING transcends the heinous offense of
bringing a banana on board ! It is the ultimate egregious,
unpardonable sin !
Years ago,
when Fruit of the Loom Underwear included a picture of a banana on their
underpants tag, we even had one guide who would not allow even
that to cross his deck for fear of unbridled bad
luck.
Bouncer Smith is perhaps
the most well known guide in Miami. He has a sign on his boat and on his
dock. It reads, "NO BANANAS".
Years ago, as a joke, I
threw a ripe banana onto the 25' skiff of one of our fishing club members as we
passed one another while marlin fishing at Wood's Wall off Key West.
Unfortunately it smashed upon impact and became scattered as he tried to clean
it up. Later, at a club meeting, I explained the chemical theory of
infinite dilution to him which would mean that no matter how much he cleaned and
rinsed, there would always be at least a few remaining molocules of banana in
that boat...... nanoparticles ! A month later, he sold it. No
club member would even consider buying it. (Proof of the hex lay in the
fact that on the way back to Key West, he ran out of gas and had to suffer the
indignity of being towed in during which pictures were taken and later shown at
the club meeting.)
Axiom re. lunch for
your guide: The quality of your fishing experience
as a client is directly proportional to the satiety of your
guide.
On a serious
note:
Don
Larmouth is correct about the SW Quick cast. Many ways to set it up and
many ways to do it. A LOT depends upon the wind. (If you use the
forward roll cast method into a 20 knot wind, you'll likely wear it
!)
A strong
consideration is the wariness of your fish. When tarpon are spooky, as
they often are when conditions include lack of wind and flat calm ...... or
permit (most of the time) you DON'T WANT ANY CAST WITH A VERTICAL ROD PLANE OR
EVEN OFF VERTICAL !!!!!!! SIMPLY RAISING THE ROD WILL SOMETIMES SPOOK
THESE FISH OR MAKE THEM FAR LESS LIKELY TO TAKE.
You'll be
much more successful making presentations ..... even modifications
of the SW, "Quick cast" with your fly rod tip kept below waist level ......
horizontal rod plane.
Testimony to
this was made clarion clear when Bob Popovics , Laurence Baggett and I were
doing a video on permit in the Content Keys for ESPN. We had two
skiffs. (Camera boat and fishing boat.) The weather was a windless,
"severe clear" day. Lots of tailing permit. We found that we could
get much closer to these spooky fish for photo purposes if we held
our fly rods way down in horizontal position.... even when we weren't casting
!
Gordy