Casting distance

[Bedlam]

I have been fly fishing for almost two years, and I am basically self taught. I just bought a new TFO TiCr X rod (without ever trying one), and am anxiously waiting for it to arrive. I can currently cast about 15 yards with my bass pro combo. I learned early that I catch more fish when I am not casting so I focus more on mending and presentation. I have been in some situations where I could not reach my target. I am going from a 5 wt. to the TFO in a 4wt 9foot rod. I have also started praticing in my yard which has definetly helped. My hope is the new rod will increase my range.

My question to you guys is what should I expect distance wise, and what kind of distance is possible for an excellent caster?

Thanks!

Jason

[DaveP63]

No expert here, but PRACTICE will increase your range faster than a new rod...There are casters who can throw the entire line, but for general purposes, 30-50 feet will do you just fine. What kind of Bass Pro combo???

Edit: just notice you said 15 yards, not feet. Still that's half of a 90 foot line...

[Bedlam]

I use a Whiteriver 5 wt. rod with the hobbs creek real that you can get from pass pro for around $100. It comes already strung so I've got no clue what kind of line I am throwing.

My new TFO TiCr X is a 4 wt. so it looks line I am in the market for a new real. I think I am supposed to match the rod weight with 4 weight fly line. As soon as the rod arrives, I plan on switching my existing real to see how things go.

[coughlin]

No great shakes at casting here either, but I agree with Dave that practice will certainly increase your range and30-50 feet is plenty. Actually, your comment that you notice you catch more fish when mending and presenting well than casting seems right on the money. I like watching fancy casters false casting thre, four, five time, though I also notice there are no fish in the air.
Coughlin

[HCR]

As to casting distance--there's an old saying in golf that applies, IMHO: "Drive for show, putt for dough."

[flyguy66]

keep your reel. go get a quality fly line. i'd recommend the scientific anglers mastery series wf5f gpx for you. replace your bass pro line with this one. yes, i said a 5-weight line on your new 4wt tfo ticrx. that is a pretty fast action rod (stiff) and you will want to over-line it by 1 wt when fishing for trout and pan fish. you will find it much more pleasant to cast and fish in a wider range of situations. so much for equipment.

15 yds is respectable for a standard, single-haul, pick up-lay down cast with a couple of years of fishing under your wader belt. when we talk casting distances, we talk in feet. that's 45 feet. unless you're fishing streamers, you shouldn't need more than 45 feet for anything you would use a 4 or 5wt fly rod for. but...since you seem to want more...neither more practice nor more expensive/different gear will increase your casting distance to any signfiicant degree. changing gear to the best possible combo of line and rod might tack on 5-10 feet...max...maybe. so what will help you increase distance?

1. tightening your loops and adding line speed to your casts. a nice tight loop w/the fly and rod legs no more than 2' apart is transferring energy more efficienty from body to rod to line to fly, is far more aerodynamic, and (thus) carries further than a wider or asymmetrically formed loop. adding line speed to this nice tight loop form increases the energy to target. you do this by reducing slack in the fly line and adding just the right amount of smooth acceleration to your casting stroke. when you make these improvements to your fundamentals, then more practice will yield more distance. in other words, practice doesn't make perfect. proper practice makes perfect.

2. once you get #1 down pat and have hit yet another plateau...probably somewhere between 55-65 ft...if you want to add any more distance, you will need to learn to double-haul to increase line-speed even more and to "carry" more line in the air during false-casting (used to generate the requisite line speed and length prior to the presentation cast). with the double-haul, you can effectively lengthen and slow your casting stroke beyond what would be possible without the extra haul. this is what allows you to carry (or aerialize) more line without crashing your loop.

finally, i'll give you one free piece of advice about adding distance to any fly cast: be very careful/vigilant not to allow the desire for more distance to surpass your desire for better form. the more distance you want to cast effectively, the better your form must be. there is no way around this. and the perfect fly cast is nearly effortless.

[Mato Kuwapi]

Well, since you said "excellent"... if you want to use Federation of Fly Fishers criteria of excellence , in order to pass their Certified Instructor exam, 75 feet is what you'll have to show you can do.

Do you need to cast that far for angling purposes?? Probably not. So in my opinion, that criteria is bordering on dumb.
I think if you can lay out 60 feet, which is what you would need to do to go bone fishing, then you're doing pretty good.

Accuracy is really the most important aspect of casting. If you can consistently put a fly right were you want it, your an excellent caster. In my book, Joe Humpreys is the best example of that.

[JohnScott]

... and the perfect fly cast is nearly effortless.

Actually, the "perfect" fly cast is the one that results in a fish hooking up, whether the cast is effortless or difficult, long or short, pretty or ugly, accurate or off line, etc. etc. etc.

John

Don't take my word for it, ask the fish, because ....

[Bass_Bug]

No great shakes at casting here either, but I agree with Dave that practice will certainly increase your range and30-50 feet is plenty. Actually, your comment that you notice you catch more fish when mending and presenting well than casting seems right on the money. I like watching fancy casters false casting thre, four, five time, though I also notice there are no fish in the air.
Coughlin

That was YOU watching me??? Helloooo?? Never heard of flying fish???

Bedlam, my first outfit was a BP 8wt White River/Hobbes Creek combo about 10 years ago. I used it exclusively the first couple years, (before I met Coughlin and he shamed me into building my own rods). More then a few rods later, I still take out the BP outfit a few times a year, and the HC reel still has the original WF8F line it came spooled with.

[coughlin]

Bass_Bug,
The only flying fish you've ever seen were dancing merrily through hazy skies in front of your bourbon focused eyes.
Coughlin