Rollcasting & Rod Length

[deathb4disco]

A topic on the warmwater board about Cabela's Three Forks 3wt prompted this question.

I've never fished anything shorter or lighter than an 8-foot 4wt but wanted to try some of the lighter rods. It seems like most of the 1-3 wts I see are 6-7.5 footers.

Since I fish a lot of waters where a rollcast is indispensable, I was wondering how well these shorter rods rollcast.

[mikegsp]

I have been using an Orvis 2wt 7'9" for the past two years for small streams like the upper Willowemoc and have had no problems rollcasting as long as I use a DT .

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[Gardenfish]

roll cast just fine with the THree Forks 3 wt.

[Rich Ward]

When you role cast there is a simple formula for distance it is 4X rod length hence a 7ft rod should role about 28ft of fly line Leader not included. the best role casting line is a wulff triangle taper even better than a DT. The line behind the tip of the rod is the energy for the cast The more line weight you have behind your tip the more line it will turn over in front if you are 7' tall you can role as much line with 7' rod as I can (5'8'') with an 8' rod.

Rich

[Diane]

I'm having no trouble roll casting with a 7'6" 4wt and a cheap 4wt line but I'm looking forward to seeing how it does with a 5wt Wulff Triangle Taper.

Death,

I recall viewing a Lee Wulff video in which he demonstrated a casting technique he used in lieu of a roll-cast. The rod he was using was 6 or 6-1/2 feet. Not sure of the weight. He was able to cast over 60 feet without the need of much, if any, room for his backcast. The video was - Lee Wulff On the Beaverkill. He also talks about the how he is abkle to get his little rod to cast like a 9 footer.

Allan

[namekagon]

I'm not famillar with the triangler taper
but do agree with mikegsp...DT not rod
length is the key to roll casting.

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Regards
nam

Death,
In my experience, the longer and slower the rod the easier to rollcast and to mend line. my usual places to fish have very little room for a backcast in many places so I like long slow rods. the shortest rod I use is an 8 ft one wgt...extremely soft with a slow taper. Most fishers wouldn't like it at all but I love that cheap little devil!

Ol' Bill

[beadleech]

For what it's worth, I've never done well with a rod under 8' for rollcasting. I do a lot of it on a coupla small creeks I fish. A friend has a 6 1/2' 4wgt that casts really well [forward cast] but I can't rollcast at all with it.

My rule is - do it the easy way.

Donald

[Farmer Bob]

You should have no problem roll casting a short rod. One of the reasons we fish with short rods is to get into tight places with overhead growth where a long rod would never work and a back cast would be impossible.
With my 6ft rod I can only expect to roll no more than 20 feet on one stroke and still maintain accuracy. But when standing under low hanging branches I strip out 40 feet of line and make a double sideways roll and get the fly 40 ft out on target most of the time. It just takes a little practice... FB.