Shooting line question

[Grant111]

Hi Guys

I'm trying to figure out how well I'm shooting line on the final cast.

So as a bench mark, what would be considered a good distance to shoot on the final cast?

I realise that this depends on the type of taper and line but I'd be interested in understanding the ratio of line in the air to the final cast.

So in simple terms if I'm using a weight forward line in a 6WT and have 10m in the air, what should I be able to shoot on the final cast. Would it be another 10m or only 5m?

This way at least I know whether I'm doing it right or have some practicing to do.

Thanks
Grant

[Andre]

A typical 6wt line is about 90 feet long. Its not going to be easy to shoot very much if you are only aerialising 10 feet. You haven't yet got your belly section in the air. If you can aerialise about half to two thirds of the line, (at least get the belly out the rod tip and in the air) and if your timing is right, and you can find the rods sweet spot, you should be able to shoot the rest of the line out with a good double haul

[dlampert]

A typical 6wt line is about 90 feet long. Its not going to be easy to shoot very much if you are only aerialising 10 feet. You haven't yet got your belly section in the air. If you can aerialise about half to two thirds of the line, (at least get the belly out the rod tip and in the air) and if your timing is right, and you can find the rods sweet spot, you should be able to shoot the rest of the line out with a good double haul

10m I suspect is the head on a wf line ...

[Scythe]

...So in simple terms if I'm using a weight forward line in a 6WT and have 10m in the air...

That's why it helps to READ before one REPLIES...

Shooting is an uncontrolled act, and affects presentation. A wise old flyfisherman once told me the ideal is to be able to aerialise as much line as possible in 3 false casts before shooting and to work on increasing that with every successive cast you make.

In simple terms, with a normal taper I think it's unlikely to shoot more than 50% of the line aerialised, so if you're shooting 50% of the aerialised line, then on 20m aerialised you should be able to shoot around 10m.

Shooting heads are different ofcourse, they are designed to shoot the entire line as soon as the head (usually 30' on a 90-100' line) is out the rod tip.

[Grant111]

Thanks guys. The reason I asked is that is was fishing two days ago and I had a limited backcast due to the dense bush behind me. So had to try shoot as much as possible on the last cast. So I probably had 10m clearance behind and was wondering if it's possible to get another 10m out on the forward cast. Probably only got 5m so was curious if that was ok in that situation or if I could have gotten more? I'm still learing to cast so I can only assume 5m extra was probably pretty poor.

[William Ewels]

So I probably had 10m clearance behind ....

In that case you could probably aerialise about only 5m of actual fly line, including the front taper, so very little of the heavier head section required to load and shoot. You have say 3m of leader that has to turn over in that space, and the rod length and flex into the backcast probably takes up another 2m.

You'd get more casting distance in that situation from a steeple cast, roll cast, or spey cast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRaCV5c63mY

[Andre]

Ya, I read feet not meters..my bad

10m I suspect is the head on a wf line ...