The badly maligned Wiggle cast

[whinging pom]

Ok for my first casting on his board I’m going to disagree with the guv’n. I watched his 80+ step plan to create a casting God and all was good and most agreeable and inspired to greatness was I ...... Then I watched the Wiggle cast, and my heart sank,
“Fun” he dismissed it as “,
Not a very useful cast” he said.”
For Downstream!!” he stated.
And then produced some wonderful uniformed wide elegant loops perfectly with a flourish.

OH My poor get-out-of-jail wiggle so badly misrepresented. And by the Guv’n of all people!
so I'm here to defend its honour!

I fish a small brook,( 6’, 7’ rods in Lilliput) but anyone on small rivers that aren’t those gentle Chalkstreams, will relate to this.
Apart from the odd straight glide our water is a succession of riffle and pool sequences. We also squeeze the flow occasionally with brushwood deflectors to create the same conditions and scour the gravels ahead.

Natural or created the effect is the same; an acceleration of the flow as the pool narrows and the food lane concentrates on glossy flat water before it breaks and tumbles over the lip onto the riffle.. 2 to 4 feet up from the lip you regularly see rising fish. These fish are usually 3 or 4 feet ahead of the rise form deeper down out of the fast flow of the surface and they drift up and back in that classic slow considered river rise.
Down there, their windows pretty big. Once the lines kiss on the surface downstream of the lip the drag is related on everything upstream.

If you close in to put a minimum line on the water and keep the rod tip up your in view of the window.
Dropping the fly in first in a pile cast can buy you precious seconds drift but it ain't enough for that rise form and with trees etc overhead or to the sides just off the rod tip then Piles and puddles are redundant.
Dropping a load of slack tippet and leader near the fly causes I believe micro drag and is always rejected,
So I wiggle!
It works for me and,done properly, I think it’s a brilliant cast that serves well in an often encountered scenario for river trout.
I do not wiggle with the gay abandon of the Guv’n. This adds too much line to the cast for range finding and is too hard to replicate ( for us mortals).

My wiggle has a controlled short wavelength that can be easily replicated and that is crucial!
I want to find a comfortable spot to drop that line, On or just behind the rise form with that controlled wiggle. it usually takes me two casts with a really gentle take up between.
I then want to explore forward to find that window above where the trout starts its drift, so I use my feet to inch forward or bend my body while keeping the cast and the wiggle constant Gently exploring forward until the rise comes. ( it usually does)

If I don’t catch the trout at the back of the pools I reckon my catch returns down by 20% over the season. And to keep the “ we should do some supplementary stocking” idiots at bay, I need to keep my returns high and my trout to visit ratio healthy.

If anyone's got an issue with the concept of micro drag I can describe a really neat experiment explaining it..

Sorry Gov’n to spend my first real posting contradicting you , I doubt if it will happen too often!

All best to all
The Whinging pom

[Paul Arden]

Brilliant! Well I’m pleased someone has a use for it

I do use it myself sometimes too of course. Definitely I can see its use in those situations with a small amount of controlled slack waves and it takes me back to my youth of fishing the Water of Leith in Edinburgh. Ok I stand corrected! Next time I’m on the Tiang River up north I’ll make another video done correctly and add it to this page

I’ll up there in a couple of weeks learning about track building, so by the end of the month I’ll fix this page

Thanks!!!
Paul

[ACW]

Its a cast that is very easy to show ,back when I did grayling days on some Kennet carriers many of my guests were apt stillwater casters but unused to putting slack into the cast yer wiggle got them fishing quickly .
Please note show ,not teach ,something I never pretended to do !

[Mangrove Cuckoo]

Whining,

Your technique sounds like it would be perfect for the small but fast running "pocket water" streams over here in the Smoky mountains.

Everybody seems to be nymphing these days, which looks too much like cane-poling to my old Redneck eyes.

[whinging pom]

Likewise ACW I occasionally get people started on the brook that have been solely out on the reservoirs and spends half their time with heads over the shoulder watching the backcast then watching the loops out! ( for a twenty-foot cast for crying out loud!).
They cant deal with multiple current speeds in the drift and unless it's written all over the water cant pick up on drag.

The first thing I do is grab the back of their heads and tell them not to take their eyes off the water, "Rising fish don't show themselves over your shoulders!"
Ten minutes of me grabbing the back of their heads in vice grip normally cures that affliction reinforced with the odd threat to resume it!
And the next is to show them how to wiggle. Gently and controlled , just enough to buy precious seconds of drag free drift..

(And finally how to lift the fly off the water!! how many reservoir guys just rip the line up to the backcast and ruin a pool. No wonder they have to keep casting further and further out).

Mangrove cuckoo hello!
I can tell you though I would give it a good shot and enjoy the new waters, I'd be terribly distracted by those landscapes. The most beautiful thing where if fish is the water itself and that's where Im looking, You've got those stunning landscapes and mountains.
I use to teach B+W photography fine print and I'm pretty sure that's Ansel Adams territory isn't it?
It would be fishing heaven for me and you are very fortunate to have that resource, I hope they have a healthier future than that of most of the English waters which are sadly under a lot of pressure.

We do a bit of upstream nymphing and I love the take on it, but it's the very early season before the ranunculus weeds grow, By mid-season, it's just frustrating as you spend most of the time clearing weed off your hook and anyway most of our trout are spotted either breaking the surface or just bulging it ,as they're picking nymphs just under it. So dries or unwieghted nymphs stuck in the surface are the order of most of the days.


"I’ll up there in a couple of weeks learning about track building, "( quote paul)
Guv'n "
I presume that's not a new casting technique but making paths? Sounds like my kind of gig. Shame your halfway around the planet, Id volunteer services be great to be doing it in a jungle rather than the cold wet autumn chill in middle England . looking forward to new teaching guides.

all best to all
the Pom

[Paul Arden]

I presume that's not a new casting technique but making paths?

Yep! We have a project up there conserving the river and the Mahseer fish, with C&R FF only, and all proceeds going to the local villagers. We actually need a track on one bank that doesn’t wash away or cause erosion. So someone is coming up to teach the Orang Asli the skills and track planning and I thought it sounded interesting so I’ll go too! I’ve often been impressed by them in NZ and I’m always up for learning new skills Of course I’ll take my fishing rod…

The SE Asian Mahseer behave very similarly to Trout by the way. They just pull very much harder. It’s reminds me of Hopper/Dropper fishing in Yellowstone. At least up to the strike. I did a round of fundraising to help get it started and you can read about it here https://www.gofundme.com/f/sungai-tiang ... ng-project
Unfortunately Covid has delayed everything about it. This has, at least I hope, given the fish a chance to grow! They will be open after the Wet Season in February.

I’m up there 25th and I will shoot this because you are completely right.

Cheers, Paul

[whinging pom]

I know we're veering madly off subject but do try and document the track planning and construction it sounds fascinating. what length of tracks are you talking about? is this stone or timber? what time of the year will they be working on the project? will the tracks wiggle? ( we're back on track !! )
what a fabulous project!
well done you
the pom

[Paul Arden]

About 15-20km where we are. However no doubt they will be asked to make others. I’m really not sure about the construction. It’s a three day course. We have a few problems with the current route particularly where it cuts across the side of a steep hill. For one thing it turns into a river when it rains so it will be interesting to learn how they deal with this. The track builder builds many walking and cycle trails around Malaysia.

I’ve been particularly keen in explaining the virtue of one trail and not numerous constantly changing trails that require a machete to navigate. This way if the unthinkable happened and a fishing guest managed to get split up from the party, he will be able to find his way back to camp without getting lost in the jungle and eaten by a tiger for lunch.

[Phil Blackmar]

Dear Whinging Pom-

Thank you for the odyssey. The are some here, myself being one, who have spent nearly all of their fly fishing lives in a salty and windy environ. It is nice to be taken to the original form and intent for fly fishing. While my group can watch Paul, in various forms, demonstrating the nuances of the many fly casting applications for streams and rivers, it is refreshing and enjoyable to read about situations which require such delicacy for success.

Congratulations on the mastery of the Wiggle and continues success.

Phil

NOTE: It seems I need a nickname amongst this crowd. In the US I am referred to as Big, possible due to my demure frame that was formerly a tad over 6' 7" and a bag full of stones. So, henceforth I shall answer to Big. Rock On

[Paul Arden]

Wouldn’t “Giant” be more appropriate?