120 ft casts with a 5# rod "part 1"



"recipie for fun, vid cam essential"

Fly fishing is such a fantastic sport, and given that you are here taking the time to read this site you probably dont need reminding of this, what other pastime encompases so many wide varying sub divisions within? A person can chose to completely submerge into any one of the sub divisions and over indulge himself to the point where he can truly specialise, leaving other people to seemingly think you are simply in need of some form of rehabilitation?. With the utmost of respect to the following persons may I lightheartedly give you a few examples, lets begin with my friend Paul Little from just up the coast, a man who needs no introduction in the world of fly tying, and never in this day and age could you ever witness such knowledge and perfection at the vice, or again my good friend Illtyd Griffiths, a fine Welshman, and in this country one of the few who truly understands the Sea trout, specialising through years of expereince of essentially fishing in the situation where the majority of his sight is artificially taken away from him. How about Paul Proctor?, a guy who could probably tell you both the common and latin name of every bug, nymph or adult fly he could stumble across anywhere in northern europe, and of course theres Peter Anderson, a Scotsman in his 80's who has mastered the art of Spey Casting with a double handed rod to such a degree that spectators are greeted with a sight that borders on something simply not of this earth, a Grand Master if ever there was one!. In all, these people above are all members of the proffesional fly fishing teaching association which is AAPGAI, and like all members they hold a very wide knowledge base of fly fishing, casting and teaching in general, and yet what a person can find is that each further member you come across can quite often reveal themselfs to be really really geeky to the same degree as those above in at least one aspect of fly fishing too!



The purpose of writing part 1 of this article is certainly not an attempt to tell people how to cast 120ft+ with a 5#, however I would like to try and convey what I have discovered following the idea which was based upon working towards understanding the technical aspects of distance fly casting, with a view to specialising in teaching it and simply becoming better at it myself. This never ending journey which obviously still has a long long way to go has for the time being become very personal and quite often has induced the level of dedication to one aspect of the sport similar in some ways to those gentlemen described above, up to the point where the need to improve has seen the drive to practice on a daily basis become mandatory. Along the way Ive met like minded people of whom proved to become really treasured freinds, Ive expereinced both pain and joy, many hours of confusion, frustration and exhaustion, and every now and then those fantastic relevations which come forth out of the blue which can often save your sanity. Ultimately the sheer beauty of what ive discovered thusfar is that a loosely knitt brotherhood of distance casters, usually instructors from all across the globe who share this similar "addiction" for the sport, are often brought together in mini gatherings commonly known as "Shootouts", if ever there was such a thing as Distance Fly Casting Rehab, then these shootouts are just that. Just like the meeting of the skilled swordsmen on the film "Highlander" these shootouts can occur anywhere on the planet at any time, and when they do, to watch casters at the top of their game going head to head is nothing short of simply awesome..........

"Venue, Norway, April 2007, 11pm"



"Battling with my old mate Grunde"

  Ok..........."So whats the big deal!, you are simply showing off, nothing special in that, it certainly has no real fishing purpose, Its probably impossible to set hooks at that range, apart from chest beating in your little click, whats the point?, and of course the classic "you'll catch nowt on there mate!!"
Made above are some of the typical examples of statements that we as distance casters have been faced with, usually exhibited by persons who first and foremost do not understand that distance casting is simply a sport, a throwing event if you will, these people would also do well to recognise that this can be a very addictive sport which puts you right out there on the outermost edge of your ability, and there are many hidden elements involved which do help enourmously when one switches from a piece of wool on the grass to a fly on the water. Further more, there are a relative few in the world who can consistently do it well, so I guess it is well worth working towards.
Regarding the equipment used, what has become to be the recognised standard amongst many is that the event is played out with a 5# rod, which in the grand scheme of things can be regarded as a light line event, and I find this is what seperates the outstanding from the good, and the world class from the outstanding. It doesnt take much in the way of external contributory factors to make or break casts, and it is because of this, sheer skill bourne from practice holds it all together, and unlike most other casting events, untamed brute strength can quite often come second or third place.....!

"I once believed this image was me doing things right, Thanks to many hours practice and meetings with other distance casters I can now fully appreciate the many errors of my previous efforts"


As stated above, what has become accepted between casters in comunication with each other is that they mostly use stiff "off the shelf" rods of AFTM rated 5#'s Usually the 9ft Sage TCR 5#, basically we are all on a level field and people can relate too and appreciate other casters efforts this way, It is also probably the best way to gauge your own progress against the well known world superstars of this event, as in the United States plenty of emphasis is placed on 5# casting at those huge event shows. The current line for the job in hand is none other than the 3M/Scientific Anglers 5# ED which comes in two colours, one is green and is 105ft in length, and the other which is the one we use most is the orange version totalling 120ft in length and a head that comes in at 69.5ft.
What people "myself included" can and did make as their first mistake as they undertook the sport for the first time, was that they lead themselfs into a false sense of security regarding their present ability, for example, in the absence of a long tape measure, upon casting a full 90ft line plus a 9ft rod lengths of backing, coupled that with your 9ft leader on the end, one would assume that we have just got a cast which was getting on 108ft, I can assure you that this is definately not the way to gauge what you have just threw, if the cast was made against the tape you would probably find that it went more like 90ft, if you were lucky. To actually measure where the fly landed, not where the backing knott is in relation to the rod is the first reality check we expereince, and can come as quite a shock when first seen. The second mistake is that people cheat themselfs and start adding to thier own measurements, even if by simply rounding up to the nearest foot, again not good practice. When i was looking to reach 120ft last year I was stuck between 117 and 119 ft frustratingly for what seemed an eternity, there was simply no point saying I had threw 120 because I hadnt and nor I did know what it felt like to actually surpass that barrier. Thirdly, keep this side of the line!, all to easy to wander off up to the two foot mark to cast when your stuck on 118.



"geared up for a full days shootout down at Paul Ardens, with all casters to cast all outfits ranging from 0 weights to 8 weights"

The rules are quite simple, a tape measure is rolled out to somewhere around 130ft "well we can but dream!", and each caster has three minuites each time to cast outfits brought to the shootout, or if you have plenty of time during the day you can utilise the following rule, each caster when its his turn can have one cast of which he can count, and then has two more, or have one cast, discount it if need be, but must then take the best of the next three. The worst demon that a caster can face when up against the clock rule as above, is that those effortless casts which were performed in practice now turn into distances which land some 10 - 15ft short of your current pace, please take heart in the fact that you are in the company of fellow casters who know and appreciate why this is happening, its called pressure!, and it can induce all kinds of problems.

"Danish fly casting superstar and AAPGAI Master instructor "Lasse Karlssson" and I stringing up for a shootout in Denmark"

As with most throwing events, the way to go far is to eventually apply the highest force over the straightest and longest distance as possible. The problem lies in that fishermen generally carry a little line in the air when false casting and then shoot a lot if they want to go further, or adversly, you can carry a lot and shoot a little, as with the use of old DT lines, In this game the premise to go really far is to carry a lot AND shoot a lot, all in order to delay loop roll out for as long a time as possible, and its here where the caster learns much about his ability. When practicing carrying a long line, existing small faults can become very evident, and working on erradicate these in order to improve distance is where the caster benifits the most when he resorts to normal fishing casts. The slight issues of tracking faults from front to back magnify themselfs enourmously when holding up lots of line. Rods rotated to quickly throughout the mid stages of the stroke or even a haul applied slightly to soon may manifiest itself as a tailing loop when the line is getting on 80-90 ft out, very frustrating problems which if you knew what to look for would only require minute adjustment.

In all, when constantly pushing yourself at the edge of your casting and carrying ability time after time, most things below this become much easier very quickly, seeing what is regarded as normal fishing ranges appearing quite comfortable.

"AAPGAI Instructor and good friend Pete Tyjas going up against the tape, another one bit hard by the enjoyment of the bug!"