Today, I spent some time showing the lad down the street how to cast a fly rod. I set up a 7.5 foot graphite rod for a 4/5 weight line with a reel that had a weight-forward 5 weight line on it. The first lesson was to always keep the rod in the tube when it isn’t being used – butt section goes in handle up and tip section goes in tip up. Most fly rod catastrophes occur when you make the ill-fated decision to not put away your rod. The usual culprit is the car door.

I demonstrated some casting on 27th Street, out in the middle of the road, away from any wires or trees. I’m not a great fly caster, but I get by OK. E progressed very fast. He’s only 10 but after a half an hour he was laying out 30 foot casts and was relaxing into it, learning to let the rod do most of the work. I think he’s doing it well enough that he’s ready to visit a trout stream where he can learn not just how to cast but how to present a fly.