The Wallis Cast

Wallis Casting with the Centrepin

Originally published on FM in April 2002

Probably the most famous of the great casters with the centrepin was F.W.K. Wallis. In his time this man was a colossus who ruled over the Hampshire Avon between the two world wars.

Preparing to cast

He was a gifted barbel angler and along with two others had a barbel of 14lb 6oz to his credit though the record with a fish of this weight was credited to Aylmer Tyron.

Wallis developed a method of casting off the drum of a centrepin which, with a little practice, allowed the angler to cast with comparatively light tackle up to thirty and more yards.

Grip the tell-tale shot and allow the baited hook to hang free of the hand

In describing this cast I am going to assume that the angler is using float tackle and as is common with this sort of set up has a tell-tale shot set around 4″ to 9″ from the hook.

For a right-handed angler he should in the first instance be stood facing either upstream or downstream; whichever gives him best advantage.

The reel should be placed in the normal place on the rod near the top of the butt. The rod should be held so that the handles of the reel face upwards. The right hand should hold the rod close to the reel so that the thumb of the right hand rests on the rim of the spool of the reel.

Take a loop of line from the reel

The line from the tip ring of the rod should be long enough to allow the angler to be able to comfortably hold the bottom, tell-tale split shot of the rig with the left hand. This should be held by lightly trapping the shot with the little finger allowing the baited hook to hang free below the hand.

The thumb or the forefinger of the left hand should be placed in the loop of line between the reel and the butt ring and a little line should be drawn off, the amount of this line should be just enough to make the angler feel comfortable.

Sweep the rod forwards and upwards

The angler should bring the rod up to chest height the tip pointing slightly behind him.

Now For The Clever Bit!

The cast is made by dropping the shot that has been in the left hand and at the same time sweeping the rod forwards and upwards with the right hand to propel the tackle out. Also at the same time as the rod is being swept forwards the left hand should be drawn swiftly and smoothly backwards – this action causes the loop to grow and sets the reel spinning.

Brake the reel with the thumb

The tackle should now fly out towards the target area.

Whilst the tackle is in flight keep the line running over the forefinger (or thumb if used) and bring the left hand up to meet the right.

As the tackle lands, stop the spool spinning with the thumb of your right hand to prevent overruns.

Hopefully by now you tackle will be sitting prettily just where you want it to be!

Watch a brief video of me executing the Wallis cast: