Stroke Adjustments for Distance according to tackle

[Paul Arden]

Hi chaps and ladies,

A topic that came up in the tracking thread is stroke adjustments according to tackle weight, with distance in mind.

Personally I 170 style distance with 8WT tackle and below. However with heavier 10 and 12WT outfits I’m usually much more compact in my arm movements. Indeed sometimes I’ll even switch to putting the thumb behind the cork on the backcast to reduce the arc.

Anyway I thought I’d kick the topic off. I can see I might have to spend some time on the roof as this topic evolves.

T38 is an interesting one for me. I will 170 this and sometimes I’ve had my longest casts this way. In fact I always switch between the two different strokes during competition. It’s not a given for me that 170 will throw further.

Cheers, Paul

[James9118]

I'm very similar. When fishing with a #10 or #12 outfit I won't use much wrist. I'll still use a wide arc, but that's mainly because I'll intentionally throw quite a wide loop - I don't want to chance a big fly coming near the rod or catching the rod-leg on the way out.

T38 is an interesting one. One of my biggest errors with this is over-powering the back cast, this is very easy to do. This ends up tucking the far end of the line and gives a dangling end that is very easy to clip myself with on the way forward. Therefore my perfect backcast is a compromise between tautness (less sag) and tucking which ultimately robs distance.

James

[Paul Arden]

You’ve spent a lot more time with the T38 than I, James. I’ll often try making the backcast a Belgian/Side cast for that reason.

Have you measured your 10 and 12WT casts for distance? Optimal for me seems to be about an 8WT (full line) but whether this is because of tackle or the necessity of the stroke change I can’t say.

When I’m using 10 and 12WTs I’m mostly taking shots. I do very little blind fishing. Consequently it’s not about tiring myself out with the heavier gear; it’s strictly about control.

Cheers, Paul

[James9118]

I'm the same, when fishing with a #10 or #12 it's all about shots. With regard to distance, I think this is held back by the fly line design - if anyone knows of a tropics #10 or 12 WF with a head length of ~50 ft then I'd like to know (and yes, I know there are DTs available). As it is, my lines are good for 105-110ft with a decent sized fly, but not out-and-out distance. I'd say my shots at sharks average at about 75ft, for cudas this is less, maybe 30-50ft.

At one point the BFCC had a #9 'saltwater' event (it was subsequently replaced with the ST27), that went quite well even if the rod was a little soft (back in the days when the number on the rod had to match the line).

Cheers, James

[Mangrove Cuckoo]

Well, once again I think you need to specify what you mean by "distance" casts.

Casting a 12 out to 120 feet or more, or fishing distances of 90 -100 max?

The first case is purely academic or parlor trick as far as I am concerned. I find casts that long are worthless where i fish.

Also, now days with rod technology being what it is, a 10 wt really isn't heavy tackle anymore. I have a new 10 that weighs less than my favorite "play on the grass" 7 that is a few generations old. The difference in line weight increases significantly between 10 and 11, and even more between 11 and 12.

While I have not tried it, I think there is a Rio tarpon line that has a long head? its on my list but I think it is a floating line while I prefer intermediates. SA is currently advertising a new intermediate for cold water that looks interesting and has a 50' head if I remember right.

[Paul Arden]

Río have or had a technical tarpon line with a 60’ head. For me 100’ is a big cast with a 12WT! 10s and 12s have occasionally appeared in shootouts but my interest here is fishing casts not competition.

Cheers. Paul

[Phil Blackmar]

A couple days ago I was fly fishing in the surf, standing in knee to thigh depth, using a casting basket, 9 wt rod with a 9 wt line. There was a light 5-10 mph breeze into my face. I was throwing fairly bulky streamers varying in length from 3" to 6". What would your average casting distance be in this situation?

I struggled with my backcast in that if it was too narrow, it would kick. If I widened it up, I would hit the water coming forward once I got more than 50 or 60 feet of line in the air. I ended up making high back casts just getting the shooting head out of the end of the rod and taking what I could get on the forward cast. (around 80 ft on a good cast).

Also, Paul- what weight line were you using in your snakehead cast video?

Thanks
Cheers
Phil

[Paul Arden]

I don’t know but I think 80’ sounds pretty good under these circumstances. I’m not sure which video but it’s either an 8 or a 10WT. If it’s shots for Snakehead I think it’s an 8 (any time the rod has Torzites it’s the 10!). I find very little difference between them apart from during the fight.

Cheers, Paul