Top 5 Tips for Aspiring Fly Shooters

Ok People,

What would be you top 5 tips for those shooters aspiring to improve their scores. There are no shortcuts by any means but if you give personal experience on what you feel has improved YOUR shooting the most. I was lucky enough to have lots of advice that certainly shortened my learning curve.

Here's my 5;

1. Preparation - I feel you need to prepare, wether that be your cases, load development anything. The more you can do to feel mentally confident the better.

2. Practice - practice as much as you can. Even if only setting up your gear at home and practice bench technique. For me finding an easily repeatable position has help me shot loads.

3. Relax - when at the bench relax, for me I shake all the time but when I get nervous it's worse. I had to find some way to eliminate this and for me I close my eyes, breath slowly and picture 5 shots in the 10 ring.

4. Don't give up - everyone has a bad target but what separates the top guys I feel from most of us is they move on and focus on the remaining targets. You can't change what's happened, learn from it and forget about it.

5. Ask Questions - never be afraid to ask questions, if your having trouble at the bench as for help, sometimes another perspective can pick up on what we can't see ourselves. The great thing about fly shooting is everyone will help where they can. We have a huge wealth of knowledge at the firing line so use it where you can.


It will be interesting to see some other top 5's. Hopefully we can all take something away from it.

Good luck and great shooting 👊🏼

Deane

Righto Deane,
I'll buy into this……I won't go down the top 5 thing, rather my top ONE.

We all recognise that "sighters" are gold,.. but that 1st one can be difficult!      How do we get true value from the 1st sighter given that we are shooting onto a blank  plate with no point of reference?

I hear shooters saying they aimed into the "centre" of the plate  but to me the "centre" is a very approximate area,…a lot of real estate  in there….in reality the "centre" could be as large as the 2 ring on the score target.
 It took me a while but I eventually worked out that I was losing points hand over fist because my first sighter wasn't telling me enough & I  was needing to use one or both of the remaining sighters to verify my zero. Then the wind changes & I'm up shit creek (as they say) without a sighter!

I had to get a stronger read on that 1st sighter. Where was I ACTUALLY aiming & where was it landing PRECISELY relative to my aim point?

My way might not be the only way but it (sometimes) works for me.
I simply run the vertical reticle straight thru the fly on the score target above & down into the sighter plate….I then need to run the horizontal reticle thru something  that is easy to find again after recoil. It could be a small rock in the dirt beside or a black mark on your neighbours plate ( if he has shot first) or even a bolt head on the target frame…anything that will enable you to get those cross hairs back to where you ACTUALLY aimed.
After firing you reposition the cross hairs and now you get to see exactly how far away you are.

From this point you can activate your chosen strategy confident , within reason, that you have an ACCURATE read on that all important first sighter.
Regards,
Belly

Belly,

Fair call, maybe it should have been top tips. Having read your post it was light a light bulb was turned on, as I have do the same thing as you described. Generally I find what I think is the centre and fire and then try and return to the I 'think' I aimed.

I know what I will be doing from now on. Thanks Belly 👍

I think this is a great question worth the effort for all shooters to get involved. Not in any order but.
* Reload for accuracy not just to reload the round, take care to measure and clean everything to the  best you can.
* Take time to identify what the wind is doing at the range and use your sighters wisely.
*Don't rush to commence your string of shots when the time on the detail starts, commence when you think conditions are stable.
* Be daring make that adjustment in your head and hold off if you think it is there, because if you don't the conditions will hurt you badly.
* When Setting up your bags and rest and rifle for the first time of the day mark out where everything is, remember repeatability is what wins matches.
* Be approachable to help others and look for those who need help but don't know they need it.
*Always enjoy the sport for what it is and don't get wrapped up tight if a target is not what you were expecting the fly isn't over till the last target is fired....................

Ok.... I have been thinking about this for a while.... and If I am to narrow it down to just one tip, it would be this.

"100% Focus for 7 minutes."

At the commence fire call, it is your seven minutes to focus..... Tune out all other noise, comments, movement and goings on down the firing line and just focus on your setup and the conditions.  Nothing else matters for those 7 minutes.  Watch your flags, focus on your fall of shot vs the flag positions and the pattern of conditions you are seeing.  If you are truly focused you will make the correct read and decision to minimise your mistakes.

I know from experience, that on the days that I have done very well, I have been mentally in the zone and capable of noticing every little movement on four or 5 of the flags at once and calculating the effect or lack there of to make a decision. You have to be sharp and on the ball....then "switch on" at the commence fire and do not be distracted.

People are saying all sorts of things at their benches either side of you..... IGNORE THEM/TUNE OUT.... it is your target and yours alone to win or lose......

Of course it is all to no avail if you have not prepped your gear and loaded correctly etc..... but once you are at the match and all that is done..... Focus will get you 5 consistent targets and that wins matches.

Cheers,

Anthony

Hi Guy's

For me it is all about preparation and planning. Consistency is everything to me.

I spend time the days before a shoot preparing myself mentally and reloading.

Planning,
I like to look at the previous scores shot at the range and try and work out what sort of score I need to shoot to be competitive.
In my opinion thing about shooting 300 is not realistic so I go in thinking about what I need to score on average per target.

On the day of the Fly I spend time looking and listening to what's going on.
What's happening out on the range? What are the other shooters saying?

I formulate a plan in my head and try to stick to it the best I can during the day,
Having a plan helps me keep my mind on the job  so if I have a bad target it helps me  get back on track and not dwell on it

Be consistent whatever it takes.

Peter