Sometimes you are the problem

Rob Allen

Rob Allen

Life of the Party
I have always thought I was a good caster and have been told so by many industry professionals.

This spring i borrowed from the Sage rep ( thank you Eric) bought the correct line, the SA Mastery expert distance line and started practicing and in the unsettled spring air was reaching pretty decent distances my best casts being 115 feet. I returned the borrowed rod and a couple months later I bought that rod the Sage power R8 590. I've had it a couple weeks and have been practicing but now in summer I am dealing with dead calm air in the mornings and my casts are collapsing at 90 feet. Literally like their hitting an invisible brick wall and falling out of the sky. I am still casting 105 feet of line but 15 feet of it are all bunched up at the end.
Overcoming 50 years of muscle memory to do it right is nearly impossible. I'm just whining because my ego is bruised and I hate failing, which seems to occur more and more as I age.

Anyway my 125 foot target is a long ways away.
 
I’m right there with you. I don’t get as much casting practice now that I have a couple youngins, and I’m hitting that same brick wall at around 80 feet and dumping a pile of line at the end of my cast.

No idea what I’m doing differently. Now and then I’ll really launch one perfectly and have no idea why it worked that particular time.
 
Rob Allen said:
I have always thought I was a good caster and have been told so by many industry professionals.

This spring i borrowed from the Sage rep ( thank you Eric) bought the correct line, the SA Mastery expert distance line and started practicing and in the unsettled spring air was reaching pretty decent distances my best casts being 115 feet. I returned the borrowed rod and a couple months later I bought that rod the Sage power R8 590. I've had it a couple weeks and have been practicing but now in summer I am dealing with dead calm air in the mornings and my casts are collapsing at 90 feet. Literally like their hitting an invisible brick wall and falling out of the sky. I am still casting 105 feet of line but 15 feet of it are all bunched up at the end.
Overcoming 50 years of muscle memory to do it right is nearly impossible. I'm just whining because my ego is bruised and I hate failing, which seems to occur more and more as I age.

Anyway my 125 foot target is a long ways away.
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when I was living coastside in the bay area and first got into fly fishing, dropped by the Golden Gate Casting Club one weekend afternoon to watch a competition.
Everything with them seemed to be about the backcast, just whipping the hell out of it, turning to watch the backcast to the very apex of the unfold and then giving it the double haul gun...impressive as hell, and watching them did absolutely zero to improve my own distance casting.
 
Don't know how hot it is where you are casting but the heat may be having an impact. I know in my fishing in the last month, when my cold water lines have been sitting in the hot sun on a boat deck or in my fly line tamer for a bit the first couple casts feel terrible and the line will actually squeak a bit going out the guides.

Another trick is take out a 7wt with the 5 wt line. You can correct me if I'm wrong but I think in the trout distance competition they are only limited to the 5 wt line and can use any 9' rod. Makes sense to line up since you are carrying so much more line in the air and the 5wt head is 300 grains.

If you really want to feel terrible, try doing your distance with a 5wt fiberglass rod ;)
 
Can totally identify....

When I pick up one of my graphite (old Dan Craft blank) 7wts I can usually cast the entire line (helps when you cut it in half)...

No, seriously though, I tend to max out at 90' with the above rod, 80' really consistently. It's always about 10' less with my glass heavyweights (for the most part, there is one exception where it's much closer) because whatever hitch I have in my casting stroke is amplified due to the necessity of being ultra smooth with your acceleration with glass especially.

The nice thing (for me), I can't remember the last time I had to make a cast longer than 40' in the fishing I do. Especially for capr where I'm essentially just casting the leader.
 
Mossback said:
T


Pro tip right there...

😀
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like, subscribe, and follow for more tips....




too bad FlyFishDan didn't stick around long enough to add his input, we could all benefit...
 
I have found mid morning - early afternoon to be the best. Dead calm air is the worst. At 8 am i might max out at 90 feet but at noon the swirling 1-4 mph i can reach 105.
With a 9 ft 5 wt and the SA MED. Afternoon is usually blowing 20 mph. So no casting then.
 
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