My passion is fishing. I have been fly fishing since I was 15 years old.

Over the years I have developed a few bad habits that, although they have not

 

stopped me catching fish, they have restricted my casting and therefore my total enjoyment of the sport.

So when I had the opportunity of enlisting in one of Peter Hayes’ Fly Fishing Schools I was excited at the prospect of learning a few new tricks and ironing out those bad habits.

The difference in my casting is amazing. Just an adjustment of the hand and a sharp stop at the top of the backcast has made all the difference.

Being a big man I was also taught by Peter that strength means nothing unless you have technique and timing. 
The bonus was the chat at lunch with all the fishing tips that I picked up.

I feel totally refreshed and can’t wait to try my newfound skills.”

Rex Hunt
Melbourne, Australia

Hi Guys,

 

Of all the National level coaches I have been associated with Peter Hayes is among the top few I have seen who has an ability to get across his knowledge, expertise and experience with passion, simplicity and precision.

Richard Shuttleworth
Skill Acquisition Specialist
Australian Institute of Sport
Australian Sports Commission

From Gordon Van der Spuy (Johannesburg)

Attended Peter Hayes’ casting clinic yesterday, Brilliant, the guy shoots common casting theory out of the water, and backs his arguments up, by actually showing you what he’s on about. He can roll cast and entire line out with minimal, if any effort. The guy is also an excellent teacher. He makes it simple for the guys. I learnt a lot as did everyone who was there. Really worth going to, the man is a genius. You’re going to have fun.

Gordon Van der Spuy

Peter,
I want to thank you for your time today. You are an extraordinarily talented flycaster, but more importantly, a perceptive, encouraging and enthusiastic instructor and guide.

You work entirely in the present, being there, to the delight of we students. Every year I entirely fail to heed your admonishments of practise, practise and practise, but instead I treasure each year I get to spend a day of flycasting on the lake.

Of the many gifted people I am privileged to meet, you truly stand out from the crowd.

Well done.
Nigel Spork – Brisbane

Dear Peter,

It is not often in life when you are witness to an experience that can transform the way forward, a sort of bend in the road, a road that before lay straight, merging with the horizon. This bend suddenly offers perspective and a clarity that inspires an individual’s path, not only to better ones self but to share this perspective as an integral tool in enlightening others that may have travelled this same road.

I cant help to think how one dimensional our pervious attempts have been in teaching casting to newcomers to this sport, a method of … Here are the rules (10 & 2 o’clock positions) and as you persevere you will hopefully grasp an understanding of what works and what does not. Alternatively your method breaks the boundary of “do’s and don’ts” and lets people get comfortable with line behavior, paving an easy pathway to building on ones own abilities. With your tools, people are now able toshed the “rules and restraints” of casting and to understand the demystified dynamics of casting.

So Peter, on behalf of the Natal Fly Fishers Club (NFFC) we would just like to say a great big thank you for sharing your”disease” with us and offering a fresh and rejuvenated perspective on fly casting. I for one have even brought my rod and line to the office today to spread the disease to my poor work colleagues and teach them a thing or two that I was once taught by a “short arrogant Tasmanian man” who had a dynamic passion for casting and teaching people.

Furthermore, the NFFC would like to thank Linda Gorlei of KZNFFA for making this opportunity available to us and to John Geils from Xplorer Fly Fishing for showcasing some of their demo rods, lines and reels, the T50 combination is truly a beautiful outfit to cast. Ralph Tiaden and Paul de Wet from Hilton College, thank you for making your magnificent facilities available to us, without the indoor center the event would never have been a success and the tea treats were truly delicious.

To all the participants thank you all for braving the wind and making the effort to attend, I am quite confident that your casting will take on a new dimension and result in you tightening your line into a few more fish that previously may have evaded you. As soon as I receive workshop notes I will distribute them to all the attendants

Peter, I think I speak on behalf of all us South African’s when I say that you are one of only just a couple of Auzzie/Tasmanian gents that would really like to see visiting our shores again.

Safe travels and please thank your family for allowing you so much time away from home.

All the best,

Graeme Steart

Peter,

Thanks again for the private lesson last week.

I felt that I learnt a great deal and really appreciated your way of explaining the physics of casting. I think I now have a much better understanding of the dynamics.

Now I will practise hard for a month or two and then I will be back for a refresher.

I think that your offer to be available for follow up contact is a great idea and I will take you up on it at some stage.

I certainly cannot criticise you teaching skills.

I think you do a great job. I particularly liked the fact that you tried different routines until you found one that “clicked” for me. In my case you might recall that it was choosing two points in the sky to which to move the rod tip.

I was a little concerned about spending 4 hours flat out casting, but again your way of breaking up the tuition into bite size sessions works well.

I will make sure that I am a better caster when next we meet.

Best Regards
Don Parry – Melbourne

Dear Peter,

What a great day we had on last Sunday week. Your attention to detail, enthusiasm, passion and ability to explain details in a way that was easily understand was very much appreciated by me and others who attended on the day.

It is not always easy to explain in details that are easy to understand things like power and the application of it, smooth casting, mend casting, holding the rod to tightly, soft hands and many other details.

You certainly have that ability, and therefore I was able to gain a lot from the day. As mentioned on the day I would appreciate if you have a paper or presentation of the day if these details could be sent to me, thanking you in advance and thanks again for a great day.

Kind Regards
Michael – Sydney

Peter,
I just want to thank you for your guidance and advice.
You will see me again, for sure.

Last sunday I was sitting down casting 15m with the top part of the rod, smoothly, without any effort.

Thanks for the tips.

Peter Knott – Wollongong

A word from Greg French about Peter Hayes’ casting clinics:

Perhaps you think you don’t need any fly casting tuition. Put a dinner plate on your lawn, stand back 12 metres (40 feet) and have a go at landing a fly on target. Shocking, isn’t it?

I finally got sick of my imperfect casting and decided to do something about it. Practising didn’t help much. I found it impossible to self analyse my throw and, despite an awful lot of effort, I hardly improved at all. I had to admit that I didn’t know enough about the technicalities of casting or even how a rod really works. Clearly I needed professional tuition.

Peter Hayes is held in very high regard in professional circles and was recommended to me by more than one fishing guru. Anyhow, I figured that I could scarcely do better than be instructed by the current Australian fly casting champion (not to mention fly fishing champion) and eventually took the plunge.

The school I attended was held at Corra Linn during July. What a staggering six hours of tuition it tuned out to be. Let me start by stressing that all students improved dramatically over the course of the day. The other anglers were average casters to start with but all improved out of sight.

Despite some of us having had years of experience, we could hardly credit how easy it was to become appreciably better than we had been. Importantly, Peter’s undisputed prowess with the fly rod is matched by his skill as a teacher. Everyone received heaps of personal analysis and faults were explained in simple language, not in incomprehensible jargon.

Peter was also willing to answer questions on general fishing matters.

This may sound over the top, but that six hours of tuition were the most exciting hours of formal education I have ever experienced.

Furthermore, Peter’s clever use of prompts, analogies and memory-triggers meant that, despite being saturated with information and technical advice, I was easily able to recall the main points while honing my skills at home during the ensuing weeks. (Mind you, if I had forgotten I could have referred to Peter’s printed overview which reiterated the memory triggers as well as strategies for overcoming common casting problems.)

The improvement in my casting has been so dramatic that, far from being the chore I expected, practising has proved to be addictive. I want to stress that the techniques developed and refined by tournament casters are the techniques now being enthusiastically embraced by the world’s leading anglers – it most definitely is not show-pony stuff.

I have not seen these modern techniques described or explained in current literature or videos, so unless you are involved in the tournament scene they are bound to come as big a revelation.Now, once you have done the course, I recommend that, like me, you practice at home, say a hour or so every couple of days for a month, and then have your cast re-analysed.

By this time you will need to be reassured that you have not developed any new bad habits and in any case it will be time for fine tuning. You will also be ready to concentrate on things other than the basic cast, perhaps roll casting (the real way), serpentine casting, casting across the wind, bow-and-arrow roll casting or . . . well, the sky is the limit.

When I knew my casting was ready for further refinement, a casting mate and I hired Peter for one of his Advanced Fishing Skills Days at Arthurs Lake. For us this meant being able to learn more about casting and being able to get the low down on English loch-style fishing (both dry fly and wet fly techniques). But it could have meant pretty much whatever we had wanted.

Peter has a vast knowledge of all trout fishing techniques and has fishing skills second to none.”

Greg French – 1999