Last updated: 7/2009

ome big ones too.
Eliminate those goofs and watch your
CASTING ABILITY SOAR!

If you think the purpose of "How to be a Lousy Flycaster" is to turn you into a lousy fly caster like that guy on the cover, you're wrong. Here's some advice
NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER!
The guy on the cover is Hapless Harry who holds the very unofficial title of "Worlds Worst Fly Caster"
He does every thing wrong.
Well, almost everything.
He no longer threads his line through the hook keeper. No, he didn't figure that one out all by himself. Some helpful fly fisherman set him straight.
Someone once suggested that he hold a twenty dollar bill between his elbow and his body when he practices his casting.
He still does that. Not when he practices, which he hasn't done in many years, but when he actually fishes.
If he doesn't happen to have a twenty dollar bill. he will use two tens's. Or a ten and 2 fives. Or a ten, a five and five ones.
If you happen to meet him on stream, make sure you fish downstream of him and keep a sharp eye out for floating money. Catch and Release regulations do not apply to United States currency. (Not sure about Canada or other countries.)
But I digress.
This book is not really about Hapless Harry and his misadventures. Actually, you've probably guessed that Hapless Harry is a ficticious character. I made him up. I even drew his picture because I am the only person in the whole world that knows what he looks like. Actually, I found out what he looked like after I drew him.
However, the mistakes are NOT ficticious, they are REAL.
This book is about the mistakes that I used to make.
It's about the mistakes that most beginners make.
It's about the mistakes that many fly fishers make.
It's about mistakes that you may be making without realizing it.
But more importantly...
It's about NOT MAKING THOSE MISTAKES anymore!
(Or at least most of the time.)

Confucious said, "A picture is worth 1000 words" Confucious was wrong. Research has revealed that, on average, a picture is worth 462 words, so, instead of using 462 words to explain the unique feature that makes this book different than any other.....
....here's a picture of Page 4
NOTE: Quality suffers a bit because these pages have been reduced to about 76% of the original size of those that you will find in the book.

Unlike many eBooks, "How to be a Lousy Fly Caster" is not a "text only" book.
There are about 114 images to support the written word and that's not counting 46 or so "head shots" of Hapless Harry. If a picture is really worth 1000 words, as Confucious said, or only 462, it looks like I saved myself writing either 114,000 or 52,668 words, depending on whether or not you believe me or Confucious.
Actually writing the 114,000 or the 52,668 words that I didn't have to write
would have taken a lot less time than producing the drawings that saved me from writing all those words. The important thing is that the illustrations will save you from reading all those words that I didn't have to write.

The casting stroke has been related to a clock face ever since the first two handed clock was invented around the year 1340.
Imagine a class of beginners standing in a row as a casting instructor says "On the back cast, you should stop the rod at 1:00 o'clock, so everyone point your rod at 1:00 o'clock"
If everyone in the class pointed their rod in the same direction, what conclusion could you draw?
ANSWER: There are no left-handed people nor kids in the class.
Figure it out.
Here's Page 24 where we continue making a case for dumping the clock idea. Believe it or not, many kids today can tell time only by digital clocks and watches.

This book details 22 things that can be done wrong.
That's 22 mistakes you can learn NOT to do.
If you are just starting out as a fly fisher, that's 22 mistakes you can avoid.
If you are an average fly fisher, some of those casting goofs that you are not aware of have, no doubt, crept into your casting style .
When you download "How to be a Lousy Fly Caster" you will have a sure fire
"Goof Detector".
Compare your casting with the mistakes described in the book. When you find a match, you are a few practice sessions away from eliminating the problem and increasing your casting skill.
Once you learn that you're making an error, you know how NOT to make that error.It will take practice, of course. As you begin to master a better way to do something, don't forget how to do it badly. Practice alternating the good and the bad technique. The ability of doing something wrong can come in handy.
If you discover things you have always been doing right, learn how to do those things wrong.
HUH !
The ability to make mistakes on cue will help in teaching a novice fly fisher.
The fact is that sometimes it's good to be able to deliberately make some "mistakes",
not to improve your CASTING, but to improve your FISHING
Some of the following specialty casts make deliberate use of "controlled mistakes" starting on page 96.

Here's an example of one of those special casts.
It's called the Pendulum Cast

In a normal cast, the loop forms with the fly on top.
Pages 113, 114 and 115 will teach you how to invert the loop
so that the fly is on the bottom.
The Pendulum Cast is a really neat way to flip a fly under overhanging vegetation.

This goldmine of casting skills is yours for only
$19.97
No shipping and handling fees.
No waiting for the delivery man.
You can start reading in less than than an hour.
This is an eBook which you can download from the internet.
Notice that I did not show you a picture of a real book or an image of a big box as many eBook authors do. When you buy this book, don't expect a real 124 page hard cover book to slide out of your CD drive. It will arrive as a PDF (Portable Document Format).
Also notice that we have not buried the price in a welter of words or told you that a higher price goes into effect in two days or that it's really worth $268.13 and people who bought it at that price thought it was worth every penny.
Also missing are a list of free Bonuses. Internet marketing Gurus claim you can't sell an e-Book on the internet unless you give away a bunch of free stuff. How come bookstores don't give away free stuff? You want free stuff, buy an eBook for $97.00 about how to make a million dollars on the internet by next Tuesday from one of those marketing gurus. Lots of freebies there.
Another marketing ploy is to sprinkle big numbers throughout a sales pitch so that the asking price of what is being sold is the smallest number on the page.
O.K. that makes sense... I'll try it.
$568.00 -- $1,759.50 -- $12,600.75 -- $1,325,797.23 -- $19.97
That's right, Only $19.97
If the big difference between the meaningless $1,325,797.23 and the $19.97 price of the book doesn't convince you to buy, maybe a few humorous*/amusing*/funny*/hilarious* pages (*take your pick which) are worth a couple of bucks and that would reduce the real price of the serious stuff that can make you a slightly*/somewhat*/much*/fantastically* better caster.(*again, take your pick which)
If that marketing ploy did not entice you to hit the "Buy Now" button, maybe it's because the numbers were not cleverly "sprinkled" throughout the text.
What else can I say? Just buy the darn book! Hey, the accolades heaped upon you by your fis