So after my first somewhat successful casting in saltwater I decided to take my 8/9wt to a nearby lake with some large poppers to look for largemouth bass. I absolutely could not get the poppers to cast. I tried modifying my cast and I just could not move that big popper through the air without it falling in a pile 10-20 feet in front of me (the back casts were equally bad.) I was rapidly losing my sanity and thought I was going to throw the whole outfit in the lake after an hour of trying!
I finally tied a small foam spider on for a few casts just to calm down and confirm I was casting ok otherwise and it fluttered out there much better.
My setup was - 8/9wt rod, WF9F line looped to a 8’ 12lb tapered leader with a 1’ 20lb bite tippet. Do I need a bass bug line to cast these big poppers or different terminal end? Maybe a technique change?
I would almost bet part of it was your 20lb bite tippet and the 8’ leader. I woudl suggest getting some short furled leaders designed for bass buggin’ something in the 6’-7.5’ leader then go with something like 1’-2’ of 6lb-12lb test at the end of the leadder. I usually my poppers with rrocket tapers as opposed to bass bug tapers. I always had mixed success with fishing bass bugs until I went to furled leaders and now have no problems casting them.
You need to get the line moving to cast a bulky wind resistant fly and you also need enough line out to carry the weight of the fly. DG already mentioned the use of a good double haul to increase line speed.
If your target is too close, you may not have enough line out to carry the fly and turn over the leader. A bass bug taper will help some since the weight is concentrated more towards the the front of the the line, but it will only help, it will not correct other problems with your cast.
If I am going to be casting shorter distances, say 35ft or less I will use a heavier line; at least one weight and often 2 wts heavier. A 35ft cast with an 8ft leader means you only have about 25 feet or so of line out, or even less since you factor in the length of the rod into the cast. For an 8/9 wt rods this may not be enough to optimally load the rod (rods this size are often designed to load optimally with 40-45 ft of a standard WF line out), and it may not be enough to carry your fly effectively.
For bass bug/popper fishing with an 8wt rod I usually use a 10wt line if most of my casts will be around 30ft or less as often is the case when I am float tubing. I will use a 9wt line if I figure I will be casting mostly in the 30-50ft range and an 8wt line if I will mostly be fishing beyond 50ft. I also use a short 6 to 7 foot leader.
Since Craigd did not have a problem with the foam spider I suspect his problem may be a line speed issue solved with help of a haul, or the popper is too heavy/wind resistant to carry well with a short amount of line out.
I should probably add that I am VERY new so my casting is certainly in question. I can swing a single haul but the timing of a double haul eludes me more often than not. With a lighter fly like unweighted bendbacks and the spider I seem to have a range of about 30’ with a decent presentation - a tad longer and it goes pretty wild…
When I was doing this there was a very slight wind in my face but well under 3-5 knots. Had the spider not worked I would have happily (ok, not really) chalked it up to a bad casting day. It was quite amazing how differently the 2 cast. I did not change leaders or anything so the tippet was a bit heavy and caused a heavy presentation with the spider but at least it got out there. Half of my casts with the popper were barely coming out of the backcast and I was happy to have my hat on because I beamed myself a few times with it. The ones that went forward for a short false cast hit the water or landed in a pile.
As for my line, I am assuming it is a WF9F because that’s what the package said on the outfit but it could be off I suppose because it came assembled. This is a Cortland 8/9 bass outfit. It does look like it has a fairly long taper on the front that I tied into a loop with nail knots. I generally do one false cast to help get some line out and then shoot. My guess is that I have 15’ of line out plus leader as I begin my first false cast and I do a single haul and shoot some line on the second cast but I did try the popper with no false casts, hauls, or shooting to rule those out.
I’m not sure why you were using a bite tippet for bass? I’ve never had to use such a tippet. I’m not saying it had anything to do with your problem, though. I don’t know.
Poppers can be buggers to cast – especially when they’re too big for the rod you’re using. What size was the popper? Also, was the tail of the popper dressed heavily?
Sounds as if it’s a line-speed issue more than anything which can be solved with a good double haul. And that, my friend, comes with lots of practive fueled by desire. It’s not a natural motion, but it’s not all that difficult – if you want to learn it.
honestly I had the bite tippet on there because I reused my redfish leader and didn’t re-tie it. This was a quick after-work outing. I’ll try without it next time. I didn’t think much of it because I couldn’t get any distance in the cast to worry about turning it over…
Myself I would not be concerned with line speed at all, open up your casting loop. Try a bit longer stroke and more time with the backcast.
Practice your loop control the larger the bug the more open the loop needs to be and the more time with the back-cast. Of course you do not want to allow the bug to fall on the water behind just allow the loop to form wide, like you would back-cast in a windy situation except keep the loop open on the front delivery also…
A haul will help and will come with practice time…
My 2-cents worth…
Steve
ps: I was thinking how about a clip showing you casting or better yet one of us showing all us practicing what we preach.
Next time I go out I will photo myself or a very good fly-caster demonstrating the open loop.
Lots of good, though sometimes conflicting advise here. My solution to the problem was similar to SteveP. Loose the bite tippet, it’s probably not hurting that much, but it definitely isn’t helping and you don’t need it. The short leader is good, but on really big poppers (2 and up) I’ll shorten up to 6 foot on the leader to get them to turn over better on short casts. 12# is probably about right and what I use most myself. Personally, I wouldn’t cut off any of my flyline as was suggested above, unless this was the only thing you were ever going to use the line for.
What you are experiencing is not unusual. After a month of casting for LMB and brim with size 8 nymphs, I considered myself one of the finest fly caster in the United States if not the whole world. Then I tried to cast a size 4 Clouser Deep Minnow with VERY big lead eyes. Weight and air resistance change the whole casting game. I ended up with two perfect impressions of the lead eyes on my body that day, one on my shoulder blade and the other on the front of my arm. If you have a local fly shop, I would drop by and see if they could give you a lesson or two and maybe even work a double hawl into your casting. A friend or a fishing club could also help out too. Good luck. Stick with it, the distance will come. 8T
