Why can i not fly cast worth a crap? I am a life long fisherman using spin cast and bait cast, so i decided to plunge into fly fishing. Ive watched videos, gotten advice, understand the theory, yet I cannot cast worth a crap. To the point I am not even going to bother going to a lake and fishing.

What is the biggest obstacle or issue you think new people have when it comes to learning to cast effectively?

Timing and rhythm

Biggest obstacle?

Patience.

Or, lack thereof.

Just find a nice open place and practice, man.

You'll get it.

What clicked for me was switching my habit from casting a bait to casting the actual line.

I thought about throwing the line out of the rod, not the bait attached to it and it seemed to click for me.
YMMV

Start small. Dont get in a hurry to go long.  Gp as far as you can and then reel it up by 25% and work on GENTLY laying it out ON TARGETS.  Stay there for a while, like several sessions. When you add 5 feet its gonna act a little different.  Repeat. Add more. And like _____ said above, its timing, rhythm, flow, and very little power.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I have a wholly bugger on a 5wt sage that I cut the hook off.

Grabbed a white claw surge and casted for a good while. Arm and hand are tired. I think I had a little bit of a breakthrough. The line feeding hand needs to keep a little busy to retain tension on the line and keep the energy in the pole. But parents invited me for pizza and im tired. Maybe reconvene tomorrow after work.

Thanks again and happy fishing to you all

OP, is there an Orvis store near you? Or an Orvis endorsed fly shop? These places have beginning fly fishing classes called Fly Fishing 101. They are FREE. You also receive some good discount coupons when you attend.

Think about it, it’s in their best interest to get more in the sport and just about all fly shops go out of their way to help out beginners. Getting instant feedback from those that are good casters will go a long way in shortening the learning curve.

Find a fly shop and take a lesson. It will fast track the learning process.

just got back from a fly trip. also a lifelong baitcaster. for actual casting and not just high sticking biggest difference for me is a much sharper and narrower back and forth to load the rod.  but i'm a noob so ymmv.

I taught myself to cast on small rivers in Wyoming. When i went to lakes i found it really hard. The wide open areas make you feel like you area only casting 10' out. It is frustrating. But timing to properly load the road really helps. Also the point where you start and stop the swing matter. When i went to Patagonia and fished a big open river a old guy told me to stop much sooner. It helped a lot. I would throw the line out across the river instead of down into the water.

I'll try stopping sooner. I was on the fox River with dad and a few guys were fly fishing. Their technique was bad, really bad.

A guy who I sold a fly rod to offered to  teach me. I just folded and shot him a pm. Let's see if that pans out.

I just checked into this, totally forgot there is an Orvis store 25 minutes from me. The bad news, I see no classes on the calender for September. There was apparently only one class in August, a womans only class. Hopefully they offer some classes this month. Great idea. Thanks

In addition to Orvis stores, lots of flyshops do the same thing especially the Orvis endorsed ones.

Google for flyshops in your area. You might be surprised at what you find.

There is a local shop that offers one on one lessons. $75 for an hour. I'm not entirely opposed to that other than I'd prefer a group session and the guy who was working the day I went in there acted like me coming was interrupting his cell phone time. Young guy.

Yeah,I get that. Guys like that need to do something else. Entirely short sighted. No customers means no business means no job. What a dumbass.

Good luck OP. Find another fly shop and also there are 100’s of YouTube videos out there.

OP not sure how close your are to St. Paul MO, but I fly fish my ponds just about everyday.   I've taught a few of my buddies,  my kids,  and my wife to all cast pretty decent... I have a bad shoulder so I have an ugly cast but can still get it out there.   Happy to show you the ropes if you're close.  It's not magic, just takes timing and rhythm, and someone to tell ya what you're doing wrong.

Excessive arm shoulder movement is a problem.  
If you cannot find a local shop to help you, try to have some video from the side of your casting motion recorded.  

You shoulder/upper arm should not be moving that much for ordinary casts for shorter streams.   Trying to do longer range casting at first and things like double hauls will build up a lot of bad habits.  
The motion for stream fishing is mostly going to be wrist and forearm.  

Don’t think you need to do lots of false casts.   That is wasted motion and the movement can spook fish.  One casting motion.  Maybe two, that’s it

Keep the number of videos you watch to learn casting to a minimum- don’t watch a bunch of different guys.   They all have different techniques.  
If you want to learn basics and build on those techniques to more advance or distance casting I would follow Joe Humphreys videos - and also his replacement at Penn State, George Daniel - very similar of the same really.

Hello. I live in West Chicago, when I drove to St Charles , MO it was about a 4 hour drive. Not terribly close. I really appreciate the offer. Maybe if I ever go down to visit my friends sister / BOL again ill try contacting you.

Thanks for the advice. Ill check out Joes videos.

Been getting my practice in. Two small break throughs. Firstly, needing to have more line out in order to get some weight bending the pole and get some power going. Second, implementing the single feed. Might outgrow my yard quickly. Too many trees.

If found that trying too hard was hurting my fly casting.  Once I relaxed and let it go with the flow (fluid motion), I could place a fly anywhere I wanted to with little effort

That is what I am getting from watching youtube videos, especially the greats. A fat old man with proper technique will outcast you or I.

By some miracle I have been feeling a genuine hunger for practicing and improving my fly casting. This weekend I went to a local river with my dad, in the rain, to get some smallies on our typical gear. While there I noticed the only other soul fishing the river was a gentleman with both a spin cast and fly setup. He was switching between the two. Chatted him up, parted ways, then later on saw him by the other bridge throwing a wooly bugger. As soon as I showed up he hooked into a beautiful healthy small mouth. We chatted some more and I wished him luck then left.

This evening after work, I shoveled down my dinner, then headed to the back yard with what little sunlight was left, as winter is approaching and the days are getting shorter quickly. I made some good technique improvements this weekend, but I was continuing to mess around and tweak things. In a state of semi alcohol buzz, I somehow put 2+2 together and in a moment of brilliance managed to randomly pull off a double hall. No sooner did I do it, did the concept make sense and I proceeded to pull double hauls almost at will. I am really happy right now. Still loads of improvement to do, and the need to start practicing *accurate* casting. But I am quite pleased with tonight's work, which carried on until it was dark out. I noticed with double hauling a feel a lot less strain on my hand and wrist, which unfortunately hurt a lot these days from turning wrenches at work.

Thanks for reading.

It’s good to start with and understand the fundamentals. Bill Gammel lays it out nicely in the “5 Essentials of Fly Casting”.  This site explains the concepts and includes some really great instructional videos on it.  The person in the video is Carl McNeil and he is a Master Casting Instructor (MCI) and goes by “Bumcast” on YouTube.  I fished with him years (probably almost 18 or so now!) ago when he was working on his MCI certification.  Good luck and have a blast. . . The casting (single hand and Spey) aspect of fly fishing is the part that I enjoy the most.

Check this out:

Bill Gammel’s Five Essntials of Fly Casting


<——— FFI Certified Fly Casting Instructor.

First of all you are trying too hard if your arms tired. Relax. Yes your two hands should work together so that your rod can load and unload.

Start short, 15-20’ and perfect that distance. Remember this: every cast happens on a plain. Every plain has a beginning and an end. Your cast starts at one point travels the plain and stops at the edge of the plain. Focus on the plain and don’t turn it into a curved dome.

Every cast starts when the whole system is moving. That means if there is slack in the system your rod traveling on that plain is wasting time and energy tacking up that slack. Test this to see for yourself. Piles 20’ of line at your feet and try to cast it. You can’t. Lay that 20’ of line straight out in front of you with the rod tip pointing straight down the line. Initiate your cast and feel the difference.

Have fun.