Wallis casting as lockdown skill

[Barbellina]

Hi Snape, yes I’ve watched this video, I was worried about loading the cast as I thought I’d probably end up with a hook in my hand. I have been trying to learn the modified cast. My gardens pretty long too, but with my shrubs etc the area where I can practice is quite narrow and I struggle with direction. Next door’s greenhouse may come a cropper! I’m using plasticine now as the weight just in case.

[Snape]

Hi Snape, yes I’ve watched this video, I was worried about loading the cast as I thought I’d probably end up with a hook in my hand. I have been trying to learn the modified cast. My gardens pretty long too, but with my shrubs etc the area where I can practice is quite narrow and I struggle with direction. Next door’s greenhouse may come a cropper! I’m using plasticine now as the weight just in case.

I tried various starting positions from across my body as per Martin Porter to starting almost behind as per this video
.
I found the further back the rod is held the easier it is to mess up the timing and the weight flies off at odd angles. When I started I kept finding it would land off to my right when looking at the desired direction.
I then saw a video of Chris Yates carp fishing and just doing an underarm cast Wallis style. I tried it and was amazed how easy it was and started very gently then started to pull the line off the reel with increasing vigour. So far I have found this style to be the most accurate and distance is the same as coming from the side. I mostly want to Wallis cast to be able to cast heavier baits like luncheon meat so the underarm is fine.
I used to use Nottingham cast like this but the maximum distance I could achieve with three loops was about 15 metres. With an underarm Wallis I am getting 18-20 metres pretty consistently and accurately and far fewer tangles or the loops catching on vegetation etc.
I'm not much of a float fisher about from margin fish in lakes but today's challenge is to cast a 4AAA Avon bodied float.

[Barbellina]

Good grief he makes that look easy! I’ll look out for the Yates video as I too keep slinging it to the right and ending up on the garage roof. : Maybe next time we meet up you can give me a lesson?

[Dave Burr]

The trouble with trying to do the classic Wallis cast is that you are learning to do a lot of things at once. It's like watching a video then jumping behind the wheel of a car for the first time. I maintain that 'any cast will do' and developed my own, nameless version and it works for me.

I cannot get my head around holding a hook or lead as it adds another equation (when to let go) and it makes the swing of the rod feel 'stiff' to me. I load the rod by swinging the float or lead behind me a tad then swinging it forward. This possibly comes from my days of pendulum casting off the beach. I can use this method casting from either side, underarm or overhead.

One tip learned from an expert pin caster is to loop the line around your middle finger (left hand for right hand caster) and keep it there throughout the flight of the lead/float. It just helps the line to come off the spool or even the lip of the spool, cleanly and avoid tangles.

But the one thing that will help more than any other advice is to go fishing with JUST a centre pin outfit. That way you won't be tempted to give in and it will come good. I spent a few days on the Teme one season and it felt odd reverting back to a fixed spool.

Snape, I hope you hit that far boarder before long but it's as much about accuracy than distance. My limit is probably 20yards or so, it doesn't feel much on the Wye but elsewhere will catch you a few nettles off the far bank.

[Snape]

Good grief he makes that look easy! I look out for the Yates video as I too keep slinging it to the right and ending up on the garage roof.

Yes that was my problem and I overcame it eventually as it is all about timing. The weight needs to be well on its way before the left hand pulls the line.
CY does a short underarm Wallis cast at about 2 minutes 20 seconds in this video which is what got me trying and then I just increased the distance by increasing the vigour.

[Snape]

I have been in email correspondence with Edward Barder recently and mentioned my attempting to learn the Wallis cast.
In one of his emails he offered this:

You're not the only angler to be using the time to learn the Wallis Cast. It took me years to become really proficient and I'm glad that I was in my twenties. I'm not sure I'd have the patience for it now. Actually, I wasn't really very patient at the time, but I was very determined. For what it's worth, it's very hard to learn with a reel with a diameter of more than 4" and the width should be at least seven eighths of an inch. The line pins don't want to be too shallow either. The reel needs to run freely, but not too freely. Most bearing reels are a nightmare as they spin too easily.

I find that a minimum of 4 lbs Maxim and a maximum of about 6 lbs is sensible to start with. I buy Maxima Clear which is actually nearly white, on 50 m spools from Sportfish. This stuff is the same as ordinary Maxima, but it's more visible to you can see what you're up to when you're undoing bird's nests!

I'd opt for about half an ounce I think. In reality, Wallis casting is really hard to achieve at all with a float that takes less than 4 AAA shot plus bait. The old timers used pretty hefty floats.

Movements can be surprisingly slow and unforced, and I find that it helps if one's hand guides the line up towards the butt ring in the process of casting. Bob James and Chris Yates (he phoned me for a chat today) can be seen Wallis casting very well in the Passion For Angling films.

[Wallys-Cast]

I spent almost a full summer perfecting my wallys cast and could land 3aa in a plant pot at 15 yds. Add a float and a stretch of water and I was lucky if I got one out of three casts to go the right distance and in the right direction. Chosen swims regularly gave the cast another limitation such as overhead tree branches or bushes either side which also gave me less confidence to use it and over time the worse it got.
These days I have reverted to pulling a couple of loops off the first two rings and flicking it out. If I need real distance I use a fixed spool.

I do agree with what Edward Barder said about age though, I enjoyed learning things like this in my thirties and forties but the older I get the less appealing it is. I am well into my sixties now and when I do go fishing, I am there to enjoy my time and if I catch a fish or two even better, I don't want to spoil my day with tangled line or lost tackle.

Wal.

[AllRounder]

This short passage from Bernard Venables always makes me chuckle

“The beginner’s way to this proficiency is tortuous. Success lies only on the other side of many tangles of horrid complexity.
The freedom of the reel, later such a delight, is at first and usually for some time, a torment.
Even when the first moderate cast is successfully made, the learner will forget to stop the reel’s rotation and his moment’s triumph will be submerged in horror”

Not something you want at the back of your mind when you’re just about to go for the big one!

[Robbi]

this guy looks simpler......

[Snape]

this guy looks simpler......

Yes I liked that one. Some of the steelhead anglers have some good videos.
I was trying his first on which is a swing over the right shoulder early and it seems to work well.