FLY FISHING -- In a Sunday Outdoors feature story on the art of fly casting, Joe Roope of Castaway Fly Shop in Coeur d'Alene offered  two tips anglers should keep in mind on the front end of initiating a good fly cast:

1. Start the cast with the rod tip at the water.

The idea is to load the rod with the weight of the line and the friction of the water on the line on the pickup and back cast.

That’s where the energy is generated. It’s like archery: The bow is what releases all the energy and delivers the arrow.

2. Pick up the perfect amount of line.

Every line-rod combination has a different optimum place to start the cast. It could be 10, 15, 20 feet or whatever, depending on the stiffness of the rod and the weight and taper of the line.

Experiment by putting out different lengths of line in front of you and picking it up for a back cast. Pretty soon you find the right swing weight of line so the rod loads perfectly on the pickup and the cast is effortless.”

Some anglers use a permanent ink pen to mark the “sweet spot” on the line where it meets the rod tip. Just strip in to that point and cast.