Okay, this little piece is something that I wrote for a fly-show booklet this last winter. I had enough space for 300 words and a photo. That’s not a lot of room in which to describe the double haul. In fact, once I got into it, I began to view the article as an exercise, paring down the words until the essentials were all that remained. Have a read (no illustrations!) and let me know how it works for you (while this is far from the last you’ll read/see of hauling on FF&W, it makes for a succinct start, I think).

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Double hauling is an efficient way to increase the amount of energy in the cast. You can learn the basics by using pantomining (casting motions sans rod or line).

Begin with both your rod and line hands at your “ready to cast” position. Put your line hand directly under your rod hand—the Beginning Haul Position. Now make a downward tugging motion with your line hand that is about a foot long and stop—the Ending Haul Position. Now, move your line hand back up to the Beginning Haul Position. That completes one haul cycle—a Single Haul.

Now, make another Single Haul motion, but this time as soon as you have reached the Ending Haul Position, immediately move your hand back up to the Beginning Haul Position. That is the basic timing: A “down/up” (à la Mel Krieger), or a “bounce.” Now let’s turn that into something real.

Starting at the ready position, begin to slowly pantomime a backcast. Move both hands in concert, following the rod hand with the line hand. Just as you are about to “turn-over” (a.k.a. “speed-up-and-stop,” “power-snap,” etc.) the imaginary rod, also begin to haul downward with the line hand. Mirror the speed, distance and motion of your rod hand with the haul. Your line hand should reach the Ending Haul Position at the essentially same time that your rod hand stops the rod.

On the forward cast, your hands travel together until the rod hand is approaching the “turn-over” position. Then, your line hand moves away, making another haul. By making a Single Haul on the backcast and a Single Haul on the forward cast, you have created a Double Haul. As you practice, learn to vary the length of the haul(s) with the length of the casting stroke (short stroke=short haul(s), long stroke=long haul(s)).

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