My knees are shot! I’m stuck at the bank, or close to it. There are trees, rocks, high banks, behind me.
What length rod, what action on the rod, line, leader and tippet would you use?
Can I rollcast with a dry and a dropper?
Do you have any other ideas?
HELP!
Thanks,
What kind of distance are you looking at roll casting? My humble experiences, short distance, short rod, long distance, longer rod…
I roll cast with a dry and a dropper and rarely get tangled. As with all casting the longer the rod the farther you’ll cast.
There are different opinions what’s the best line and rod to use. Some say WF line, others say DT.
Personally, I like a WF line on a medium action rod, as this will mean the rod will load more. I also prefer a longer leader. But often I’m fishing fast rods, and then find I have to roll cast; so I think technique is very important. As a raise my rod tip, I always watch the bottom of my D-Loop and make sure it doesn’t sag because I have waited too long to make my forward roll cast. The D-loop should be in an oval shape. If I want too long it will be almost an L-shape. (My anchor should be the leader and about two feet of fly line on the water.)
To make sure I don’t add slack to the line during the cast, I hold the line against the rod butt with my index finger. When I make my abrupt stop I let go of the line.
Randy
WF and fast rods can work but you won?t cast far or have the same kind of control. No way man!
Remember, as the energy from your cast dissipates, it’s still more likely to transfer the needed energy to the tip of a DT because the line goes from wide to thin just as the casting energy goes from max and dissipates to minimum. Similar to how a bullwhip generates so much speed as the whip gradually thins-out.
Therefore, med or med/fast rod with matched DT line both weighted to conditions works like a charm.
WF lines, especially some species-specific WF lines, cause problems when getting past the shooting head. Many of the lines designed for fast rods carry most of the weight too close to the line tip for roll casting. This is because have running line out and that?ll kill the energy transfer?..especially with a fast rod as they?re often tougher to load from D-loop and water tension alone. Especially when tying to get your loading tention from a thin running line that picks up off the water too quick to load the rod.
But skill counts for everything, all I need is a shoe string, tree branch and I’ll cath em all baby…Oh ya, I said it!
Interesting remarks about DT lines. I don’t have any - I use a lot of shooting heads - but I’m thinking of buying one for my small stream rod. One of the things I was curious about was how well it will roll cast.
When it comes to spey casting - a form of roll casting - the fly line is much heavier than a conventional line, which led to believe that a WF was the way to go.
Any more opinions on this?
Also, if I want to haul and roll cast, I make sure my line hand is at the same level as my rod hand. That will help prevent slack in the line.
RAndy
McManus put “steeple cast” in your internet search engine. Maybe the steeple cast will work for you. I find it useful.
Many of the places I fish in the Sierras have those same obstacles fishing shoreline. It was suggested to me to give two-handed casting a try. I went with what many term a trout spey outfit. My purchase included a beginners spey casting DVD by John and Amy Hazel. It shows you many of the basic casts. Many of the two-handed casting techniques can be used with a standard fly rod. I have not tried this, but there are a ton of info on YouTube showing you how.
What about the triangle taper lines? I think they do a super job of roll casting up on our little woodsy mountain streams.
double taper line is a necessity in my opinion for rollcasting.
You should be able to roll cast with any outfit. Medium, fast or slow action
but the rod and line weight should be suited for the conditions.
Assuming you are speaking of streams:
Myself , I use two rods in your situation one is a 3wg 7’9" the other 4wg 8’3"
though a 9-footer would be nice too!,even longer I suppose…
I agree that a double taper line is best suited for the roll cast. The belly aids big time
in water / line friction to load the rod, a definite benefit you can feel…
Its all about the feel….
Leader depending on how stealthy you may want or need to go is a minimum of 7.5 with 18" of tippet or a bit longer.
I am thinking the shorter the rod the stiffer you want the action, just a gut feeling here…
A brace of droppers should not be any problem casting, but,
one additional thought to those mentioned about roll casting, it is important to be sure the
line has completely stopped moving on the water after your D forms
before starting the forward stroke. This allows a more effective loading of the rod.
All from my view of course…
Take care.
Steve
For me, roll casting is a necessary evil for some of the streams I fish. I use just about any rod in my quiver, from a nice slow cane rod to very fast graphite. My longest casts and best results are with a double taper line. One of my favorite rods for roll casting and overhead casting a multiple fly rig is my new Global Dorber 10 foot 4 wgt. Very nice rod.
When comparing spey casts to roll casts you have to remember that a spey cast is primarily a change of direction cast that aerializes the majority of the line. The spey lines are considerably heavier than a normal line and have very long bellies allowing the line weight plus the leader anchor to load the rod. Behind the belly of the spey line is a much smaller running line. On short belly spey lines the belly can measure over 45 feet. That’s half the length of a normal fly line. At least that much line is usually out of the guides when casting.
You can use spey casts with a single hand rod, even add in a haul for more line speed.
For my use, a medium fast rod with a double taper line seem to do the business. Your mileage may vary.
REE
Get yourself a Steffan Brothers, McFarland, Southfork Rod Co., T.L. Johnson fiberglass rod or a good cane rod and some good line. Roll cast to your heart’s content.
Am I not right Rockthief?
I agree, glass rods are superior for roll casting in my experience. My current favorite roll caster is an old Cortland Pro Crest glass rod, 8’ for 6 line, I use a 5 on it though. It is a roll casting machine and I cannot imagine a better rod for the job.
I’d say the outfit isn’t nearly as important as technique. Maybe I’m oversimplifying but if you have proper technique you should not have a problem rollcasting with any rod. I use an 8ft 5 weight and a 7 ft. 4 weight for most of my fishing and have little problem rollcasting with either of them.
Roll cast like crazy today with my Great Bay 3 wt. Fiberglass is the ace tool for roll casting. It was almost effortless to lay out an accurate cast.
How about checking out a SWITCH ROD?? 10ft 6in or longer. Robert Meiser Rods are available in light line sizes. He is the one that started making Switch Rods over 10 years ago. Thoes of you not familiar with Switch Rods,they are rods that allow to use either
single-handed casting techniques or traditional two-handed casting techniques. They seem to be the answer for the particular circumstances in question, especially ROLL CASTING.
Fishin’ Jimmy
I agree wholeheartedly…
But that being said, considering your situation, the switch rod as Jimmy suggested and Ray concurs, seems like the way to go…
I agree with Jimmy, a switch rod is what you need.
He is bang on, and most fishing books will acctully say pretty much the same thing. Anyone new to Flyfish should use a DT as well, as it will be more forgiving on a poor cast.
For those that don’t think a roll cast can have distance or accuracy I offer the following link…kind of opened my eyes to what an expert can do. If you scroll through the comments you will find he is using a 9’ 5wt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QhDavr24xA&feature=PlayList&p=376DB06338DA94FE&index=0&playnext=1