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The master caster at work Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Trick caster Stan Fagerstrom shows the crowd how to more accurately cast a bait line at the Sportsmen�s & Outdoor Recreation Show at the Jackson County Expo Center in Central Point on Saturday. A well-known figure at outdoor shows nationwide, he�ll demonstrate his dead-on casting techniques today during the show�s last day. He shows how to catch fish by putting bait in just the right place By Mark Freeman Ray Postlethwait stands erect like a lawn jockey, his right arm and index finger stretched straight out, exactly as the white-bearded man with the fancy fishing rod has just told him. Stan Fagerstrom, the white-bearded man, then whips his fishing rod straight up and down with that special sort of fisherman�s rhythm and fires a hookless lure straight to Postlethwait�s knuckles 40 feet away. "All I saw was the fishing line start wrapping around my finger," says Postlethwait, of Klamath Falls. "I didn�t think he could do that." So Fagerstrom did it one better. He wrapped his second, equally perfect cast around the 11-year-old�s pinkie. "That guy," Postlethwait says, "is pretty good." Fagerstrom is better than pretty good. After 50 years of wowing kids and adults with pinpoint fishing casts, this ageless icon of the outdoor sports shows is the reigning master at helping kids get hooked on fishing by teaching them the ins and outs of accurate casting. Fagerstrom, who begs off revealing his age, uses stunts and trick casts to spice up a floor show aimed at offering tips on how to catch more fish simply by learning how to put a lure or bait exactly where you want to, instead of firing casts willy-nilly around a pond, lake or stream. As he chants this caster�s mantra to the crowds, Fagerstrom fires flashy lures into a 4-foot-wide wading pool and into a series of tiny targets like Annie Oakley shooting quarters out of the sky in the Wild West shows of yesteryear. "If I stand here talking in a monotone and not doing anything, they lose interest," he says. "But if they see you cast behind your back or kick a lure into the target, they�re interested." Rogue Valley residents interested in Fagerstrom�s show have two final chances to see it today, during the last day of the three-day Jackson County Sportsmen�s and Outdoor Recreation Show at the Jackson County Expo Park. Fagerstrom will perform his 30-minute shows at noon and 3 p.m. They are free for those entering the show, which is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. He was a hit already this weekend, much like he has been while visiting outdoor shows all over the world. "Stan is absolutely wonderful, and great with everybody," says Joe Pate, the show�s producer. "He�s a real gentleman." Fagerstrom is a lifetime angler, devoted to catching panfish and bass. While angling is loaded with variables that spell the difference between success and failure, there was one part of fishing he knew he could control. "The only thing I can control is my ability to put a lure on target every time," he says. Fagerstrom says he became a great caster in the same way violinists get to Carnegie Hall. "It�s like anything else," he says. "You need to practice." And he does just what he preaches, spending 20 minutes a day three or five days a week casting hookless lures into targets in his home office. He built the room as a long rectangle specifically so he could practice there. Fagerstrom held his first casting clinic at the West Coast�s first real outdoor show in the spring of 1952 in Los Angeles. He�s been a regular on the circuit since then, talking fishing and casting with anyone who will listen � and they all listen. "It�s the next-best thing to fishing for me," Fagerstrom says, "having the opportunity to visit with people about it." His show centers around the ideas and tips for casting accuracy with level-wind, spinning and closed-faced reels. He�s constantly firing casts, sometimes flipping lures behind his back or kicking them into the target as the crowds start to assemble. But the big trick is this is no trick. It�s all conventional gear used properly by an unconventional man. "These are some things that people regard as tricks," Fagerstrom says. "But what it really is, is doggone good fishing casts." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.