# Measuring Casting Performance



## Ckirk57 (Sep 27, 2009)

Hello, i have been struggling with my casting for some time and I finally began to identify some problems and make improvements. I live and fish in the Big Bend area of Florida, mostly targeting RedFish. Our fishery is mostly all hard bottom limestone and I hardly ever see a tailing red, most of my casts are long range at cruising fish. 

I am not necessarily a beginner but I'm not an expert either. I got started about 3 years ago. 

The main rods I use are my St. Croix 8wt Imperial 4pc and my TFO BVK 8wt

I have been using AirFlo BoneFish/RedFish Floating on my St. Croix and It casts great.
I had SA Sharkskin of the TFO BVK and I've hated every minute of it. It seems like I have to false cast twice as much with the sharkskin and the distance is just not pleasing me. 

I wanted to make sure it was not just the line so last night I tested both rods with the AirFlo WF8F Bonefish Line. (temp last night was about 72) I tied on a 9ft tapered leader with a unweighted fly. I laid out a 100ft tape measure in a field at work and did some distance testing. 

I tested the BVK first and casted a consistent 75 feet from the rod tip to the fly. 
Next I rigged up the St. Croix with the same line and leader and managed to get into the high 70's low 80's regularly. 

I wish I would have had more lines to test. I live at least an hour form the closest fly shop and they do not carry Rio or Royal Wulff or just orvis stuff. 

I'm having a hard time liking the BVK, both rods are fast action, It just seems like the St. Croix is little stiffer and feels more powerful. I sure would like to test some more rods and lines. 

I think that if I keep practicing I should be able to get close to 100ft?


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## Dillusion (May 21, 2012)

I have an 8WT st croix imperial for sale for cheap if anyone wants it


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## eeekbackupinthere (Jan 14, 2013)

75 ft. is pretty good. Don't beat yourself up. If you can cast that distance consistently then your good. Would a hundred ft. be cool, I guess, but realistically how often are you really gonna need to cast that far? If it ain't broke, don't fix it!


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## byrdland (Jan 23, 2013)

Some people that need to cast long distances use shooting heads with a small diameter running line. I've used Sunset Amnesia before. It's low memory monofilament. You can get a lot of distance, but to me, the mono is a pain. Unless you're in a very controlled environment tangles are guaranteed. An 80 ft cast is pretty good in fishing conditions.


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## CurtisWright (May 9, 2012)

There are very few people that can consistantly make a perfect cast to a cruising fish 100' away with a traditional rod. I would venture to say none that can do it consistantly with a fly rod. 

If it were me, I would focus more on getting closer to the fish


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## Ckirk57 (Sep 27, 2009)

I know I won't be making those 100ft casts at fish, I just would like to be able to know that I understand the mechanics of the cast enough to do so if required. Its more of a feeling of accomplishment to me.


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## el9surf (Dec 23, 2008)

Since the bvk feels a bit slower maybe try and slow your casting stroke down to let the rod load more. 75 ft should be plenty for most scenarios.


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## kyleh (Nov 3, 2012)

You fish a HB.. I think you should be able to get quite closer than 100ft from fish in that skiff.. Try Sage TCX 8wt.. Best rod I have ever cast..


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## SOBX (Sep 29, 2009)

Wow, if you're getting 70/80ft, I'd say you understand the mechanics/physics of casting, depending on how many false casts it takes you to get this distance. 

You need to strive to do it with 2 false casts, shorter casts might even be just one false cast. Quickness done accurately is a gift from the fishing gods and bonefish, permit, tarpon, and reds will fear you! 

How much line are you shooting, or are you carrying a bunch of line and then just shooting 20/30 feet, or less, of those long casts?

Lastly, every line is different and designed (and you think rod designers are "out there") to do something special nowadays. Heavy heads to turn over big flies or make short accurate casts --- longer heads to allow you to carry more line and make long casts or cast further into the wind ---- sinktips ---- intermediate sinktips --- clear lines --- the list could go on, and on, and on. 

Just remember that the longer the cast the more likely it is to be off target, the more false casts the more likely the target will move, and every false cast is just waiting to be the one that bites you in the rear (so get by with as few as possible)! 

Will never forget standing in a parking lot with a fellow that used to visit fly shops and cast big flies a long ways, best I recall it was Marc Sedotti, and folks he made some casts to other zip codes from those parking lots and no doubt on the water. He asked me to cast a rod he was promoting and looked at my casts which didn't measure up and asked what I did to reach the fish that were out of my range and I told him ----- I move the boat and pointed to the push pole and the motor on the skiff behind my Suburban! ;D ;D ;D

Hope that fellow is still around, he was a right good fellow from up North and Lord how he could get it out there. 

Good Fishing!!!


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## SOBX (Sep 29, 2009)

Just one more tidbit from an old man that is winding down the day, in that boat and on those fish, I see a lot of folks try and accomplish making very long casts but ----

they do it with a lot of rocking their body back and forth from foot to foot and before 70ft of fly line/leader and fly gets to the fish, the first tsunami of ripples caused by that rocking back and forth arrives and the fish know the jig is up! 

This motion even screws up the design of the best designed skiffs and a lot of folks have done it for so long you almost have to video em to make em understand! :

Good Fishing!!!


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## Ckirk57 (Sep 27, 2009)

SOBX, I appreciate all the good info you've provided. I am able to do 75 to 80 feet with 2 false casts right now. I know what your talking about with the boat movement I do my best not to rock. 

Thanks everybody for the input. This post is mostly about getting the most out of your fly rod and improving, casting at fish is a whole other story.


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## richwalker71 (Feb 11, 2010)

I get where you coming from. As a wise old West Coast Steelheader told me quite a few years ago; "there is a big difference between fly casting and fly fishing".


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## easydays (Apr 13, 2008)

consistant 70-80 foot casts are great.How many times did you false cast on each attempt? I switched all my lines over to Royall Wolff TT Ambush lines and can get 70 ft. on a single false cast everytime.


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## Ckirk57 (Sep 27, 2009)

2 false casts is all I do. Some times one will get it close to 70ft.


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## iFly (Mar 9, 2010)

I feel I got lucky when I started fly fishing. There was a big verbal fight about distance casting. The result was... 30 years later, 90 percent of the fish I have caught have been within 2 rod lengths. I still enjoy and practice casting the full length of the fly line. But, I LOVE the simplicity of the roll cast. If you can only cast long but, can't cast short... you really aren't fishing. You are just "casting". Just MY experience.


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## BayStYat (Sep 12, 2012)

> I feel I got lucky when I started fly fishing. There was a big verbal fight about distance casting. The result was... 30 years later, 90 percent of the fish I have caught have been within 2 rod lengths. I still enjoy and practice casting the full length of the fly line. But, I LOVE the simplicity of the roll cast. If you can only cast long but, can't cast short... you really aren't fishing. You are just "casting". Just MY experience.


+1


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## SOBX (Sep 29, 2009)

> SOBX, I appreciate all the good info you've provided. I am able to do 75 to 80 feet with 2 false casts right now. I know what your talking about with the boat movement I do my best not to rock.
> 
> Thanks everybody for the input. This post is mostly about getting the most out of your fly rod and improving, casting at fish is a whole other story.



At 285/290 I have to be *real conscious* of it!!! ;D ;D ;D

Good luck with your quest and what a gorgeous boat you have to do it from. 

Good Fishing!!!


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## JBentley (Jan 4, 2012)

I switched over from 30 years of very technical fishing -- primarily the spring creeks of Montana -- to the salt a few years ago. In my former fishing life I spent all of my time learning to cast accurately with no drag at 40 feet. When I fish the salt I still focus on 40-50 foot casts. Do you catch significantly more fish at 75-100 feet? I can make the cast, but it feels foreign after all those years of a different muscle memory.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

When I first came back to guiding in 1996 I worked as a camera boat for Mark Sosin for a week. He was hands down the best I've ever seen with a fly rod. No matter the distance, short-long, his casting stroke didn't change and the line just went right where it was wanted. Above all I never saw him work at any distance. He was perfectly relaxed up on the bow -even when laying out an entire line. Put simply his timing was perfect to my eyes...

The only piece of advice he gave me was that it was a whole lot easier to cast fifty feet and shoot an additional 30 feet.... than it was to try to cast 80 feet. That was pretty good advice. The only thing I'd add is that how long it takes to get the fly where it's needed (the number of false casts, plus the time it takes to prep for that cast) is probably the thing most could improve. Nothing like sending the fly while the fish is in position....

All the casting practice in the world is still no substitute for time on the water, rod in hand... Remember -it's supposed to be fun.


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## SOBX (Sep 29, 2009)

Casting on grass or even practice casting at a pond/dock is great, but being on the flats or in the boat with wind howling and fish moving reminds me of a quote by Iron Mike Tyson (before he started biting folks)---

--- "everybody has a plan until they get hit"! ;D

Sosin was good, Lefty is amazing, but Pallot is the best in fishing situations I have ever seen. That said, I've never fished with a lot of the younger folks (say under 50 or so) like Mill and others that must be able to cast to a fish in their sleep and then know how to handle the whole package to land big fish. 

Good Fishing!!!


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## bugslinger (Jun 4, 2012)

Just to add my 2 cents for kicks, fly line stretches! Much more than mono and SO much more than braid. Driving the hook home on a sizable fish at 100' is going to be a tall order. I agree with alot of the previous posts... 70'-80' is fine. Practice being accurate at distances from 30' and out. That's where most of my fish in the Tampa area get hooked, 30' to 60'. 
Anything else, with your HB you should be able to set up in a better casting position. 
I turn to an old golf saying--"Drive for show, putt for dough"!
Get accurate and the rest will follow. 

As for fly lines- I'm throwing Wulff Triangle Taper on my Sage Xi3 and Clutch Tsx 908 and I absolutely love the performance. I get 70' on 2 false casts.... maybe 3 if it's windy.


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## Semper Fly (Jun 11, 2011)

And I will lend my 2 cents. A lot of excellent advise posted here from some very experienced fishermen. The piece of advise I was taught by an "old salty fly fisherman" was, "not distance but speed and accuracy" that advise serves me well in Flamingo, WWB, EC, IRL, and Steinhatchee, where tailing reds are not the norm. My eyes are not what they used to be so I can not count on seeing a tailing red or snook in an ambush site some 80 to 100 meters away. I depend on stealth and quick reaction at 30-50 meters max. I can cast my Sage or better yet my Scott STS's 70+ but rather I prefer the quick engagement of that 30-50 meters especially in close quarters such as in the mangroves down south to the marshes along the big bend area. 

On a side note. This is truly a wonderful site to visit several times a day. Great exchanges of ideas and experiences from some truly outstanding fishermen. Well Done.


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## Semper Fly (Jun 11, 2011)

A correction. I intended to say "feet" rather than "meters". I had just finished talking with a friend about max effective ranges of rifles he is considering purchasing. That would be a bit of a stretch referring to meters and fly casting.


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