Fly Fishing and Fly Casting
Tuition
Learning the art of Fly Casting with Instructor Andrew Toft.
Fly Fishing lessons with Andrew Toft. Andrew is one of only a few master qualified instructors in Scotland and is based in Kilsyth between Glasgow and Stirling. He provides tuition on all forms of Fly Fishing. Andrew is a life long friend and former pupil of Peter Anderson. Peter is a well-known instructor and World Champion caster who lives in Kirkintilloch near Glasgow. Andrew received lessons from Peter for many years and went on to gain the Scottish Game Angling Award. This was shortly followed by completion of all the AAPGAI Casting qualifications, some to Masters Level. In addition, Andrew also gained sponsorship, travelling to many International destinations to successfully represent Scotland at numerous Fly Casting events. This included winning the first World Spey Casting Championships with standard fishing tackle in 2010 in Fagerness Norway. Travelling to International destinations also gave Andrew an opportunity to also complete the FFF THCI and Single Handed Master’s qualifications while in the USA at the Golden Gate Casting Club, San Francisco. He was the first person in Europe to hold the THCI qualification. Fly Fishing equipment for Salmon and Trout fishing has evolved a great deal in recent times. This has also brought about innovations in fly fishing and fly casting techniques.
Being involved in product design and traveling to many distant destinations to assist in FFF certification and testing has allowed Andrew to keep up to date with the most modern Spey Casting and Fly Fishing methods. This has also provided many excellent opportunities to import and share knowledge from some of the best Fly casting Instructors from around the World and improve his technical and practical ability. Andrew is also part of the Mackenzie fly fishing design team and works closely with Scott on many projects to design high quality award winning tackle.
Fly Fishing Lessons for beginners – Trout
Learning to Fly Fish can provide you with a lifelong passion of spending time surrounded by nature in many beautiful places. If you are a beginner then taking a lesson can not only help you choose the correct Fly Fishing equipment, it can also give you an understanding of Fly Casting skills and effective technique. Learning to Cast correctly can, at first, be counter intuitive as many beginners’ perception of how Fly Casting works will often lead to the same common faults and frustrations. A good instructor should be able to remove much of the frustration for you through simplistic explanations and demonstrations of correct technique. I teach both single handed and double handed techniques on a 1-1 basis or group tuition for beginners.
Beginners can learn how to:
Choose the correctly balanced Fly Fishing equipment
Correctly assemble your equipment
Understand the function of your equipment and how it works
Learn the various casting techniques including the Roll Cast and Overhead Cast
Learn how to Fly Fish for trout
Fly Fishing Tuition for improvers – Trout
If you are a keen trout fisherman then there are numerous different Fly Casting techniques that can be learned. One of the most effective is the ability to double haul correctly. I use various casting exercises which have proven to be very useful and effective when taught with the appropriate knowledge and understanding. In addition I often teach people how to Spey Cast using a single handed rod. This is a very valuable skill to have and it has caught me many fish that I wouldn’t have otherwise caught, had I not been able to cover them quickly using a Spey Cast. There is no requirement for any special equipment and Spey Casts can be used on rivers or on still waters alike.
The majority of the Fly Fishing lessons I do now a day's involves mentoring individuals who aspire to sit one of the various exams or instructors who are already qualified but want to progress their qualifications. If this is something that you may be interested in you will find more information on this page here.
Spey Casting Lessons for beginners - Salmon 
Beginners who have had no prior experience in Salmon Fishing or Spey Casting can often make good progress very quickly with the correct guidance. This is because I have the opportunity to explain to them the pitfalls and common faults to avoid. They very soon begin to understand the fundamental points that make Spey Casting efficient. There are no ingrained faults or symptoms of poor technique to unlearn; this helps them concentrate on acquiring a good foundation in technique. It often surprises me how many people buy expensive equipment and do not acquire the knowledge or skill to use it correctly. My advice to anyone who is learning to Salmon fish would always be to take a lesson with an AAPGAI instructor before buying expensive equipment. Most will also be more than happy to provide or to let you use their equipment for the duration of the lesson. They can then advise you on what tackle would be most appropriate for you to buy.
Advanced Spey Casting Lessons- Salmon
I usually start a Spey Casting Lesson with a conversation to establish what experience and understanding my client may already have. This enables me to structure the lesson correctly and provide the appropriate level of explanation and teaching methods to fine tune technique. I can demystify the mechanics of Spey Casting and rectify any faults to help them become a much more efficient Caster. It is very important to have a good appreciation of how the hand, arm and body movements influence what happens at the rod tip. In addition, video analysis is available where appropriate which allows us identify the smallest of detail within the casting movements. This has proved an invaluable tool to use when teaching.
Learn the full spectrum of Spey Casts
Learn to Cast more effectively and efficiently
Learn to Cast and combat the wind effectively
Increase distance when Spey Casting.
Fly Fishing is a fantastic sport but learning to fly cast properly from a qualified instructor will be a long term investment. Fly casting techniques and equipment have evolved over time and expert tuition will give you the required skills and understanding in order to make progress.
Tuition in Spey Casting or Trout Casting is based on £30 per hour subject to availability contact Andrew.
Whatever route your Fly Fishing takes you in the years to come, I wish you the very best of luck and success.
There are also many tourist attractions within a short journey from our location.
An official guide to Scotland's Capital Edinburgh http://edinburgh.org/
An official
Historic Guide to Stirling http://www.destinationstirling.com/
The city of Glasgow https://peoplemakeglasgow.com/visiting
We also run some of our Spey Casting Courses on the River Tay which is located near to the City of Perth http://www.perthcity.co.uk/
For further information please visit https://www.visitscotland.com/
Best
Andrew Toft
Andrew also provides Spey casting lessons in Central Scotland including Glasgow,Stirling and Edinburgh. 
