Casting practice

[Solid]

Is it OK to go to a field and practice casting? or will that somehow damage the line. I understand that its not a good idea to drag it across rocks and stuff, I mean a grass field that could have some dirt and stuff like that.

[fessiewig]

Yes. Casting on grass is O.K. Water is better.

[troutscout]

The LL Bean Ultimate Book of Flyfishing has a great collection of lawn drills for "yard fishing". Water is better but not all of us have some right outside our door. One real problem is that a lawn gives you no real drag on your line as your starting the cast...this changes your timing on how you load the line. Another problem is your height above the casting surface. Casting thigh deep in a stream is a lot less forgiving of excessive back arc than a lawn. So the bottom line is much can be learned in a field but go to the water occasionally to practice and get it right.

[fessiewig]

One more thing. Practice is practice; fishing is fishing. You can't practice while you fish! If you practice as little as 15 minutes a day you can improve your casting dramatically, but you need to be practicing the correct methods. Take a lesson, it's well worth the money.