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BEETHOVEN AND THE FLY SWATTER

This Classically Innovative Casting Technique Has Beginners

Challenging Tough Fish In Just 45 Minutes

Terry W. Sheely

A cheap plast ic f ly swat ter,                                    

Beethoven’s booming Fifth Symphony

and East Cape fly guide

Mike Rieser, when thrown together for 45

minutes can teach a beginner to pick up a

fly rod and punch out casts with enough

oomph and skill to hook marlin, sails, wahoo,

roosters, dorado, tuna and most other

surface-running big dream saltwater fish.

“Beethoven and the Fly Swatter” is

an innovative short-fast casting course that

Rieser’s fly-guide partner John Matson developed

for their Sea of Cortez and Rocky

Mountain clientele. It’s a short course that

works just as well in cold northern waters

for fly fishers challenging albacore off

California, coho in the Northwest, and any

other salt or fresh water fishery that needs

to be tackled with heavy rods and lines.

Developed by Matson, the casting instruction

that Rieser, a full-time fly guide

at Van Wormer’s Punta Colorada in Baja,

teaches has evolved into a Classical onetwo,

swat and cast system. It’s the result of

three decades of guiding beginners to big

game fly-fishing adventures in the Rocky

Mountains and Sea of Cortez. This year,

for the first time, Beethoven and the Fly

Swatter is being taught at the Federation of

Fly Fishers conclave in West Yellowstone,

according to Matson.

In less time than it takes to mix a

decent dorado seviche, Beethoven, the

Fly Swatter and Rieser zap the big-gear

intimidation factor, and have novices delivering

10-inch macho mullet patterns on

12-weight rods straight into bare-knuckle

brawls with some of the hottest game fish

in the ocean.

Here’s how they do it…

PART ONE:

Cast ing With Fly Swatter

1. Caster stands back against a wall

holding a standard fly swatter in the master

casting hand.

2. Re-position one-half step forward

away from the wall.

3. With the fly swatter in hand, the

caster is asked to imagine a housefly resting

on the wall directly behind the casting arm

and slightly above head-high

4: With a stiff wrist and backhand

swing swat the fly, and hold the fly swatter

in swat position on the wall.

5. Now add the pounding classical

rhythm of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth

Symphony, go ahead and hum it – Da…

Da..Da..Da…Dum!

6. On the first Da the fly swatter

whacks the fly against the wall and stays

there through the quick-pace of second,

third and fourth Da (the classic three-count

timing pause between back and forward

casts). At the fourth Da the swatter moves

smoothly forward, and on the resounding

Dum it is slammed to a stop.

Miss a Da on the backcast, and you

not only ‘cheat Beethoven,’ Rieser warns,

but worse you blow the timing of the composition,

the backcast doesn’t have time to

unroll the rod won’t load, and the forward

cast will collapse like a First Chair violinist

with flaccid strings.

Da…Da..Da..Da…Dum

PART TWO:

Pull ing The Bungee

1. Attach a 24-inch loop of bungee cord

to the handle of the fly swatter.

2: The stretch-cord will compensate

for every student’s tendency in the double

haul to make the initial line pull and forget

the second. The bungee recoil takes care

of that.

3: Hold the bungee in the line hand.

4: Make the backcast to Fly Swatter

Da, pull the bungee down, hold it through

the three Da..Da..Da notes, then follow

the swatter forward into the cast.

Getting the timing down for the bungee

double haul will take most beginners about

20 repetitive minutes to master, Rieser says

The difference between Beethoven

swatting over salt or fresh water is a matter

of volume control.

Hum Da…Da..Da..Da…Dum loud

and with gusto for saltwater power and

quiet and softly for trout.

Practice with Beethoven, the Fly Swatter

and Bungee for 40 minutes, then tradein

the swatter for a rod, the bungee for line

but keep the Fifth Symphony Da…Da..Da..

Da…Dum pounding in your psyche.

“The system works so well,” Rieser

says, “because the student learns the casting

stroke kinesthetically, developing muscle

memory before they ever pick up a fly rod,

and without the distractions of being on

fishing water.”

The fly-on-the-wall-swat of the back

cast establishes a precise stopping point

with the wrist in perfect position with no

way to drift back in anticipation of the

forward cast. Timing the forward cast to

the first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth

Symphony develops muscle memory timing

and once that’s developed the instructor

can start fine tuning the stroke. “This

builds confidence” Rieser points out, “and

opens the beginner to accepting positive

corrections.

“Mistakes in the stroke are easily corrected

without having to go into the precise

technical mechanics of the fly stroke,” the

instructor adds. “Mechanical explanations

for most beginners are confusing and get

in the way of learning to cast.”

“For years,” Matson points out, “we

have tried to make the art of fly casting

much harder than it needs to be, where the

ego of the instructor became the focus and

not the student. Our goal in developing

this system is to get someone casting as

soon as they can, to get them on the water

having fun.

Forty minutes with a fly swatter, five

minutes of practice with an actual fly rod

and game-on.

“This is all it takes to get beginners

on the water and fishing. They can always

come back later to learn the finer points of

casting,” Matson said.

“When I get in a hurry and my casts

start falling apart,” Matson admits, “I play

Beethoven in my mind and somehow it all

comes back together again.”

Da…Da..Da..Da….Dum!

BEETHOVEN AND THE FLY SWATTER

This Classically Innovative Casting Technique Has Beginners

Challenging Tough Fish In Just 45 Minutes

Terry W. Sheely

A cheap plast ic f ly swat ter,

Beethoven’s booming Fifth Symphony

and East Cape fly guide

Mike Rieser, when thrown together for 45

minutes can teach a beginner to pick up a

fly rod and punch out casts with enough

oomph and skill to hook marlin, sails, wahoo,

roosters, dorado, tuna and most other

surface-running big dream saltwater fish.

“Beethoven and the Fly Swatter” is

an innovative short-fast casting course that

Rieser’s fly-guide partner John Matson developed

for their Sea of Cortez and Rocky

Mountain clientele. It’s a short course that

works just as well in cold northern waters

for fly fishers challenging albacore off

California, coho in the Northwest, and any

other salt or fresh water fishery that needs

to be tackled with heavy rods and lines.

Developed by Matson, the casting instruction

that Rieser, a full-time fly guide

at Van Wormer’s Punta Colorada in Baja,

teaches has evolved into a Classical onetwo,

swat and cast system. It’s the result of

three decades of guiding beginners to big

game fly-fishing adventures in the Rocky

Mountains and Sea of Cortez. This year,

for the first time, Beethoven and the Fly

Swatter is being taught at the Federation of

Fly Fishers conclave in West Yellowstone,

according to Matson.

In less time than it takes to mix a

decent dorado seviche, Beethoven, the

Fly Swatter and Rieser zap the big-gear

intimidation factor, and have novices delivering

10-inch macho mullet patterns on

12-weight rods straight into bare-knuckle

brawls with some of the hottest game fish

in the ocean.

Here’s how they do it…

PART ONE:

Cast ing With Fly Swatter

1. Caster stands back against a wall

holding a standard fly swatter in the master

casting hand.

2. Re-position one-half step forward

away from the wall.

3. With the fly swatter in hand, the

caster is asked to imagine a housefly resting

on the wall directly behind the casting arm

and slightly above head-high

4: With a stiff wrist and backhand

swing swat the fly, and hold the fly swatter

in swat position on the wall.

5. Now add the pounding classical

rhythm of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth

Symphony, go ahead and hum it – Da…

Da..Da..Da…Dum!

6. On the first Da the fly swatter

whacks the fly against the wall and stays

there through the quick-pace of second,

third and fourth Da (the classic three-count

timing pause between back and forward

casts). At the fourth Da the swatter moves

smoothly forward, and on the resounding

This Classically Innovative Casting Technique Has Beginners

Challenging Tough Fish In Just 45 Minutes

Terry W. Sheely

A cheap plast ic f ly swat ter,

Beethoven’s booming Fifth Symphony

and East Cape fly guide

Mike Rieser, when thrown together for 45

minutes can teach a beginner to pick up a

fly rod and punch out casts with enough

oomph and skill to hook marlin, sails, wahoo,

roosters, dorado, tuna and most other

surface-running big dream saltwater fish.

“Beethoven and the Fly Swatter” is

an innovative short-fast casting course that

Rieser’s fly-guide partner John Matson developed

for their Sea of Cortez and Rocky

Mountain clientele. It’s a short course that

works just as well in cold northern waters

for fly fishers challenging albacore off

California, coho in the Northwest, and any

other salt or fresh water fishery that needs

to be tackled with heavy rods and lines.

Developed by Matson, the casting instruction

that Rieser, a full-time fly guide

at Van Wormer’s Punta Colorada in Baja,

teaches has evolved into a Classical onetwo,

swat and cast system. It’s the result of

three decades of guiding beginners to big

game fly-fishing adventures in the Rocky

Mountains and Sea of Cortez. This year,

for the first time, Beethoven and the Fly

Swatter is being taught at the Federation of

Fly Fishers conclave in West Yellowstone,

according to Matson.

In less time than it takes to mix a

decent dorado seviche, Beethoven, the

Fly Swatter and Rieser zap the big-gear

intimidation factor, and have novices delivering

10-inch macho mullet patterns on

12-weight rods straight into bare-knuckle

brawls with some of the hottest game fish

in the ocean.

Here’s how they do it…

PART ONE:

Cast ing With Fly Swatter

1. Caster stands back against a wall

holding a standard fly swatter in the master

casting hand.

2. Re-position one-half step forward

away from the wall.

3. With the fly swatter in hand, the

caster is asked to imagine a housefly resting

on the wall directly behind the casting arm

and slightly above head-high

4: With a stiff wrist and backhand

swing swat the fly, and hold the fly swatter

in swat position on the wall.

5. Now add the pounding classical

rhythm of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth

Symphony, go ahead and hum it – Da…

Da..Da..Da…Dum!

6. On the first Da the fly swatter

whacks the fly against the wall and stays

there through the quick-pace of second,

third and fourth Da (the classic three-count

timing pause between back and forward

casts). At the fourth Da the swatter moves

smoothly forward, and on the resounding