I’ve read about tournament casting and Castwell’s “the whole 90 feet” Having never seen a casting contest, I have a couple of questions: For example, in a 5 wt standard wt fwd line cast,how much line is carried in the air and how much is shot in a 90 foot cast?
In trying for distance with a 7’ 4 wt, the best I can do is about 55 ft, and this is a sloppy looking cast!
In my part of the country 20 ft is usually enough for fishing but I’d like to know how the long casters do it.
Since nobody has chimed in yet, I’ll get things started and let the real casting junkies chime in. On a typical WF4wt. the front taper and belly of the line aren’t very long. The top of the line Orvis for example lists the “tip, front taper, and belly” total length of 29’ This is certainly reasonable considering the normal use a 4wt. will see. However, as you get behind the belly the diameter begins to decrease and it gets much harder to transfer the energy from the skinny part of the line into the fatter part of the line. Once you get into the very thin running line things get REALLY difficult! So, for a typical caster 55’ is pretty good with a 4wt. and many peoples 85’ cast quickly becomes 55’ once they put a tape on it anyway. A really experienced caster will still be able to manage a decent loop while working well back on the rear taper. So maybe by “supercharging” their line speed by double hauling, and being careful to maintain a tight loop they can comfortably hold 55’ of line in the air. On the final back cast they may let slip another 15’ of line without ruining their loop and then shoot another 20’ on the final forward cast - at least that’s the way I would do it 
For the record, I have seen 100+ foot casts (into the backing) made with 6’6" 3wt. cane rods, so I know it can be done… not by me necessarily, but it can be done!
Bill O.
As someone once posted (self included :roll: ) I have absolutely NO trouble tossing the whole line…that is, until we take it out of the box! 
…lee s.
I’ve seen JC cast the whole 90 of line on a 3 wt, and several other heavier rods. Most anyone who wants to practice and learn the ‘tricks’ so to speak can do it.
The point of learning how to doublehaul and be able to throw a long line is mastering line control. Once you do that, you can make the line do whatever you wish.
Thanks for your replies. I have been fly fishing for a long time and have never heard anyone address how much line is in the air and how much is shot on these long casts
Glad to hear from Bill Oyster who lives just down the road and makes wonderful rods. Also it is impressive to hear from Ladyfisher! You personal touch makes FAOL really special to everyone.
Most of the people that I know that are able to cast the entire line do the following. They all mark their fly lines. A small mail knot at the end of the rear taper (found by using a micrometer). They then strip out all of the line, cast with only the head of the line outside of the rod tip and shoot the rest of the line. On a typical bass taper your looking at a 35-40’ head. With some of the distance tapers the head will be much longer 50-60’. The distance taper allows you to aerialize (sp) much more line.
Here’s the method in a nutshell. Load the rod with the line head, double haul and shoot the rest. Easy
With a little work I’ve increased my casting from arounf 50’ to approx 75’ all without any false casting.
Kevin
As JC said in his casting demo at the fish in. There are a lot of methods used to acheive the same result but all good casters have one thing in common…“they know when to stop the rod” and that is the key to all casting either short or long.
JC uses less motion than I do to cast a whole fly line cuz he’s just better at it. I’m not sure how much line I carry, no more than I can control on the back cast but for me I gotta muscle the hell out of it to achieve any kind of decent distance.
fly-chucker… that little ‘nailknot’, I bet it connects the head to ‘shooting or running’ line. I see no other reason for it to be there. Any one can see right where the head tapers back. I suspect these are really, ‘shooting heads’. Very common world-wide. But like always… I might be wrong. 
I can’t believe any pro can’t just FEEL where the transition is :roll:
I will be one of the first to admitt that a small nail knot added to our first full lines was VERY useful on our night forays. :oops: We pretty much teethed on shooting heads though.
…lee s.
I need to cast only about 30feet where I fish . How long a cast will be sufficient in the waters we will be fishing at the Idaho fish in?
No shooting heads involved. Just a nail knot to indicate where the head of the fly line ends. I’ve done the same with many of my lines. Now there’s no guessing of when you should pick up your line and cast again.
If I’m not mistaken a few manufacturers are now building their lines with a bump to indicate the pick up point (SA does on their ultra series bass and saltwater lines)
The guys hitting over 110+ feet carry close to 85/90 feet in the air. I have run some of these contests. Actually, for me, a cast of 100 feet is a great cast, I might get perhaps, one a year. That is from my feet to the fly. Regular 90 foot, WF flyline, 9ft leader and piece of fuzz for a fly. Usually leaves a rod length of backing hanging from the rod tip. It would not help having a bump anywhere by the rear taper for me or any distance caster I know. I can do about as well with a 5wt or a 6wt rod.
Oh, gnubee, you will be fine at that distance, and much less too.
JC: I assume those guys aerializing that much flyline are using specialty tapers like the XXD. Right?
Right, and there are some new lines (longer) out now for exactly that purpose.
Jeez… and I can’t even get a double haul off.
The one going back is easy… (did it before I knew what a “haul” was) but I haven’t got the forward “pull” to work yet. Not once. 
Wow! My first post gets answered by Ladyfisher,Bill Oyster and JC + the rest of you guys.
I’ve been a fan of FAOL for years, Read the new stuff every Monday and I can say with complete confidence That this is the best Fly fishing site on the web.
Thanks to all of you.
Cracker
Hey! I’m up to 65 ft. no the wind was not blowing.
Last week at a casting competition held by the Southern Sierra Fly Fishing Club, Guy Jeans owner of the local fly shop and guide service demonstrated a long cast with the rod at the end of the competition. It was a Snowbee 5wt with regular out of the box Snowbee WF5F flyline after it had been used on a lawn by 52 comperitors. He cast 9’ of leader, 90’ of flyline and about 6’ of backing. He had about 75’ to 80’ of line in the air before shooting the rest.