FFI Master Instructor · Bryson City, NC · Great Smoky Mountains
Saltwater Fly Casting Clinic
Two Days. Every Cast You Need. All Skill Levels Welcome.
The Saltwater Fly Casting Clinic in Bryson City, North Carolina is a 2-day intensive program covering the distance casting, accuracy, and presentation skills required for saltwater fly fishing — $1,550, taught by our credentialed instructor team, which includes FFI Master Casting Instructors. Instructors vary by session. Prepare for bonefish, tarpon, redfish, and permit before your next saltwater trip. Classes are taught by our team of credentialed instructors, which includes 2026 Women's World Fly Casting Champion Whitney Gould. Instructors vary by session.
The Flats Are Waiting
The cast of a lifetime is two days of the right instruction away.
Picture this: a permit materializes from the turquoise shallows sixty feet away. The guide calls the clock position. The fish is moving. You have one shot. One cast. Everything you've worked toward — the trips planned, the gear purchased, the hours of practice — comes down to this moment.
Now picture making that cast cleanly, accurately, and without hesitation.
The Saltwater Fly Casting Clinic is built around a single honest truth that saltwater guides repeat more than any other: the overwhelming majority of anglers who book expensive saltwater trips arrive unable to make the cast when it counts. Not because they don't care. Not because they haven't tried. Because saltwater fly casting is a specific, learnable skill set that nobody ever properly taught them.
Two days here changes that permanently.
"98% of saltwater captains internationally say the number one frustration guiding fly fishers is that clients cannot cover the fish when it counts. Two days here fixes that — permanently and completely."
You Can Do This
Distance, accuracy, and wind casting are not gifts.
They are skills — and they are teachable.
Saltwater fly casting feels intimidating from the outside. The distances seem impossible. The wind seems unmanageable. The pressure of casting to a moving fish seems overwhelming. Every one of those concerns is completely understandable — and every one of them dissolves with proper instruction and guided practice.
The mechanics behind a great saltwater cast are the same mechanics behind every great fly cast. You do not need to be an expert caster to attend this workshop. You need to want to get better — and show up ready to try.
Who This Workshop Is For
If a saltwater trip is on your list — this is the best investment you can make before you go.
- First-time saltwater fly fishers who want to arrive prepared rather than overwhelmed
- Freshwater anglers planning their first bonefish, permit, or tarpon trip
- Experienced saltwater anglers whose casting breaks down under pressure or in wind
- Guides and shop staff wanting to prepare clients more effectively for saltwater pursuits
- Anyone who has stood on a flats boat and wished their cast was better
- Anyone who has ever watched a fish swim away unchallenged because the cast wasn't there
Better than a new rod. Better than new flies. Better than anything in a catalog.
Full Curriculum
What You Will Learn
Two full days covering every cast, skill, and strategy you need for the flats — from fundamentals to game-changing techniques most anglers never learn.
Distance Without Effort
Saltwater casting demands reach — and most anglers try to achieve it through brute force, which works against them every time. Learn the mechanics of generating line speed efficiently so longer casts feel easier than your current short ones. Distance is a byproduct of technique, not strength. Every participant leaves casting further than they arrived — guaranteed.
Accuracy Under Pressure
A cast that lands in the right zone at the right moment is worth ten beautiful casts that miss. Learn the presentation angles, timing, and target focus that produce accurate deliveries when everything is moving — the boat, the fish, and your heart rate.
Casting in Wind
Wind is the defining challenge of saltwater fly fishing — and the one thing most anglers never properly prepare for. Learn to cast with the wind, into the wind, across the wind, and in the swirling crosswinds that make flats fishing so demanding. Wind is not your enemy. Untrained casting in wind is. This workshop removes that obstacle completely.
The Saltwater Double Haul
The engine of every long, efficient saltwater cast. Most anglers have a version of a double haul. Very few have one that actually works under pressure at distance. Learn to haul with timing, efficiency, and purpose — and feel the difference immediately in your line speed and loop quality.
The Elliptical Cast — The Secret Weapon
One of the most practical and underused tools in saltwater fly fishing. The elliptical cast traces an oval path — combining the forward and backward stroke in a continuous, flowing motion that eliminates unnecessary pauses, reduces false casting, and delivers the fly faster. In saltwater, time is everything. This cast solves it.
Quick Release & Shooting Line
Getting the fly in the air fast and delivering it with minimal false casts is one of the most practical and underrated skills in saltwater fly fishing. A fish on the flats does not wait. Learn to be ready.
Sight Fishing Presentations
Dropping a fly at the right distance, on the right angle, without lining the fish or spooking it with a splashy presentation — this is the art within the art. Learn to control where your fly lands and how it enters the water, because presentation in saltwater is everything.
Leader Construction & Rigging
A saltwater leader that turns over correctly under load, handles the shock of a strip strike, and holds up to the abrasion of big fish is not an afterthought — it is a system. Learn the construction principles, knots, and rigging considerations that give your setup the best possible chance.
The Strip Strike
The most common mistake freshwater anglers make in saltwater. Raising the rod to set the hook on a permit or tarpon costs more fish than any other single error. Learn the strip strike — why it works, when to use it, and how to make it instinctive before you ever step on a boat.
Casting to Moving Fish
Stationary targets are practice. Moving fish are the game. Learn to lead a fish correctly, adjust for speed and angle, and deliver the fly where the fish will be — not where it was. This single skill separates anglers who convert saltwater opportunities from those who watch them swim away.
Fly Selection & Strategy by Species
Bonefish, permit, tarpon, redfish, snook — every species demands a different approach, a different presentation, and a different set of expectations from the angler. Learn the strategic framework for approaching each pursuit so you arrive at your destination with a plan, not just hope.
The Secret Weapon
The elliptical cast feels like cheating once you learn it.
Fewer false casts. More accuracy. Less effort. It is one of the first things we teach in saltwater situations — and one of the most immediately game-changing skills any caster can add to their arsenal.
Once you feel an elliptical cast work for the first time — the way it loads the rod continuously and delivers energy to the fly line in one fluid arc — you will wonder how you ever fished without it.
The Venue
The ideal place to build saltwater skills — before the boat, before the pressure.
Bryson City, North Carolina might seem like an unlikely home for saltwater fly casting instruction. It is, in fact, ideal. The wide, open practice venues available in and around the Great Smoky Mountains provide the perfect environment for building and refining saltwater skills without the distraction of actually being on a boat — which means every concept can be learned, drilled, and locked in before the real-world pressure of a flats boat ever enters the equation.
This is exactly how elite athletes train. You don't learn a new skill in competition. You learn it in practice, repeat it until it is instinctive, and then perform it when it counts. Two days here, then your trip — wherever it takes you — with the cast that was always in you, finally unlocked.
Bryson City sits within easy reach of Asheville, Cherokee, and the heart of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Many participants extend their stay to fish some of the finest wild trout streams in the eastern United States.
The Instruction Team
Credentialed casting instruction, built on decades of experience.
The workshop draws on the experience of Mac Brown, North Carolina's only FFI Master Casting Instructor — one of fewer than a few hundred people worldwide to hold the designation — who has spent nearly four decades developing casters of every skill level on some of the world's finest water. His national advisor roles with Scientific Anglers and Temple Fork Outfitters have given him a uniquely deep understanding of how line, rod, and technique interact at the highest level.
The casting principles taught in this workshop are not opinions or preferences. They are the proven, physics-based mechanics that have produced World Champions, certified instructors, and — most importantly — anglers who step onto a flats boat prepared to make the most of every opportunity the guide works hard to give them. Our credentialed instructor team includes FFI Master Casting Instructors; instructors vary by session.
Guest instructors with saltwater-specific experience join select sessions throughout the year, bringing first-hand knowledge of the destinations and species most participants are preparing for.
On Our Instructor Team
Whitney Gould — 2026 Women's World Fly Casting Champion. Overall women's world champion at the 2026 World Flycasting Championships in Vinadio, Italy (four gold medals) and eight-time Spey-O-Rama women's world Spey casting champion.
Instructors vary by session.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Upcoming Saltwater Fly Casting Clinic Sessions
Enrollment is limited.
These dates fill fast.
Every year, anglers spend thousands of dollars on saltwater destinations and arrive without the casting skills to make the most of them. The guide works hard. The fish cooperate. And the cast isn't there.
That is a completely solvable problem. This workshop solves it.
"The ocean doesn't care how much your rod cost. It cares whether you can cast. Come learn how."
Questions? Contact Mac directly — or call before you book.