"Scott Seidman" wrote in message
. 1.4...
Many folks develop the nasty habit in this situation of roll-casting

Two of the Grand River Coop guides (Neil Houlding and Ian Martin) told me
and a friend (Andy), being guided separately, that it was bad practice
when they caught us doing it. On quiet water, roll casting to pickup
the line will spray alot of water over your target area, and needlessly
line fish. On a backcast, much of that water will spray behind you.
Seems reasonable to me--slightly worse than useless false casting,
because of the water spray.

The rationale is good enough but it only applies in a limited set of
circumstances. As long as you've got sufficient room to either side of
where you want to drop your bug the roll cast pickup can be forced to the
side, thus eliminating the droplet problem or lining the fish. It can also
be done with a short line, with the same result. In either case, it's easy
to pick up the line, back cast for acceleration, and shoot line on the
forward cast for distance. I used the roll cast pickup frequently and
deliberately. I find it very useful in some tight quarters, but even more
so for repetitive casting while moving slowly upstream and for working the
shoreline of a blue gill pond from a belly boat.

That said, on small water with lots of cover, it just might be
unavoidable. I still do it, I just try not to.

To each his own, but I think you're trying to cheat yourself out of a very
useful tool.

Wolfgang