For 2014 I set a goal to improve my casting. In order to do that, I felt I really needed to understand the cause and effect of what I was doing.

I made thousands and thousands of casts. I read articles and books on casting. My goal was not catching fish; it was putting the fly where I wanted it to go, every time, in all types of conditions. That, of course, meant I had to travel to where the weather was nicer than our winter in the mountains.

The result of all the travel, and hours of casting, was that my casting really improved. I believed I now understood the movement patterns of my cast.

However, all this casting created a big problem. I developed the painful fly caster's elbow. I equate it to the serious beer drinker who developed pain in his elbow from lifting heavy mug after heavy mug of beer to quench his thirst. Other than switching to light cans I don't have a cure for the serious beer drinker.

However, I have found a real help for the fly fisher who wants to improve his casting pain-free. My grandson received a practice rod for Christmas. It is a very short and light fly rod with no reel. There are guides for a thick and soft light line to go through. Attached to the thick line is a thinner woven line that acts as a leader. The rod is balanced for this line setup. These practice rods can be purchased at any fly shop.

I soon discovered, while testing his present, it cast very similar to a full-size rod. I found you could over- and underpower the rod, cast tailing loops, and get wind knots in the leader. It also is short enough to use indoors. The farthest you can cast is about 10 feet, so your den will work just fine.

Now, here is where it can help fly caster elbow:

The rod is so light that the movement pattern for a good cast doesn't take much muscle strength. If I'd had one of these last year my elbow would not need medical attention. I could have cut my travel budget and time in half. That would of course have allowed me to plan more fishing trips in 2015 to catch more fish with my newly understood and improved cast.

I plan to obtain a practice rod of my own since my grandson caught me trying to put his rod in my truck for safe keeping at my house. He is pretty protective of his equipment when Grumps is around.

Reach Don Oliver at [email protected].