The reach cast proves to be more effective than any other cast in this scenario: a trout feeding tight to a far bank, with faster water running between you and the fish. Casting a straight line across that seam results in a downstream sweep of the belly of the line, which tightens, then drags your hopper off its intended line within a second or two. The reach cast fixes that before the fly hits the water. You make the cast, and while the line is still in the air you swing the rod upstream, so the line comes down already positioned above the fly. The faster current now has to straighten all that upstream line before it can start pulling. In August, when the biggest fish of the year are parked inches off the grass waiting for something to fall in, employing a well-timed reach cast can be the difference between an eat and a refusal.

What the Reach Cast Actually Is

A reach cast is an aerial mend. It’s a repositioning of the line that happens after the rod stops but while the line is still fully in the air, before it touches down. Anything you do to the line before the rod stops is part of the cast itself. Anything you do after it lands is an on-water mend. The reach lives in the narrow window between the two, and done accurately, it lets the fly fish correctly the instant it hits the water instead of after you’ve corrected a drift that’s already going wrong.