landing your lure or bait in the right spot is an essential part of angling success.

Casting is something many anglers take for granted; if it lands in the water then that’s often deemed as close enough. Whether fishing with bait or lures, being able to place a cast on the money can often mean the difference between a creel full of fish, or nothing.

A recent trip to the Bidgee near Balranald was proof in itself to the benefits of casting accuracy. Having just received a rise in water levels, the local fish population were making the most of the newly covered ground. As the waters began to recede, the fish continued to feed against the bank making the most of the available tucker on hand. Fishing from a boat, the method used on this occasion was to cast small spinner-baits and blades along the edge of logs as hard up against the bank as the accuracy factor would allow.

Any cast that fell short of its intended mark by even a foot generally went unscathed, while those that landed only inches from the bank were often belted on the second or third turn of the handle. The distance between success and failure in this case was a matter of inches, but that was all it took.

This sort of scenario presents itself in many facets of fishing, be it casting a bait along the edge of a current line or flicking lures around the timber, the benefits of accurate casting are many. Practice is what makes perfect and this can be as simple as a few targets in the back yard set up at different distances. With a little practice, it doesn’t take long to hone this important skill.

For those that intend on going to the Cod Classic at Mulwala on the first weekend in Dec you have the perfect opportunity to see what a lot of practice can achieve. Dave Hodge the master caster will be doing a few demos over the weekend and his awesome ability is something to behold. Just one of his many freakish feats is to hit a plastic bottle thrown into the air; this is hard enough to do with a shotgun let alone a casting plug. Dave will be the first to admit that his ability to catch fish while others are left wanting, is thanks in a large part to his casting ability. Don’t underestimate the smaller points of angling, when you really need them its amazing how big they suddenly become.