Line Tangles: The Clearing Cast!

Louis Cahill Photo

When fishing in the salt constant fly line maintenance is essential to keeping your line clear and tangle free.  One tangle when you need to present your fly and your shot is toast. Unacceptable!

 One way to start getting your line maintained is with a clearing cast. When you first strip line off your reel in the skiff the line comes off the reel and lies in the skiff upside down.  The first cast that you will make will be pulling line from the bottom of the pile of line increasing your odds of getting tangled.

A clearing cast will regroup your line if you will.  Making that first clearing cast will allow you to strip the line back on the skiff and spread it our evenly. This will allow the line to shoot smoothly from the top of the pile dramatically reducing the odds of line tangles.