To cast the fly, start with the bobber and jig in front of you with the bobber a couple of feet below the rod tip, then bring the rod straight overhead until you will hear the jig hit the water and the rod will load up, then release with a smooth cast. Nothing to it once you get the hang of it, you will do it in your sleep.
When the fish are on the bluffs, which they are not yet, they could be right up next to it or a few feet or more away. I have seen days when I have to pretty much parallel the bluff and actually bounce my bobber off the wall to put the jig right up against the bluff to get a bite. This usually happens after a long cold spell followed with a couple of unusually warm days for the bluff rock will heat up and cause the fish to pretty much put their tails against the wall. Don't just target bluffs for fish, try the deep points, shale points, plus points with grass, and then there is the look like nothing banks that will hold fish also. As far as the leader goes, I start everytime at 10 feet and adjust from there. If no action at 10 feet and it is overcast then I will raise it up to 8 feet or if it is high blue skies I will lower it to 12 feet. The thought process is the fish may be closer to the surface on overcast and deeper to avoid the sun. I have had to go as deep as 14 feet before to catch fish and even landed a 5 pounder with a 14 foot leader by myself last year. I had to lay my rod down and hand line it to the net in the end but at least she was hooked in the first place. Remember that you don't ever want to fish deeper than the fish are suspending. They will raise up to hit the fly but may not see it below them to hit the fly. I have learned it is all about trying new things until you find the one that works. When you find that color or type of jig that works, it usually works for a day or more. Dont' be afraid to change up techniques, retrieves, depths, type of banks and even fishing in the sun versus the shade at times. I do fish the shady banks MOST of the time but when grass is present I will fish the sunny banks to mix it up a bit. Hope this helps and the best experience you will ever get is try it. I have enough confidence in the fly that I think I will catch a 5 pounder every day I go to Dale and don't think I will ever get skunked. Not trying to be cocky but I have spent no telling how many days on Dale getting skunked to learn what to do and what not to do. This time of year Bluffs get you quantity of fish but the other spots will get you quality of fish. Case in point on Saturday my buddy and I fished my big fish spots all day long and landed 3 fish with 1 an even 5 pounder. Fished from 5am to 4pm with only 3 fish and I told my buddy that we was not leaving until we had 6 in the boat. We went straight to a bluff that I knew had a bunch of 15 inch and smaller fish and we had 3 within 10 minutes to make our 6. Big Fish are all over Dale and can be caught but it takes time to eliminate certain water. Good LUck.
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