Is learnning to haul and double haul...

[Capt-D]

.... a staple of saltwater fly fishing. I went down to a buddy's beach on Sunday to do a little pickerel fishing on the Severn. Along with the spinning rod, I also decided to take my standard 9wt trout rod. tied with a clouser, I was only able to cast it about 30-40 into the wind.

Other than allowing the arc to straighten on the back cast how can I get more distance? For those that don't know I have for the most part only used the fly rods for trout (i.e. no use for long casts). I have seen others in the keys hauling line during the cast but never paid enough attention to learn this.

-D

[Dave Sikorski]

A 9 wt?

Yes hauling will get a fly out their. With the standard clouser on a floating or double taper trout line you'll basically be stuck with the flip.

It's hard to cast a heavy fly with most trout stuff.

Sink tips, intermediates, weight forward floating tapers, and various other styles of saltwater or specialized lines are made for casting larger flies in tougher conditions.

Different lines are meant to behave better in certain temperatures...Bonefish lines are of course made for the heat, Striper lines are gonna perform better up north and might be tough to cast in high heat.

When the line isn't weighted or tapered as it should be the fly takes over and controls the cast. That's the problem you're having now.

Rod type adds to the equation too.

hauling is easy to learn. Get out in a field and practice now and again. You'll be shooting 60-80' in no time.

There are some GREAT casting instructors in Annapolis/Kent Island area that can really improve you casting in just an afternoon.

-D

[Capt-D]

A 9 wt?

Sorry Dyslexia kicking in 6wt

[Logan9581]

I hardly ever fly fish but I did switch my line to a weight forward and pretty much doubled my cast distance by just doing that one change.

[OneMoreCast]

Hauling is like riding a bike. Once you do it, you'll never forget how. It's hard to get the timing down at first. I've taught guys that picked it up in literally an hour....I've seen it take other guys over a year.... Once you get it down... 100ft doesn't look that far away.


edit... and wind doesn't matter anymore. If you can be on the bay, you can cast a fly. 22knots is the limit... if it is over 22 knots... casting can start to suffer.

[sandyharley]

If you want to get way out there try a shooting line.I use a floating shooting head for my off shore rods.The shooting line will help you with casting into the wind while site casting .

[gottaflylee]

Capt-D, I read what you worte and what the other guys wrote, and here is what I think. As I reed it you are throwing a 9wt rod into the wind. Thats tuff to start with but here are a couple of things I will say on this without seeing you cast which is a must for me to help you out. First, without being able to double hall, learn to stop the rod abruptly on the end of your forward cast...like you hit a brick wall. This will generate line rod speed at the end of your cast which ='s line speed, which ='s distance.
Next is learn to side arm cast. this helps 2 fold. First, it is winder 9' over your head than it is at your wast...second, when casting over your head, stoping the rod at 10 and 2, the rod movement is about 5' to 6' from point to point. By bringing you rod down to side your rod movement is about 10 to 12' from point to point, which ='s rod speed that ='s line speed which ='s distance.
Last but not least and maybe the most important thing...a fly rod will NOT LOAD till the head ( weight foward part of the line) is ALL out of the rod. This is a must to cast distance in any kind of conditions we fish. The head of most fly lines are 30 to 33'...some are longer and some are shorter.
When casting into the wind, let the line out on your back cast, not your forward cast.
I hope that this helps you, I know its a mouthfull.