Took the GoPro out with me on Thursday to the upper Gibbon River to help answer the question How Long Was Your Cast?
How Long Was Your Cast?
- Thread starter Mike Cline
- Start date
Nice fish handling. But hey! He got the shot and the info and that is more important!
Wet gloves, barbless hooks, heavy tippet - generally my fish are landed quickly and out of the water less than 15 seconds. Indeed, I did miss the water’s edge by a few inches.
Invasive species, who cares.
Won't debate the label. In this stretch of river Browns are the dominant species and there are plenty in the 18-19" range in the right places. Despite the barbless hook requirement, every brown caught in this part of the park could be legally kept and if you wanted to, thrown on the bank to die. Unfortunately, if you kept more than 10 and left the park, you'd be in violation of Montana possession limits. Back in the 2020 season, I caught three Westslope cutthroat male brood stock in Gibbon and Elk meadows. They had obviously been dumped in river by the park fisheries' managers despite the fact they are not indigenous to this body of water above Gibbon falls. I doubt they survived the big browns that ply these waters. I've never seen one since that 2020 spring and have never caught any young cutts in these waters either.
I got my whole 5wt out one time. Was fishing Pilchuck Creek and had a lot of room front and back I I told myself to try to. I got all my 90' of fly line out along with a 9' tapered leader. One time was enough. I'm satisfied on that. Never tried it again.
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Very nice fish Mike and congratulations on a great day of fishing Yellowstone.
Looking at the reel I see plenty of line and no backing showing. Two water hauls prior to the final cast were used to load the rod, which is a penalty. Also, the downstream flow of the river adds apparent distance to the cast.
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Good thing you're not nit picking at details. And here I thought the over-riding consideration factor might be the unique application of the Google Earth measuring tool.
@DimeBrite : I am curious as to what "penalty" you are referring to? The objective here is to get the fly to the fish. In this case at the mouth of the flooded creek where strikes are common or deep under the bubble line mid-stream to the bank. The long cast accomplishes both so why does a "water haul", which is very effective at getting the heavy sink tip to the target, constitute some kind of "penalty"?
R
RyRy82
Guest
Haters gonna hate
I'm curious as to why you didn't just move up to the little point. Seems like you'd cut your distance you have to cast in half while fishing the same amount of water....would be more efficient...or was it primarily for illustration purposes?
Beauty of cutt
Beauty of cutt
I eventually did. The bank I was standing on (about 5’ back from the edge) is extremely deep (6-10’) in this high water. The cast I put in the video just happened to be the best shot I got on the GoPro. Typically I’ll fish this bank two-three steps down every cast, the distance usually the same into the flooded creek mouth. Many times the fish will come once the fly is close to the bank and being retrieved upstream. If I don’t connect at the creek mouth or mid-stream, the retrieve will continue along the bank until there’s about 20’ of line out. I probably hooked up with 5-6 fish on my pass through this bend in the river. It’s a hole that holds a lot of fish.
Coach Potter
Life of the Party
It’s always interesting the array of things people take away from anything and everything they see. My take was…technology is crazy and I’m not sure how I feel about it.
I‘m blown away by the fact that a satellite can now tell you how far you have cast a fly.
I‘m blown away by the fact that a satellite can now tell you how far you have cast a fly.
I was being cynical.
Paige
Wishing I was fishing the Sauk
I thought the point of fly fishing was to airialize the fly line and present a fly. Slapping the water twice to be able to make a cast seams counter productive.
It's one thing to roll out a deep sunk fly and then to cast but to keep hitting the water I'm with Dime on this, 2 demerits.
It's one thing to roll out a deep sunk fly and then to cast but to keep hitting the water I'm with Dime on this, 2 demerits.