# 5 Distance and (many) more questions

[masonj_27]

Hey everyone,

New to the board, so I hope that I’m doing this right. I was encouraged by Nick to get on here make a post about distance with a 5 wt. Currently I’m sitting around 70-75’ and have been at that distance for a few months now. I would like to extend to over 100’ and even beyond! The information that Nick gave me was absolutely awesome. He gave me a few links to read up on that we’re very helpful resources (I will link them below). What I grained from chatting with Nick, is he told me distance pretty much all boils down to 3-4 things. Tight loops (which to my knowledge is achieved by the straight path of the rod tip), tracking (the most important), achieving high line speed, and being able to carry a long line.

One thing I’ve noticed is that there are many different techniques (or motions/styles) to achieve this. What are these different styles, is there a “best?” I feel that I’m a little unsure of the many different positions of the body during a distance cast. (Where my hand and elbow should be mainly). Currently my biggest priority is to really tighten up my back cast loop. Does anyone have any recourses for this? My guess is that I’m not having a good enough stop on my back cast. One thing that I’ve thought about quite a lot is the trajectory of a distance cast. When false casting (or not) a short line that backcast is thrown up and behind. Tight loops seem to not be an issue, but at distance that trajectory must change to be lower on the back and higher on the front cast. How do we do this? I find myself many times trying to change this trajectory and my loops end up completely collapsing.

I’d love to hear any sort of feedback or resources that anyone can offer. I’m hoping to figure out a way to record my cast and have you all analyze it and give me some feedback. Until then I will be practicing and studying as much as I can.

Nicks sources
(https://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/ ... shing-cast
https://www.sexyloops.com/flycast/fishi ... ance-cast/)

Tight lines (and loops) everyone

- Mason

[Michal Duzynski]

Hi Mason
Welcome to the board

TENSION in the line is your friend, SLACK is your enemy..
Cheers
Mike

[masonj_27]

Thank you Mike, I completely agree with you. I wonder if at times I am getting slack that I am not noticing. Video should help to see for myself.

[nicholasfmoore]

Hi Mason,

Nice to see you on here and welcome to the board! You have definitely taken the best step in regards to advancing your distance. There are lots of stunning casters on here that only want you to do well and they will offer excellent advice. James actually boiled it down to tracking and line speed, I had too many steps (thanks James).

Video is a great thing, you can post it on YouTube as unlisted (so joe public don’t see it) and then put it on here.

There’s lots in there so I’ll let the board work it’s magic.

Tight loops and tight lines

All the best

[masonj_27]

Nick, that’s great to hear. I will try to see about getting some video on here, hopefully soon. Thanks again!!

[Paul Arden]

Hi Mason,

If you are throwing 75’ at the moment the first thing I would recommend is making your loops vertical, travelling over the rod tip both back and forward. Take the power out with the rod hand and work on developing the haul.

As Nick says, uploading a video will help everyone with more specific advice; I’m going by teaching people who are throwing your distance.



This would be a good place to start. Get this under control. Develop a fast well-timed haul. This is good for 100’. And then we can open up. This Open Stance Distance cast is a core technique and I would recommend getting excellent at this before venturing into Stopless, which will be your next step.

Cheers, Paul

[RSalar]

Hi Paul — I hope it’s ok if I jump in here. That’s a great video and I’ve watched it a bunch of times but I never noticed the sound of the line before. Is that a textured line that you are using? It seems like it shoots out through the guides very easily. On the very last cast on the video it seems like you shoot about 20 or more feet of line with very little effort. Have you made videos or is there something on the site that describes the various ways to reduce friction and increase the fly line’s ability to shoot farther? You mentioned the trick about rotating the guides 45 degrees …. Are there other tips and tricks posted somewhere on here that would help reduce friction and allow the line to shoot farther?

Thanks, Ron

[Paul Arden]

Hi Ron,

I use 10CST silicone oil. That will be the SA Bonefish 8 which is textured. I’m not a fan of textured lines and they groove my fingers. We also did some experiments where we didn’t get any increase in distance in Shootouts. But that’s how they come

50439637-5D86-47A0-873C-0AD3B2453E54.jpeg (57.96 KiB) Viewed 1543 times

I always check the shoot when fishing. I don’t make an O with the fingers, but a C. That might help slightly, I don’t know When fishing I want a controlled shoot and layout.

Rings out to 45 degrees is a big one. I’ve fished that way for over two decades. Ceramics are the best, and Torzite ceramics the best of the best. But I only fit them on stiffer/heavier rods. That’s a HT8 in the movie, with Recoils.

Have a play with shooting earlier too Ron, even to the extend of releasing before the haul is completed! I cast shooting heads this way. There was a big thing about it donkey’s years on the Board with “cast and release”.

Cheers, Paul

Edit - just as well the lid’s on.

[masonj_27]

Great video Paul. I think that is another part of my problem, using too much force and effort! I need to practice my tracking and relaxing that grip more (relaxing more of everything as well). I’m eager to get out and practice these more this upcoming week. Ordered a tripod as well the other day, that way I can get some videos on here for critiquing. Thanks again, and Happy Easter!!

[Michal Duzynski]

This might be a bit helpful
Relaxing your grip I order to improve your tracking
Cheers
Mike