The eternal last cast.

We all know that it ''never is'', but is it desperation or optimism. Nevertheless I have yet to meet an angler who is not a victim of this phenomenon.
Take me for example, my last cast could be twenty or more.
From the veteran to the novice it will often apply. What's your take on this?

Desperation. Whereas the last cast has given me the odd fish over the years no more so or better than any other cast. I think its just an " I dont want to go home yet" thing.

Sometimes desperation, by that I don't mean blanking, I would be there all night sometimes if that was the case. No I mean if you are playing the numbers game, so many of a mixed species like roach, rudd, perch and you have the required numbers for your chosen species apart from one of them, that is where my last cast comes in even if I catch the species I don't want. Also not wanting to go home is another reason sometimes, We must have the worse traffic around here because the "roads were bad/had roadworks on them" is an excuse that cant be used much longer, They are always fine when my wife is with me mg:

When i first started fishing, many years ago the old chap who I used to go with was adamant, that if you said this is my last cast, it was bad luck to have any more,

Fairly sure I read in one of Chris Yates books, something similar,

Derek. I have a terrible habit for the last 30 years.

Counting. Ok count to 100 and thats it. Home.

1 2 3.......97 98 99 99 and half 99 and 3/4 etc.

Ok. Just another 100 then home......etc...

I liken my last cast to my other half ending a phone call, the call normally ends at least thirty minutes after the first goodbye.

It’s just about the only time I don’t mind a tangle or getting snagged, that ensures it was the “last cast”

Totally agree Derek

For me that's often the transition from daylight into twilight and typically, as I'm trotting, I often practice a little dodge my late uncle showed me more than 50 years ago. When you just can't see the float, count 3 turns of centrepin and strike! I also employ that when I'm trotting prodigious distances and my ageing eyesight just can't keep up!

Some prime examples:

Oh yes indeed, sometimes get the bus to my fishing and the eternal just one more cast phenomenon has made me miss the bus home many a time.
I often have packed all the gear up except rod and reel and will be having that last cast or three before dashing along the bank to get the bus only to see it leave the stop 100 yd away, its a ****** of a disease; no known cure.

Last couple of times out, I've been quite happy to get off the bank and out of the freezing wind! It's a different matter on a warm evening. Sometimes I'll set a mark, like "3 more fish and I'm off". But on some waters I've fished, if you had to catch, especially a particular species, before you could leave, they'd find your bones on the bank. I don't have a particular pack-up signal or ritual; something tells me that that will do, and the prospect of food, drink and comfort takes over. Along with thoughts of where I might fish next time.

Its often the last cast at dusk that a pike will take after what has been a slow day.

One of the fisheries I use has dawn to dusk policy I have been locked in many times because of the last cast and end up having to phone them to let me out now they are used to me they have given me the code to the gate

For me, it is and always has been made in anticipation albeit tinged with a little sadness of the realisation that the end of the session is in fact imminent.

Regardless of the time I am in the habit of always then packing up and then taking my last cup of coffee or tea on th bankside contemplating the day, the successes and failures and wondering what could have been done differently . . . . .

I am always having one last cast even when wet, cold, hungry and miserable particularly if I am about to blank!

I recon last cast syndrome captures the very essence of angling itself. It’s the perpetual anticipation that something MIGHT be about to happen.

chrissh said:

Click to expand...

I took my rods on my honeymoon, had a few good hours on the river Dee and Shroppy Canal.

I'm reminded that back in the hot summer of 1976 I got married and as we had no money for a honeymoon as such we had a few days out, one of which was a day fishing at Bury Hill lake.

I got Married in 1975 and sounds as if in same boat money wise, managed a few days in Wales, and 43 years later, still together and I still get to go fishing, and now instead of teaching my lads I am teaching my two eldest granchildren

Sometimes it could be that the day won't get any better....

Me and a mate had a day sharing a swim on the wye this june just gone... it was so hot, you were sweating in the shade doing nothing!

We were on the banks at 5am, and were in a swim that I knew relatively well. An hour or so in, my rod whacked over and I had the first fish - but then despite a lot of little knocks, not much else happened. I wondered down stream to have a trot, a couple of chub came my way before I headed back to join my mate who'd by then had a barbel. After that, fish came slowly but regularly... all of them the usual wye shoal size, between 5 and 8 pounds. We had a couple of breaks in the day, one at the pub up the road for lunch and another at about 5pm when it became so hot, we had to head to the local shop for some water and then pulled the rods in for a 30min snooze. (My mate reminded me that the 5am start - my idea - had not really produced, and he could have easily stayed in bed until after 9 and had the same results!)

As the heat started to subside at just before 8pm, my mate's rod heaved over with another bite and he started playing a fish which he mentioned several times felt different... slower, stronger... and after a very spirited fight, he slipped the net under a 10 pound fish, his first ever double figure barbel. Quickly weighed and returned, neither of us really wanted to fish on after that. My mate was obviously delighted to have his first double, I was just as pleased for him (as it had taken him a few sessions to get his head around fishing the wye and this was the culmination of it coming together).

On this occasion, "one last cast".... just for once, we didn't need it. (A fridge full of fine ale and cider back where we were staying was probably in the mix too! )