I believe the essence, the real secret of learning fly-casting lies almost completely in the very able hands of the student, and the necessary ingredients are persistence and patience; that the principal role of the instructor is essentially directional and most of all – encouragement and inspiration. I feel that the first requisite in teaching fly-casting is to communicate just that to the student.

Confronted with the usual photo cliché of a large fish and grinning fly fisher ,a recent convert to our sport wisely observed ” The fish takes far too much credit for his or her catch. In fact, it is the fish that makes the decision to take the fly!. It is, dear friends, the student who teaches him or her self to cast a fly!

The quintessence of learning is doing. The quintessence of teaching is inspiration. At some point the learner should understand that ultimately, beyond the simple fundamentals of fly-casting, they must stand alone, and that the joy of self discovery is the real essence of learning. That concept can only be communicated when people develop genuine trust in one another.

Observations On Teaching Fly Casting by Mel Krieger © 2005