The surface of moving waters is never the same as another one so this means that your approach and the types of casts you will use to fight drag will require different solutions. That is there isn’t only one way to fight drag but various solutions for different situations.
Starting from this supposition, let’s see how the so-called Anti Drag casts will be put into use. When between the fisherman and his goal, there is a strong current, the first thing to do is prevent the tip of your line from touching the strong current because the line and the fly will be immediately dragged downstream. In this case you need to cast in such a way that your line will touch the fast current last.
This example doesn’t hold much with the Overturned cast which expresses its usefulness in other cases. One of these is when between the fisherman and his goal there is a slower current than on the opposite bank. In other words the scope of this cast is to create a good curve to contrast the strong opposite current. But beware – the overturned casts do generate a curve but are not part of those casts that are properly defined as Curved Casts and which are executed in a different way. There are different kinds of Overturned Casts according to the situation. Let’s start with the Total Overturned Cast. This is executed by standing on one side of the river and for example fishing on the opposite side more or less perpendicularly. You cast like you would normally do towards your goal having taken care of preparing two wide loops of line in your left hand. When the fly is about to touch the water you cast out the first loop and at the same time you bring your rod down and parallel to the surface with the reel seat near your leg. Without stopping, and this is of fundamental importance so that the line will come into contact with the water as late as possible, you lift the rod with a wide rotation until it is vertical to cast the line again so that it “opens against the current”.
The meaning of “Opens against the current” indicates that the rod needs to rotate upstream creating a wide curve which in the final phase will be thrust forward as in a normal cast. In this moment and almost at the same time as the thrust you let go the second loop from your left hand so that the curve that the line has created in the water remains a little longer without turning over. In this moment your line is on the water contrasting the current and free to move without dragging the tip and the fly. A variation is when you find yourself in water and decide to cast a little more upstream at a 45° angle. The movements are the same except for when you cast out the loop which in this case will be thrown towards the fly. This operation generates a tighter curve against the current and also a greater distance. This works when working with the current but what happens when the current comes from the opposite side? The operation may appear more difficult than it actually is! In fact the whole movement must take place directly opposite. The big differences are in the direction of the rod during the “opening” phase” – the rod will be parallel to the water and instead of being next to your right leg it will be parallel to the water and next to your left knee with the reel seat facing downwards.
This is the so-called Overturned in the water cast which can be executed forehanded or backhanded and has the goal to contrast the current with the curve that comes out where and when we want it. There is another version that is used in other circumstances and one of them is the so-called Overturned in the air cast which is used when the current is quite steady or in all those situations in which the central current is quite strong (similar to the reach cast). It is quite easy to carry out: you start this time with one loop in your left hand and you operate in more or less the same way with the difference that the mending takes place in the air and not in the water as with the Total Overturned Cast. As soon as you have casted and immediately afterwards, you do a quick rotation of the rod tip upstream and at the same time you let go your left hand – all this with the line in the air. In order to be effective, this rotation must be done with a certain energy and be followed through with the arm. The result will not be a real curve in the previous one but a sort of gentle movement upstream of the line which will land in the water thanks to the dampening effect caused by the early release of the loop in the left hand.
Two things should be taken seriously when doing these overturned casts: a good leader and a well greased fishing line!! When we say a good leader we mean it’s proportions which should be at least 5 meters long. A short leader will be practically useless because when you overturn the line, the leader will overturn too and so your fly will get dragged upstream making the whole operation useless. The reason for a well greased line is that it must always float perfectly or it will get caught up in the current which will then push it underwater and this creates problems when you try to overturn the line because it is practically blocked underwater. Many compare mending with overturning. The main difference between these two casts is that mending is a corrective operation on the line and it can be carried out after all casts that model the line and it can be done various times after the cast has taken place, while the overturned cast is a true cast. You have the best results with light lines when doing overturned casts.
