Fly Casting Instruction & Challenges
"Teach an angler how to fly fish & fly cast efficiently, and they will keep doing so for a lifetime."
Over the last two decades, I have met with countless fresh and saltwater fly fishing guides. As a client, I have been on their boats and talked with them at conferences, fly club events, and boat docks. The most common complaint I have heard from fly fishing guides is that over 80% of their clients cannot get the job done with their fly casting. Guides express frustration with their client's accuracy, distance, and overall fly fishing skills in the boat.
The second most common guide complaint I hear is that their clients do not listen or implement the guide's fly casting instructions on the boat. You can imagine what happens when I pursue this complaint by questioning how and what casting instructions fly fishing guides provide.
I address these challenging guide instructions and client casting/fishing issues in my Beyond Catching approach to instruction. My Everglades Fly Fishing Guide services and fly casting instruction start on the grass and then move on to the water. My casting instruction emphasizes a "Drills to Skills" approach where we start by assessing your goals and current fly casting skill level. This is the foundation upon which we will develop casting drills you can practice to make perfect. We start with the basics and build your casting stroke so that you can better control your fly line loops, improve your accuracy, increase your overall distance, and have more fun in all kinds of fresh and saltwater fly fishing conditions.
World Class Fly Casting Instruction
My Everglades Fly Fishing Guide services and fly casting instruction is initially focused on conducting a comprehensive and detailed assessment of your unique goals, casting strengths, and improvement opportunities. We start this fly fishing and casting assessment process before you even show up.
The Beyond Catching Casting Program begins with a conference call wherein we will have the opportunity to get to know each other with an emphasis on discussing your goals. Once we have established that Beyond Catching is a positive program for you, we will schedule your dates and start your casting assessment.
I will forward the Beyond Catching assessment and casting analysis instructions for your completion. We will schedule a call after I receive your assessment materials and get you started with customized and specific casting drills that will give you a jump start before your arrival.
In brief, you will have the opportunity to build upon your current casting and fly fishing strengths, identify areas for improvement, and begin incorporating new casting skills. Upon completing the Beyond Catching program, you will be a better fly fisher and fly caster.
"Equal parts inspiration, perspiration, dedication, and a hefty dose of fun, is the recipe for success in most things. Ed Tamson has developed a teaching method embracing these principles and has a way to communicate information, encouraging learning and keeping it joyful. A lifelong angler, Ed graduated long ago beyond how many and how big they were to the level of how much challenge and fun there is in fly fishing and to share the journey's insights.
As a fly fishing guide, he quickly calls out specifics to making the fish-to-angler intersection a success. He also points out interesting and beautiful aspects of the natural surroundings in the process.
Ed is a competitor in American Casting Championships, having earned awards for accuracy and long-distance, and applies tournament casting principles to angling, casting, and some angling casting techniques to tournaments. Ed exemplifies making learning fun and rewarding. His casting instruction directly applies to so many situations an angler will encounter. I wholeheartedly encourage you to spend a few sessions learning casting and angling with Ed."
Steve Rajeff - National ACA & World Fly Casting Champion
"Having spent time with Ed on and off the water, it is evident that his passion and dedication to fly fishing is extraordinarily strong. Not many have this rare talent and what it takes to be a successful fly fishing guide and an outstanding fly casting instructor. This "ALL IN" devotion, especially within the casting instructional side of things, has helped Ed create a fun and interactive way of teaching flat casting techniques called Beyond Catching: Casting Games.
Casting Games is a fun and exciting "hands-on" approach to introducing fly casters to the many different aspects of the art of fly casting and how these aspects can be utilized when saltwater fly fishing.
Ed's Casting Games allows the caster/angler to have fun keeping score throughout the game and different casting stations. This scoring approach exposes strengths and weaknesses, allowing both the instructor and the caster to focus on specific skills that will best help the caster become a highly-skilled fly angler."
Captain Bruce Chard - Florida Keys Fly Fishing Guide - FFI Master Fly Casting Instructor
"A deep understanding of learning styles and graceful instructing approach make Ed Tamson a great choice for those looking to take the next step toward casting excellence. His dedication to the sport of casting is contagious. Spend a day (or two) on the water with Ed, and you will improve your technical skills and gain a deeper understanding of our saltwater environment."
Joe Mahler- CI, Fly Casting Instructor & Author
" Ed Tamson is obsessed in a very good way. Good in the sense that he makes the extra effort to help and inspire others to improve their fly casting and fishing. He is a certified casting instructor doing some very creative and highly effective teaching by using his ACA Fly Casting Tournament experience to help his clients make phenomenal improvements. He will help you become a better caster and angler. Whatever your casting and fishing skill level – he is the number 1 instructor and Everglades fly fishing guide to hire."
Michael Miller - Senior ACA Triple USA Gold Medal Accuracy National Fly Casting Champion
" In the few years I have known Ed, I have watched him excel as a Fly Casting Instructor. Ed has had the unique opportunity to cast with a vast number of advanced fly casters from Florida to California, including world-class advanced casters at the American Casting Association tournaments throughout the United States. This has provided Ed with a unique ability to recognize a variety of casting problems that arise and the proper techniques to correct them. Ed’s mild demeanor and quick wit put his casting students at ease and creates an atmosphere for an enjoyable learning experience. Ed has the ability not only to teach you to cast but also teach you to fish."
Captain John Hand, MCI - Fly Fishing Guide
" Learning to fly cast and to teach fly casting with Ed was fun and enjoyable. It did not take long for me to absorb that same “passion” for fly casting that he projected. Ed is patient and an excellent communicator. But these are only a few of Ed’s attributes. Ed has that special characteristic that all instructors wish they had. The ability to “inspire” his students. I know this because he inspired me. As a result of Ed’s initiative and encouragement, I received my Certification as a Casting Instructor from Fly Fishers International (FFI) in April 2015. There was a “method” to Ed’s madness about promoting these fly-casting programs. He soon had me and several other new instructors teaching and hosting Club Casting Events regularly. He always encourages the club casting instructors to be the best we can be."
Jim Schneider-MCI, Naples Backcountry Casting Director
“In addition to his many talents as a fly fisherman and guide, Ed is a gifted casting instructor who, as a certified casting instructor, he has a solid grasp of essential skills needed to cast well; the ability to demonstrate how to do it right effortlessly; and the teaching approach needed to personalize his methods to the unique needs of each person. Plus, he likes people, enjoys his work, and makes it fun. Ed can teach the basics to the beginning caster, or he can insightfully diagnose subtle casting faults that impair the effectiveness of the seasoned fly fisherman. Ed comes up with creative, useful suggestions to take corrective action. A supportive coach, he creates enduring relationships that allow him to provide follow-up and encouragement. Finally, he uses his experience as a senior tournament caster to sharpen his skills and keep current with state of the art in casting. His rare combination of skills will help you to make significant advances in your casting performance.”
Rick Hilles - CI, President, Long Beach Casting Club
Everglades Fly Fishing Guide & Instructor
American Casting Association Fly Casting Tournaments
The American Casting Association (ACA) is organized exclusively for charitable and educational purposes to foster national and international amateur sports competition in the sports of angling and casting; to support, develop and train amateur athletes for the U.S. Casting Team and send them to international amateur competitions; to sanction national casting tournaments and maintain uniform rules governing tournament casting; to educate members of the public about angling and casting, and to raise and distribute money for any of the preceding purposes. In brief, the ACA is the major league for individuals motivated to be the best they can be at casting a fly rod accurately and for distance.
I have become a better caster, angler, and instructor through my ACA fly casting tournament experiences. I have been blessed to receive instruction and ongoing coaching from the best fly casters on the planet. Thanks to their coaching and willingness to help me, I have become a vastly improved fly caster and instructor. I am having fun and improving my scores in the ACA tournaments in which I participate. Most importantly, I practice what I teach as an Everglades Fly Fishing Guide and Instructor. In brief, becoming a better fly caster requires practice on the grass and the water.
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