Never Underestimate the Power of the Shadow Cast

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Tapani´s recent Shadow Cast video really hit the spot! It´s been picked up by lots of blogs and websites around the world.

Sadly, a lot of people worldwide seem to misunderstand this new, improved Shadow Cast. It is not a joke. And it certainly isn´t a parody. It is a really serious cast, made by serious fly fishermen who cast their flies in a serious manner. Wearing serious facial expressions, they catch some serious trout.

The only people who understand that our Shadow Cast is totally serious are some people from a British fly fishing forum. And that´s a bit strange, since the British always tend to joke a lot, and are known for their sophisticated sense of humour. You would think that they would be the first to joke around with the Shadow Cast. But no, these guys really understand.

Just have a look at some quotes from the British forum:

“i hope you dont mind me saying but this was the worst demonstration i have ever seen of what is actually a very functional and beautifull cast.”

“…it makes the cast look stupid, if you look at Micheal Mauri’s or Stefan Dombaj you will see the components of the cast performed correctly, most importantly the rod tip rising to form the D loop without which the cast cannot work.”

“…i’m sorry if this sounds harsh but performed without skill these casts look rediculous and they are not.”

Well, what can I say?

We are of course thrilled that at least some people out there take us seriously.

But I have to admit that this harsh critcism really hurts my feelings. Seriously.

Shadow Cast - 8th Level

Shadow Cast - 12th Level

Photos by Roger Bråthen (C)

The Shadow Cast

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In the movie A River Runs Through It Brad Pitt is seen doing a cast so beautiful that it makes a grown fly fisherman cry. This cast was named the “shadow cast” and it was actually performed by Jason Borger, who runs the Fly Casting Institute.

Now, Jazz & Fly Fishing has developed a new, more effective Shadow Cast. The video below introduces this new way of fly casting. Poetry in motion is perhaps the best way to describe it.

Winter

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It is a fact that the winter is back again. The days are way to short and the weather is slimy. My hat is itching. Joonas hat is black. Tapani is sad all the time and Håvard is mad.

One day it is snowing, and the day after, rain is all you can see. Why? Why snow and then rain? Why Håvard? Answer me! I want a real winter with a thick layer of snow.

I tried some rainbow trout fishing this weekend and it was nice but not really happening. The activity was zero, but for once it was a very beautiful day. Maybe I’ll do some pike fishing next week, let’s see… Here are two pics from the last fishing day up in the mountains.

I like to make lists, it sort of helps the brain to relax. I hope you like it to because here it comes: It is time to make the “what-to-do-during-the-winter-list”

Please add more important things to the list, we need this to survive this heavy winter. It might be the coldest winter… ever.

what-to-do-during-the-winter-list (continously updated)

1. Practice on the instrument

2. Fly tying

3. Cook

4. Drink juice and maybe stronger stuff, probably stronger stuff

5. Cry

6. Compose music

7. Write a novel

8. Read books

9. Practice casting in front of the mirror

10. Run

11. Get crazy

12. Invent new fly patterns – try them in the bath room

13. Go to the Rise Fly Fishing film festival

14. Daniel´s suggestion: go skiing or snowboarding

15. Jay´s suggestion: Go to Southeastern USA, where you can flyfish all year round, and go to the Fly Fishing convention in Atlanta in February.

16. OrrO´s suggestion: Use the Internets.

17. Erlend W´s suggestions: Go sight nymphing in NZ, flyfish for halibut from the shore in Northern Norway, polish your rod, surf the fly fishing blogs.

18. Thomas’s suggestion: Tie Oliver Edwards fly patterns

19. ?

20. ?


Tapani's birthday

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Exactly 28 years ago a small, wrinkly and very blond creature cried loudly for the very first time. A child was born, and he was born to be a bass player and a fisherman. Never could his academic parents (neither of them play music or fish) have guessed that this would be his path of life.

To celebrate Tapani, the real Artist of the JFF team, I went through some family photos (among other things, Tapani is my brother). I thought I’d share some magical moments from the past. Happy Birthday Tap!

Urban Trout Spawning in Oslo

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Some weeks ago, I got a call from my friend Lars Nilssen (for those of you who don´t know him, Lars is a fly fishing legend here in Norway, and he currently co-runs a really cool fly fishing blog together with the no-less-legendary Lars Lenth: larsoglars.no).  Anyway, Nilssen sounded pretty excited.  He had been passing through Frognerparken in the centre of Oslo (that´s where I did the Urban Fly Fishing in Oslo-video in May), and seen some really spectacular stuff. The next day, I took my camera and went down to the park. And sure enough, there was some serious action going on!

Check it out:

Lars Nilssen is producing a series of blogvideos about these urban monsters, and the first episode is premiering tonight on Larsoglars.no and dagbladet.no. Be sure to check it out!

The Art Of Fly Casting

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The art of fly casting is fascinating, challenging and beautiful. And it’s fun! Some people think it is so fun that they hardly fish anymore, they’re just casting. Hour after hour, cast after cast, no fish. More casting. No fish. I guess many of them are called salmon fishermen.

Anyway, back to the subject! There are billions of ways to cast with a fly rod. You can cast straight forward, upside down, without a rod, the roll cast, the overhand cast, the spey cast… the question is: are there any new casts out there, are there any new and revolutionary ways to use the fly rod? The answer is yes!

People spend their time at grass fields, streets, the grave yard and so on, practicing for hours. But have they ever seen or tried “the shadow cast”?

Guess many of you guys have seen the movie “A river runs through it”!? Brad Pitt is one of the actors in this beautiful film. In this movie, Brad Pitt invents a new and secret cast. He calls it “the shadow cast”. Actually it is Jason Borger doing the casting stunts instead of Brad, but it is nice to believe that Brad invented the shadow cast himself.

However, Brad Pitts shadow cast is not the same as ours, JFFs own and even more secret shadow cast. Yea, you heard right! We have our own shadow cast, maybe the most effective weapon on shy and easily spooked fish. It is a beautiful and very special cast and it takes a while to get comfortable with it. We will explain how to do it later on, but today you’ll only get small glints of it. Small glints of magic! Håvard will show you how to do the basic shadow cast.

The shadow cast can soon be seen on video, here on our blog. Stay ready! It might show up very soon…

Last but not least I want to share something with you. Check out this lady, one of the finest casters ever. Her name is Joan Wulff. Here you can take a look at her:

World's ugliest fish

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Trout, char, salmon…those fish are real beauties in all their forms. However, all fish have not been blessed with such looks. Just take a look at Blobby fish, Mr. Blobby, or Fathead, as this one is called. It’s slimy and lives deep in the ocean outside New Zealand, and holds the title for World’s Ugliest Fish. Has anyone ever got one with a fly rod?

Mr. Blobby

The Lost One

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You’ve already seen what happened during One Magical Day this summer. We experienced very heavy caddis hatches and caught lots of beautiful trouts on dry flies. While we others were catching trout after trout, Fredrik was hit by some sort of  Curse. The fish neglected his flies and he was very unlucky this day.

The interesting thing was that we landed basically all the fish we had on. Except for this one.