Adapted from Cathy Beck's Fly-Fishing Handbook by Cathy Beck

As soon as the backcast is stopped, the forward cast should begin. As you become more experienced, you'll understand that how long the"stop" is depends on how much line you're casting.

The stop is necessary to allow most of the line time to pass by the rod tip before you start to move it in the opposite direction. The longer the cast, the longer the stop. It's all timing, and that comes from experience.

For the time being, with the amount of line you're casting, as soon as you stop completely, you can start forward again. At the end of the backcast, your arm should be behind and slightly below your shoulder, with the palm of your hand and your fingernails facing you.

Your thumb should be pointed up. The forward cast is just a little different. The arm has basically the same job coming forward as it does going back.

Getting Your Timing Down

As you start to move your arm forward through the casting arc, your wrist should roll or rotate smoothly counterclockwise through the end of the cast. This slight roll allows the line coming forward to avoid the line that may still be going back.

This will be especially important on long casts. If you start this habit in the beginning, you'll be comfortable with it when the time comes for long casts. It will also help the line avoid hitting the rod. This wrist rotation results in a slightly oval cast.

Side view of the progression of a forward cast.

If the rod tip is not brought forward enough, slack line falls off the end of the rod (because it's too high) and the cast will be shorter than expected. In addition, because the rod tip stopped too high, the leader can collide with the line, causing a tailing loop (the line dips and hits the leader on the way through) and can result in a tangle.

If you find that you're still hitting the line with the leader during the cast, here's the solution: At the very end of the cast, after the speed-up and stop, simply drop the rod tip a couple of inches.

This will pull the lower part of the loop just a little lower and out of the way of the top part. If you drop it too much, you'll pull the loop apart and lose line speed and control. Just two inches is all you need. Not everyone has this problem; there's no need to try to correct it if you don't have it.

An occasional problem is too much power. This problem will show up more often with men than women, but it can happen to women, too. We know that it's important for the rod to come to a complete stop at each end of the cast. If there is too much power in the cast, it shocks the rod, which in turn sends shock waves out through the line.

The line then jumps around and does not look smooth. If you see the rod tip stop, then dance around a bit, you're probably giving it too much power, thus shocking the cast. The rod tip is oscillating. Lighten up, use a little less power, and come smoothly and quickly to a dead stop before starting in the opposite direction.

To present the fly to the water, after the rod stops out front at eye level, let the line start to straighten. Then, lower the rod tip with the line as it falls to the water. If you don't bring the rod tip down with the line, you'll end up with a shorter cast than expected and the rod will be pointing up  where you don't want it.

On the other hand, if you bring the rod tip down too quickly, you'll drive the cast hard into the water and the leader will crash in a tangled mess.

By stopping or slowing the rod tip enough to allow the cast to unroll above the water, a couple of things happen: You allow the energy to leave the cast so the line and leader land delicately and noiselessly on the water; and you can judge the distance, if you're fishing, to a particular target.

By watching your fly in midair, you can determine whether you have too much line out, not enough, or just the right amount to reach the fish.

As the amount of line you're casting increases, the stroke (or path of the rod) should lengthen. In other words, you'll want to move your arm farther back behind you and farther out in front on the forward cast.

For shorter distances, like our twenty-five feet, we don't have to move the rod as far back as we would for forty feet. The more line you have to move, the longer the distance should be that you have to move it through. And as the line increases, so must the power from your arm.

But don't confuse power with speed. Moving your arm fast without power will cause the undisciplined line to fall, wrapping around you and tangling.