Location: Planet Earth - oceans, rivers, lakes, canals and ditches
Season: Year round for over 70+ years
Species: Anything that swims

How would you like to go after an elephant armed with a BB gun? In theory, that is what we attempt to do, when we go after a hundred pound plus tarpon—or any other fish that you can see, and you must quickly cast before they can see you— with a fly rod and a comparatively light leader tippet. The difference is, you can’t get an elephant with a BB gun but you can catch all kinds of hundred pound plus fish with a fly rod using a comparatively light tippet. All you must do is learn how to implement the proper fish fighting techniques, and how to get your cast to the fish with speed and accuracy. I started developing and teaching this back in the late 1950s and early 1960s when I was a backcountry fishing guide in the Florida Keys.

I will try to describe how to do the fast cast:  if you are right-handed you will have the fly rod in your right hand and carefully hold the fly by the hook pointing away from you in the first finger and thumb of your left hand. I generally fish at least a 12-foot leader so this is even a little easier for people with a shorter leader. You should have approximately eight or 10 feet of fly line out of the rod tip. Do a forward roll cast in the air (without letting the fly or line hit the water) abruptly stopping it before it reaches its Zenith then shoot a little line on your back cast once again stopping it before it reaches the end of the cast and this should load your rod enough to make a 50 or 60 presentation, sometimes even a 70 foot cast to the fish without even a full false cast. Yes, this is something you must practice for accuracy but once you get it down and it is not difficult, you will catch more fish by doing a fast cast than anything else I can teach you.

Now, what is very important you must have your fly line dressed with Line Speed so that it will flow through the guides quickly and easily without having to put too much pressure into your cast or even double-hall. Just the abrupt stop on the forward roll cast and the abrupt stop on your back cast will load the rod for a good 50 or 60 foot forward cast with ease.

Depending on where I’m fishing, the quality of the surface water I may have to dry and then redress my fly line even four or five times during the day so it is really good to have some of THE LOON OUTDOORS LINE SPEED or STREAM LINE in my pocket or nearby so I can put it in my Loon Outdoors LINE CLEANING TOOL. This cleaning tool not only keeps you from getting the solutions on your fingers and then possibly on your fly but it does a great job applying the solution to the fly line. 

STU'S GEAR

LINE CARE PRODUCTS

"Remember, the best way to catch tarpon is to cast with speed and accuracy without making a lot of false casts.  Therefore, it is very important to have your fly line slide through the guides quick and easy without making a lot of false casts to get the line out to the fish. I always use Line Speed or Stream Line in order to make an easy fast cast."