Line Speed?

[sagefisher]

Arkman,

Hope the fly was barbless, but since it took 45 minutes, I suspect not.

As for line speed, there are way too many variables to just come up with a fixed speed. The action of the rod is a big factor, the weight of the line, the weight of the fly, the amount of wind you are fighting, the distance you need to cast, regular cast or single haul or double haul.............so many factors.

However, it would be interesting to know the range of speed a fly or fly line can have based upon all those variables.

Naw, sounds like a lot of work, just go fishing instead.

Larry ---sagefisher---

[FISHN50]

I have found that to the be line going supersonic and the fly deciding not to.

Whatever. I always compared it to the crack of a whip where the tip goes supersonic. I guess it's all relative because the fly usually goes off on it's own unattached.

[CoachBob]

As for the speed issue, this site http://hiviz.com/PROJECTS/towel/towel.htm#2 is fascinating because students wanted to see if a snapped wet towel broke the speed of sound. These kids showed that the towel tip could, but usually didn't, exceed the speed of sound. (To follow the experiment click on "Design" at the bottom and then links at the bottom of each following page.)
We can suspect that a tight loop on a hard hauled back cast might reach the speed of sound, but large loops and most other casts will not achieve that speed.

[Uncle Jesse]

I just watched a young competitive fly caster casting for distance (he made a 115 ft. cast, counting rod, backing, line & leader) his cycle time was 2.34 seconds, that is roughly 230 ft. in 2.34 sec or 98.3 ft. per second which I calculate to be about 67 MPH.

[Arkman]

The barb was pinched, but I guess not good enough. So I had to push it through.

Thanks Uncle Jesse. I think that is close enough for me. Approx 60 mph is where I'm putting it. Probably a little less since I'm not anywhere close to a competitive fly caster ...obviously.

[Silver Creek]

Anyways, it got me wondering. How fast does a fly like that travel? I know it varies by caster, set up, fly pattern, etc. but what do you guys think the average is? If it helps I was casting a 12 wt rod with the SA coastal express 350 grain.

The 500 frame/sec video below with an expert caster casting a 5 wt 9 ft rod, max velocity is about 24 m/s which translates to about 53 mph. I suspect your fly was traveling slower.

http://www.flycastinginstitute.com/e...ast_102507.pdf

[Arkman]

Nice work Silver Creek. I'm guessing your right. Probably a lot slower since it was such a large fly. Maybe in the 40mph range.