Ask any guide what’s the best way you can prepare for a fly-fishing trip and they’ll invariably come back with the same answer. Practise your casting – then practise some more. It doesn’t matter how much new gear you buy, or how many flies are in your box – if you can’t punch it out into a stiff wind, coping with gusts from every different direction, you’re just not going to stack up the numbers you want. So with that in mind, we’ve collected up five must-watch casting videos to help you prepare for that all-important trip. Watch, learn, digest, catch…

“It’s a new word: ‘downup’” – the double haul made simple
There’s only one place to start – with the double haul. If you don’t master it, you won’t be able to generate the necessary line speed to cope with the elements on your flats fishing trip. Now, Mel Krieger might be a little on the annoying side, but if you can ignore that, his technique genuinely works. Suddenly the double haul doesn’t look so hard after all…

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Work the angles
Wind is just a fact of life on the flats – forget all those pictures you’ve seen of glassy pancake flats – you’re always going to have to contend with a breeze out there. Here, Orvis Fly-Fishing School instructor Peter Kutzer demonstrates how to cast in the wind, no matter what direction it’s coming from.

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Tai Chi casting, Bahamas-style
“Easy, easy, breezy.” Torrie Bevans from Andros South is something of a YouTube star – he’s got the voice, the chat, and the skills to back it all up. Interestingly, some of what he says here contradicts what many of us learnt early on in casting lessons – rather than bringing the rod back and forth on the same plane, his tip is to put a “U” in your casting action. “Through the wall, over the wall…”

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The clearing cast and ready position
Here’s Captain Joel Dickey, from Big Pine Key Florida, with a couple of incredible tips for making the most of that all-important first shot. Invaluable stuff if you’re planning on fishing from a skiff.

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“Smooooooth”
To finish, another one from the Bahamas. Charlie Neymour, the legendary Andros guide, certainly makes it look easy. Of course, we’d probably all find it a bit easier, stood up on the poling platform on a rare windless flat – but even taking that into account, this is pretty special. “The left hand controls everything…”

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