Can you cast 85ft?
Brian
Nut.
Dave.
Quote from: davefromtheattic on April 01, 2011, 09:31:35 PM
Nut.
Dave.
Liar :D
Reason I ask is I had a guy out today for a lesson and he assured me before it that he could cast a full line.
Why do you need a lesson? asks I . I can't get presentation at distance was the answer.
I pulled all of his line of and put it against a tape measure(yes I carry one about). His line was an old Diawa don't know the model but it only measured 60ft. He assured me he hadn't cut any off.
Point I am trying to make is some people think they cast further than they do. :worms
Brian
Quote from: Exerod on April 01, 2011, 09:42:29 PM
Yes.
What do I win?
Andy
Sorry I never made the first post clear It was with a 4# :D
Brian
Good idea, I'm just going to cut some line off. :lol:
Any way Dave how have you got time to sit on a computer? Nappies/bottles etc etc. :lol:
Brian
Everyone in the house is sleeping, including me till about 20 mins ago. I'm a domestic wizard at the moment. I'm currently waiting on Scarlet waking so I can bath her and pop down the road to see my pal for a well deserved brandy. Can't wait to get out with the rod, casting or fishing, it's blowing a hooley the now though!
Quote from: Exerod on April 01, 2011, 09:54:56 PM
Ah! How hard is the wind blowing and is it from behind :lol:
Andy
Andy that is a good point :). Most would try and get the wind behind them but then it is easy. I try and get people to cast across the wind with a slight angle. Try it. Best time to try it is when there is no wind.
Brian
A lot of people will be saying to themselves "But I don't ever need to cast 85'" on the muckle burn.
That may well be so, but if you can cast a long way, then you are capable of casting a shorter line effectively into the wind, which is a very useful thing to be able to do. Even on the muckle burn :)
Alex
Wind behind easy? Not with a big wind it isn't! I'd rather roll cast with a big wind behind. A light tail or cross-tail wind is better for getting a back cast. I avoid casting into a big wind if at all possible - especially with a 4 weight. Let's be honest I can't cast into a force 6 with a 4 weight. The fly would end up round my neck.
Malcolm roll cast,overhead cast I just said a cast.
The point I was trying to make as I have come across this often is do you really cast as far as you think?
Now a long cast can be 8yds on a 12yd wide stream but it wasn't what I was trying to get at. I ain't a distance caster(maybe give it a go) but the guy I had out was incredulous when I let him see how far he was casting.
Brian
Aerialise 30yds of fly line with standard Trout tackle....most unlikely for most. Can't say I have ever seen it done in all those years. Being able to cast "far" on occasion is good to have in your armory but so is casting 10yds correctly. If you feel that you have to be able to do those distances I would have thought a boat might be the best bet.
:roll:
Tight Lines
I was fishing away last year when a chap appeared and started casting to the horizon, I have never seen anybody cast like this before or since. No way was I trying that and just kept plugging away at a nice distance I was comfortable with. In the time I could see him I had a few out while he had one or two. Totally agree with those who say it's better to cast a fly well than go for distance. Most of the time the fish are close in anyway. Now if you can do the two together you are a very lucky man and can you post six numbers between one and fortynine please.
I can't differentiate between this thread and the last casting thread, so I'll just repeat, more or less, what I said there. Casting is driven by the what the individual sees to be their own needs / perceived gains vs effort required.
I agree with you Fred.
This thread was really about how some see themselves as casters. Not the why's,needs,or reason's for the Cast.
I should be fishing :?
Brian
The thread is fine Brian. I'd love to be better at casting, but the overall cost of becoming better is not balanced by the potential gains. I don't mean financial cost. Short of Magnus, who lives just too far away to make it practical on a regular basis, there is no one, who I know, involved in fly casting in this area I would wish to spend any time at all with. There may be others I have yet to meet though. :lol: If a casting club is not frequent and regular I can see little value in it.
If I lived in Fife or Glasgow I'd be at either of these fine clubs in a minute!
Fred,
I believe there's a casting meet in Aberdeen on the weekend of 14th May.
Slightly away from the thread - long casting uses techniques more akin to javelin throwing that normal casting and I believe those techniques have little relevance for most of us most of the time. The line travels too low to the ground and you'd end up snagging in the heather. If we were unlucky enough to have to fish in places like Farmoor or Grafham from the bank then that's a different matter.
"Normal" long casting though does have it's uses. Sometimes the fish are far out - we all know that. The guy who can cast 90 ft will be able to cover more fish than the guy who can cast 50 ft. Sometimes the trick isn't delicacy - it's actually getting the fly to the fish by whatever means possible. You can often get away with a less than perfect presentation in Scottish breezy conditions on a loch. However you can present a perfect fly at 50 ft and if the fish aren't there you aren't going to catch them. Simple. Remember the ability to cast a long way doesn't of itself stop anyone from presenting a fly close to the bank, doesn't decrease watercraft and it doesn't make you a splashy caster at shorter range.
I think that may be the annual sexyloops meeting Malcolm. Does not really appeal to be honest. In any case, as you know, there's a big forum outing that weekend (no details here please!) . No contest! :lol:
You also have the Deveron Festival up there the same week Fred. The North has got it all.
I am in Ireland that week fishing the Rivers and Loughs of County Mayo. There is a wee river called the Qweestion, only 10 yds wide but some lovely wee trout and you know what in 12 years of going there I have never seen another angler fishing it. To be honest most people fish the Moy or Loughs Conn and Cullin,suits me :D
Brian
Quote from: Highlander on April 02, 2011, 02:44:04 PM
If you feel that you have to be able to do those distances I would have thought a boat might be the best bet.
:roll:
Tight Lines
I can't see how a boat would help me on grass? :?
On a more serious note - with the original question, the only way you can know how far you are casting is with a tape or equivalent. Whether or not you want to is another matter. The ;point about line lengths, I remember one of Alan's snowbees measured 80' and on the same length subject, what about those of us (just about everyone!) who can cast 85' with less than 30' of flyline..... ok i'm just being difficult now :lol:
I went out for distance practice last week for the first time since moving here pretty much, made a monumental breakthrough in tracking, finally worked out how I can use the rod over as much effective stroke as my arm allows and make the bloody thing go in a straight line :lol: Took me long enough! :shock:
I know I can cast 25', the rod is 10 + 15 for the cast and leader.
I know I can cast 55', the above + 30 for the belly of the WF line.
I think I can cast 70', the above plus shooting 15' of running line.
I think I can get farther than that but as I have never measured it then it is only guess work.
Most of the time, wind permitting, I can lay the fly where I want it at these distances.
At the extreme distances, as far as I can cast, the fly will land in the approximate area of the fish I am covering.
I have to admit though, there is nothing elegant about my casting :)
All of the above will be dependant on wind speed and direction. I hate right to left winds, I am right handed, I prefer to fish with the wind behind or to the left of me, if I have to I would rather cast straight into a strong wind coming from the right than across it as I find it easier to cast, but distance and turnover suffers.
As far as I can tell I adjust my casting automatically, or subconsciously, for the conditions at that time. I don't think about casting unless I am in practice mode, which isn't often, I am there to fish not to cast :) My main concern, when it arises, is the back cast and if it is high enough to miss the rising hill or long vegetation. Once that is sorted, in a few casts, I don't think about it again I just look behind me each time I move to see what dangers there are and adjust the cast accordingly.
Perhaps it is just that once learning to cast and doing it often enough it all becomes instinctive and you adapt to situations as they occur and use what you have learned without actually realising it.
Alan
It may well do, when I lift some running line and belly of the WF to change direction to cover a rising fish. Not an easy cast that one :)
Sandy,
You cast nothing like that. Your casting on that windy day on the hill lochs of Argyll was about the same level same as mine; i.e that of an experienced fisherman. It's sufficient.
Malcolm
Quote from: Alan on April 04, 2011, 12:42:39 PM
Sandy, if your back cast looks like this..........
(http://www.capnfishy.co.uk/images/Forum/5936.jpg)
Scott, whats this tracking breakthrough?
Nothing spectacular, more just a breakthrough in the sense I finally got it to work! I can get a stroke with full rotation straight over my shoulder - something I previously couldn't do. Anytime I tried it in the past I could only get a lesser rotation, after a careful wee bit of study of someone elses stroke I got it :) Haul timing is really critical and I still need to work on trajectory, not all are going high enough at the moment, but the loops are pretty amazing. Will get a video up shortly, it's pretty crappy but you kinda get the idea...
Tell me about it.... there seems to be infinite timings of the haul, none of them are quite right yet :lol: Drives me mental!
Re the release, best results have come from an immediate release actually. Back at the club last winter, I remember talking about this and I said I wondered if hanging onto it would help with the loop formation/propagation (don't like to use that word but can't think of a better!) Now I'm convinced otherwise in that hanging onto it only slows your shoot. The loop seems to be totally dependent on the stroke obviously - tracking straight and no dip in the slp and the haul timing. It's really hard to get it late enough but when you do the loop is perfect the whole way out, when you get it slightly too soon it dies. And tracking, well when it's off by an inch the cast goes nowhere.
The video is uploading to youtube just now, it's just a clip of backcast loops. Can see from it that the trajectory is too low, again a product of haul timing as the haul releases it on the full rotation stroke. And I'm pausing too long before coming forward, the line is straightening and dropping a bit too much. Can see the leader ticking the grass on quite a few occasions and the resulting effect that has on the line. If you watch the end of the line can also see the effects of having a straight piece of thin tippet as opposed to a thick butt of a tapered leader... Video arrives in 30mins :8)
Ok it'll be a bit longer, one of my fltmates is on skype, can't skype and upload to youtube at the same time on our 'broadband'. Man i can't wait to get back to cable broadband!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ixh-3oH2dg
Probably best in full screen. And Alan, no comments on the messy first pickup from grass :lol:
:lol: