Getting back into distance casting after nearly decade away from serious shore fishing is proving fun. There's so much to think about, especially when faced with getting coarse gear to perform like beach gear does. The rules are the same, distance is achieved more through correct technique than anything else, but the tackle needs to be just so otherwise technique fights against bad gear, and loses.
The rod I have at my disposal is a rod that is useless for almost everything else but distance casting, the role it was designed for, so it is poker stiff compared to any normal feeder rod, and has a tip action that only turns into a full blank bend of high compression on the strongest of casts and with exactly the right weight of lead.
Today I rigged it up and went out to a field to practise, something I haven't done in years. Before I went I had a few problems to solve though. Firstly the rod has, as you would expect of a feeder rod, very small rod rings at the tip, and that presents a problem as I was going out with a selection of leads up to three ounces. A lead of three ounces requires, if you are going to really push the rod into its full casting curve, a shock leader of thirty-pound test mono, because the rule is ten-pounds of breaking strain for every ounce you want to cast, and line of that strength is thick enough as it stands to cause plenty of drag flying out in coils at high speed through the rings, but of course, there also needs to be a knot to join it to the mainline, which no matter what you do, will double that thickness at one small but crucial point.
The leader knot is always a problem if its not tied perfectly, and many traditional knots in use every day are just plain weak. The weakness does not matter much when beach casting, because the mainline strength is not nearly so critical there. If a leader knot reduces your 15lb mainline by ten percent or so then you still have 12 or 13lb line in effect, and that will handle any fish you are ever likely to encounter in ordinary situations. The issue at the shore is with snags and heavy weed accumulations more than it is with fish. However, a ten percent reduction in line strength in coarse fishing is an altogether more serious issue, because you'll routinely encounter fish like carp and tench that will test the line all the way to its limit.
My problem with this rod was that my beach-casting leader knot, one that I developed for myself and had professionally bench tested at 100% mainline strength (it is possible!) when used for the combination of 50lb leader tied to 15lb mainline was not only too bulky when tied up with the combination of a 25lb leader to 5lb mainline (it's what I had at my disposal) and asked to pass swiftly through very small rod rings, but also refused to work as it should, would not tie up properly, and was too weak when it almost did. There is a big difference between 25 lb line and 50lb line, and a big difference between 5lb line and 15 lb line. What worked brilliantly for one combination, was a disaster with another, so it was back to the bench with the job of inventing a new knot for lighter lines, one with a slim profile, 100% of mainline strength, and no catching tags ends.
I made one, by trial and error. I don't quite know how I got there in the end, but I tied the leader to a drawer knob on my desk, passed it around a second 12 inches away, took it back to the first knob, wrapped it around, placed the spool on the floor, and put my foot on it to tension the lot. What I then had was a long oval of leader. I then passed the mainline in at the second knob and began to weave it over the top, through the middle and under the bottom and so on, ten or twelve times. At the end of this process I made a hitch and then passed the line back through the loop of the hitch once again. I salivated it, pulled it all up very carefully, removed the leader from around the second knob, then finally pulled the knot tight, and found that when I'd finished, the whole thing had come together neatly, and looked pretty damn good. Long and thin, and with as low a profile as possible.
The tags were trimmed, and the knot destruction tested. To my amazement I could not break the knot, and the mainline broke first. Yes! A perfect leader knot...
I tied it again, and it worked just as well. It needs a name! And a diagram...
But would it pass through the little rod rings? Well yes it did, but not without making its presence known. Still, I set off for the canal first, to try a few little chucks to build confidence, then ventured onto a small field for some more adventurous lobs, and then, certain that the leader knot was not going to cause any other problem than reducing potential distance somewhat, ventured onto a big field to give it some welly...
First cast was around 80 yards. Second a little more forceful and closer to 90. I'd chosen an area along a hedgerow that on Google Maps, with its neat measuring widget that can accurately count the distance from one point to another not only in miles and kilometers, but also, if you ask it nicely, in yards, so I knew how long the hedgerow was, and it was 140 yards give or take a yard or two.
Growing more and more confident with the casting ability of the rod and the safety of the leader knot passing through the rings, audibly, but without incident so far, I began to up the pressure and got over 100 yards. So then, I got out a three ounce lead and replaced the two ouncer I had been using. I found this to be a little to heavy for the rod, causing it to become a little ponderous on the uptake and over- loading it a little too much. Not having a compromise on me in the form of a 2.5 ounce lead, I went back to the two-ouncer, which did seem to be under-loading the rod on the quite tame casts I had made so far, and decided to go for broke, The next cast went 110.
So far I had ben employing useful fishing casts, those that can be employed on most gravel pits with their tree-lined swims, like straight overhead chucks, and then the more powerful 45 degree suspended punch casts that require a little more room to swing the lead. Now I decided to employ an altogether more aggressive technique -- the OTG, or 'off-the-ground' cast.
In its full form this cast is one step away from a pendulum cast, in fact it is the basis of the pendulum cast. On a beach, the leader drop is almost as long as the rod, and the lead laid on the sand behind the angler, but parallel to the shore. The lead is whipped off the ground and swung around in a great arc and launched upwards into the sky straight out and with enormous force and velocity generated by the fully compressed rod. I wasn't about to do that first!
I wanted to do a short version, a cast actually feasible from most coarse swims and not requiring 30 or 40 feet of clear space in which to do it, as the full version does. This is the 'easy cast', so called because it's easy to master in a short time by almost anyone. The lead is hung off a drop of five feet or so (depends on rod length) laid on the ground a little further around than straight back from the angler, and quickly punched around, up, and out in one swift movement. It's too quick and snappy a movement to generate real power, but generates enough to make me nervous first time with a new outfit!
After a few tentative and a few wayward casts, I got my confidence up, and let rip!
The lead went 120 yards, then 125, and finally, when I'd tempered myself and become smooth and confident with it, an encouraging 130 yards. That's when I tried something I shouldn't.
After all this time messing around with such a tame cast I just had to let the beast off the leash it had been straining against the whole while. It was high time to try, the pendulum cast...
This would be the first one in years, so I wasn't too sure if I could even remember how to do it. I was certain that the rod could handle one, well, a careful one, so up to the battlement I went, and let off the big gun. Even little pendulum casts are infinitely more powerful than the easy cast ever can be, so the tackle was put under far more strain than I'd subject it to thus. The cast began well, it was smooth enough and technically speaking, not too bad, considering how out of practice I was. But predictably the rod's small eyes just did not have the clearance required for the knot to pass unimpeded under such force and a crack-off was the result, sending the lead and leader somewhere over the horizon. Where exactly, I don't rightly know, it just vanished from sight. Luckily, it's a good three hundred yards to the M6 and I hadn't given the lead nearly enough welly to reach that!
It had been a good day out playing about with rods and reels and leads. I hadn't got over the hedgerow in the distance and reached my target of 150 yards, but with the casting rig the way it stood I knew that was not going to be possible without further refinement. Firstly, the leader was too old and loopy. It was causing a lot of drag as it passed through the rings. Secondly, the lead needs to be around 2.5 ounces, not 2 or 3 to get the best out of the rod and it needs to be a proper tournament style lead lead, not the wobbly flat pear-shaped thing I was slinging about today. Thirdly, the shock-leader knot needs to be superglued to hold it in shape and streamline it. Fourthly, the small Shimano reel was the right size, but the small diameter, short-stroke spool was emptying too quickly causing lip drag. Something with a small diameter, long-stroke spool would be far better. Fifthly, a rod modification to extend the butt for casting (comes off for fishing) would improve everything because I had to over-extend my left arm by nearly a foot just to allow my right arm its correct extension. The left hand should be tucked in near to the body the whole time, rather than following the right arm around its arc, which is precisely why beach-casting rods have such long butts compared to coarse rods.
And lastly, I need to get to the gym! My arms are just not powerful enough having been out of casting practice so long, and the muscles have lost casting memory what with all the gentle little lobs I have been excusing as casts in recent years.
The rod will do 150 with the easy cast. It can do it, just a matter of finessing the rig detail and honing the easy cast style to suit, as there's no point in getting into more powerful casting styles I just can't use in most places. However, when I do get to 150 I'll then have to refine the terminal rig to carry bait and feeder the same distance but without smashing it to pieces on the way. That's a whole new kettle of fish that will require feeders, both cage and maggot, designed for distance, and either clipped down baits, or baits tied up tight with fine PVA string. Fine but strong, braid mainline might be a good idea, mono leaders though, are essential, braid leaders are lethal on the fingers and completely unforgiving of error.
It'll also require a lot of practise, out in the field. Technique comes slowly with distance casting and I'm surprised just how much of it I've lost. I mean getting 150 yards is one thing, getting it with bait and feed is another, but putting it in the right place every time, well that's an art that might take some time to reacquire, most of today's casts being somewhat off the mark for accuracy.
The rod I have at my disposal is a rod that is useless for almost everything else but distance casting, the role it was designed for, so it is poker stiff compared to any normal feeder rod, and has a tip action that only turns into a full blank bend of high compression on the strongest of casts and with exactly the right weight of lead.
The leader knot is always a problem if its not tied perfectly, and many traditional knots in use every day are just plain weak. The weakness does not matter much when beach casting, because the mainline strength is not nearly so critical there. If a leader knot reduces your 15lb mainline by ten percent or so then you still have 12 or 13lb line in effect, and that will handle any fish you are ever likely to encounter in ordinary situations. The issue at the shore is with snags and heavy weed accumulations more than it is with fish. However, a ten percent reduction in line strength in coarse fishing is an altogether more serious issue, because you'll routinely encounter fish like carp and tench that will test the line all the way to its limit.
My problem with this rod was that my beach-casting leader knot, one that I developed for myself and had professionally bench tested at 100% mainline strength (it is possible!) when used for the combination of 50lb leader tied to 15lb mainline was not only too bulky when tied up with the combination of a 25lb leader to 5lb mainline (it's what I had at my disposal) and asked to pass swiftly through very small rod rings, but also refused to work as it should, would not tie up properly, and was too weak when it almost did. There is a big difference between 25 lb line and 50lb line, and a big difference between 5lb line and 15 lb line. What worked brilliantly for one combination, was a disaster with another, so it was back to the bench with the job of inventing a new knot for lighter lines, one with a slim profile, 100% of mainline strength, and no catching tags ends.
I made one, by trial and error. I don't quite know how I got there in the end, but I tied the leader to a drawer knob on my desk, passed it around a second 12 inches away, took it back to the first knob, wrapped it around, placed the spool on the floor, and put my foot on it to tension the lot. What I then had was a long oval of leader. I then passed the mainline in at the second knob and began to weave it over the top, through the middle and under the bottom and so on, ten or twelve times. At the end of this process I made a hitch and then passed the line back through the loop of the hitch once again. I salivated it, pulled it all up very carefully, removed the leader from around the second knob, then finally pulled the knot tight, and found that when I'd finished, the whole thing had come together neatly, and looked pretty damn good. Long and thin, and with as low a profile as possible.
The tags were trimmed, and the knot destruction tested. To my amazement I could not break the knot, and the mainline broke first. Yes! A perfect leader knot...
I tied it again, and it worked just as well. It needs a name! And a diagram...
But would it pass through the little rod rings? Well yes it did, but not without making its presence known. Still, I set off for the canal first, to try a few little chucks to build confidence, then ventured onto a small field for some more adventurous lobs, and then, certain that the leader knot was not going to cause any other problem than reducing potential distance somewhat, ventured onto a big field to give it some welly...
First cast was around 80 yards. Second a little more forceful and closer to 90. I'd chosen an area along a hedgerow that on Google Maps, with its neat measuring widget that can accurately count the distance from one point to another not only in miles and kilometers, but also, if you ask it nicely, in yards, so I knew how long the hedgerow was, and it was 140 yards give or take a yard or two.
Growing more and more confident with the casting ability of the rod and the safety of the leader knot passing through the rings, audibly, but without incident so far, I began to up the pressure and got over 100 yards. So then, I got out a three ounce lead and replaced the two ouncer I had been using. I found this to be a little to heavy for the rod, causing it to become a little ponderous on the uptake and over- loading it a little too much. Not having a compromise on me in the form of a 2.5 ounce lead, I went back to the two-ouncer, which did seem to be under-loading the rod on the quite tame casts I had made so far, and decided to go for broke, The next cast went 110.
So far I had ben employing useful fishing casts, those that can be employed on most gravel pits with their tree-lined swims, like straight overhead chucks, and then the more powerful 45 degree suspended punch casts that require a little more room to swing the lead. Now I decided to employ an altogether more aggressive technique -- the OTG, or 'off-the-ground' cast.
In its full form this cast is one step away from a pendulum cast, in fact it is the basis of the pendulum cast. On a beach, the leader drop is almost as long as the rod, and the lead laid on the sand behind the angler, but parallel to the shore. The lead is whipped off the ground and swung around in a great arc and launched upwards into the sky straight out and with enormous force and velocity generated by the fully compressed rod. I wasn't about to do that first!
I wanted to do a short version, a cast actually feasible from most coarse swims and not requiring 30 or 40 feet of clear space in which to do it, as the full version does. This is the 'easy cast', so called because it's easy to master in a short time by almost anyone. The lead is hung off a drop of five feet or so (depends on rod length) laid on the ground a little further around than straight back from the angler, and quickly punched around, up, and out in one swift movement. It's too quick and snappy a movement to generate real power, but generates enough to make me nervous first time with a new outfit!
After a few tentative and a few wayward casts, I got my confidence up, and let rip!
 |
| Best cast of the day measured by Google Maps. Double it and you have an ordinary clubman tournament cast, take it to the white building in line, and you have a new world record, a cast that would be in the air for over ten seconds! |
The lead went 120 yards, then 125, and finally, when I'd tempered myself and become smooth and confident with it, an encouraging 130 yards. That's when I tried something I shouldn't.
After all this time messing around with such a tame cast I just had to let the beast off the leash it had been straining against the whole while. It was high time to try, the pendulum cast...
This would be the first one in years, so I wasn't too sure if I could even remember how to do it. I was certain that the rod could handle one, well, a careful one, so up to the battlement I went, and let off the big gun. Even little pendulum casts are infinitely more powerful than the easy cast ever can be, so the tackle was put under far more strain than I'd subject it to thus. The cast began well, it was smooth enough and technically speaking, not too bad, considering how out of practice I was. But predictably the rod's small eyes just did not have the clearance required for the knot to pass unimpeded under such force and a crack-off was the result, sending the lead and leader somewhere over the horizon. Where exactly, I don't rightly know, it just vanished from sight. Luckily, it's a good three hundred yards to the M6 and I hadn't given the lead nearly enough welly to reach that!
On the video you can hear the problem. The sound of the leader knot clattering through the rings on the way through is accompanied by the much louder noise (my voice is barely audible, but you can hear the noise clearly) made by 'frapping', the fast moving coils of mainline, slapping through the rod rings. At that point you'll see the rod shudder and my casting posture collapse, the smooth power of the cast evaporating early and throwing me off balance. What probably happened was the tiny pause created by the leader knot hitting one of the rings badly produced a pulse of two or three over-sized, fast moving coils of mainline to back up before the butt ring. That the line snapped at about the second ring is the evidence for that, though the pulse would still carry on through the lot. All this happens in a fraction of a second, and there is no way on earth to stop it in process, hence the practice on a large open field with no-one in sight. Leads can easily kill at that speed...
You can also see why the pendulum cast produces such velocity. The arc of the lead is massive off the long drop ( I shortened mine to stop it taking out the camera!) and because the lead is already travelling very fast indeed just before the cast reaches the point where the lead is actually punched out (which is the same point as with the 'easy cast', or any cast come to that) the punch adds all its power to an object that already has massive momentum. A good pendulum cast feels effortless, but the lead goes miles!
It had been a good day out playing about with rods and reels and leads. I hadn't got over the hedgerow in the distance and reached my target of 150 yards, but with the casting rig the way it stood I knew that was not going to be possible without further refinement. Firstly, the leader was too old and loopy. It was causing a lot of drag as it passed through the rings. Secondly, the lead needs to be around 2.5 ounces, not 2 or 3 to get the best out of the rod and it needs to be a proper tournament style lead lead, not the wobbly flat pear-shaped thing I was slinging about today. Thirdly, the shock-leader knot needs to be superglued to hold it in shape and streamline it. Fourthly, the small Shimano reel was the right size, but the small diameter, short-stroke spool was emptying too quickly causing lip drag. Something with a small diameter, long-stroke spool would be far better. Fifthly, a rod modification to extend the butt for casting (comes off for fishing) would improve everything because I had to over-extend my left arm by nearly a foot just to allow my right arm its correct extension. The left hand should be tucked in near to the body the whole time, rather than following the right arm around its arc, which is precisely why beach-casting rods have such long butts compared to coarse rods.
And lastly, I need to get to the gym! My arms are just not powerful enough having been out of casting practice so long, and the muscles have lost casting memory what with all the gentle little lobs I have been excusing as casts in recent years.
The rod will do 150 with the easy cast. It can do it, just a matter of finessing the rig detail and honing the easy cast style to suit, as there's no point in getting into more powerful casting styles I just can't use in most places. However, when I do get to 150 I'll then have to refine the terminal rig to carry bait and feeder the same distance but without smashing it to pieces on the way. That's a whole new kettle of fish that will require feeders, both cage and maggot, designed for distance, and either clipped down baits, or baits tied up tight with fine PVA string. Fine but strong, braid mainline might be a good idea, mono leaders though, are essential, braid leaders are lethal on the fingers and completely unforgiving of error.
It'll also require a lot of practise, out in the field. Technique comes slowly with distance casting and I'm surprised just how much of it I've lost. I mean getting 150 yards is one thing, getting it with bait and feed is another, but putting it in the right place every time, well that's an art that might take some time to reacquire, most of today's casts being somewhat off the mark for accuracy.
This is really interesting stuff - the local club forum is rife with posts from Carp lads eulogising about 100yd + casts and the latest name gear that's needed to achieve such a feat.
ReplyDeleteI whilst its not for me I look forward to reading about how this effort and practice translates into fish..
Nice post.
Carp anglers practice a modified form of a straight overhead cast and gain a greater arc, and therefore greater velocity, by rocking backwards and then stepping forward onto the front foot as they snap the cast out. It's accurate, but inefficient. No wonder some may have difficulty, name gear or not, in getting over 100 yards.
ReplyDeleteThe 'easy cast' would be more suitable, though it takes practice to get the levels of accuracy carp anglers need in placing their baits.
I only need it to get a bait out into the open water of a gravel pit where I think big bream might lurk, Pinpoint accuracy is not required as the bait will be fishing without a tight bed of well placed ground-bait to hit every time. But, I think it will find big fish that are using the un-fished interior as sanctuary.
Then again, my beach rod and multiplier will chuck a spod the same distances, and with ease.
Years ago Marsh Pratley and I would be distance casting every week using the Dorchester Lagoon where it was easy to cast from a point along the bank so the distance could be measured.
ReplyDeleteWe both used the overhead cast for accuracy and while I achieved a best of 174 yds Marsh always beat me by another 10 yds or so.
We went to the Pairs Carp Championship in France fishing on Lac Madine but although I knew that distance was impotant the problem is always getting your freebies out to where you are casting.
10 yrs on I am sure those figures are not acheivable for me but I will have to see just what I can do at age 68!
Blimey my head is spinning. Jeff you mentioned a maggot feeder needed - the fox finned effort will fly and fly. How are you rigging a bait for this distance work?????
ReplyDeleteI don't think age has much to do with it Phil, muscle power perhaps if you must push it really far, but I'll bet good technique and loads of constant practice is what got you that 174 yards?
ReplyDeletePaul, thanks for the tip off. That's exactly the one I need, and it comes in the right weights, more or less. I think I'll be doing quite a bit of thinking about baits and how they are best kept in one piece. Maggots will survive it, worms might not, corn on a hair, don't know. I think the maggots can be fished off a helicopter rig, but worms and corn may well have to be clipped to, and protected by, an impact shield above the feeder.
My main concern is having the leader knot make the whole rig a death rig should it be lost complete. I think I have a partial answer in soft tungsten putty...
Working on it!
I saw a bream roll on that pit not twenty yards out tonight....
ReplyDeleteAh, that'll be where the first rod is!
ReplyDeleteYou remember how I struggled to get any bites on Bodymoor Heath, Keith? I only got the kinds of bites you were getting all day long when at the last I chucked the second rod as far as I could without any bait around it. The bait and wait rod got hardly any indications there were fish around, but they were there on my side of the swim, but only at range. That's when I realised the importance of getting distance on those kinds of big pits.
Of course the first rod is always going to be close up, but I've sat in swims before when one rod gets all the bites but the other bait, placed quite close by gets none. I think I may as well prospect distance marks with that redundant rod, because the first time I tried it, I hooked a fish. That I then lost it is neither here nor there. I would have no bites at all had I kept both rods close up over the same bed of ground-bait.
Distance fishing like this is something Ive never done. But I suppose it takes you to waters previously unfished?
ReplyDeleteAlso Jeff. "Carbone Nappole"..On the rod mate. I gotta say Im intrigued, never heard of those rods?
John, it's actually a Garbolino 'Swinton', which is an Italian variety of their rods never sold in England, hence the Italian legend of the reverse side of the blank.
ReplyDeleteWhy they called it a 'Swinton' , which sounds as English as you like, is anyone's guess.
Ok Jeff,I watched your video, and despite the tight rings you did get a fair old distance with it.
ReplyDeleteAs I understand things fishing is as popular in Italy as anywhere. Not suprised theyve got good gear.
John, I ran an Italian to English translation. 'nappe carbone' means 'coal tassles'...
ReplyDeleteFantastic. I have rod made out of coal tassles!
Whatever they are...?
Coal Tassles????
ReplyDeleteKeep up the posts Jeff.I like your blog mate.Let us know when you reel in one of those big Bream in, from out beyond 100yds.
I know you will
'coal tassles'? Carbon fiber, perhaps?
ReplyDeleteI dunno but my god you Brits go to some extremes to spend all day catching a fish... feeders and cages and all that- 175 yard casts??!!
And I acknowledge the satisfaction of 'figuring it out' on a particular water. I've had to do that too but it doesn't usually require more than an adjustment of lure or presentation.
OK, maybe that's easy for me to say because I mostly fish from a canoe (can go anywhere)and fish lures and flies only- very effective for the bass, trout, pike, walleye, and other fishies we have here in Colorado.
OK, full disclosure- a friend gave me a bottle of Hennessy and I'm soused so I'll sign off...
But Jeff, laddie- if you can ever get yourself to Denver International- with or without your lovely lady, my English wife would love the company- we can treat you to a different experience re angling... best to all... bloody hic
I'd love to take you up on that offer Steve. American fishing is so very different than ours, there seems hardly any similarity. All our water is tied up tight and rules and regulations abound. We can't do this and we can't do that. Sometimes, on certain fisheries, it seems they'd actually prefer us to pay good money and sit there watching fish rather than catch them so strict are the parameters of what can and cannot be done!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to abandon the long casting and just get in a boat and go afloat for the same result, but believe me, it won't be allowed. 'Health and Safety' puts paid to that kind of fun, as it's so very dangerous nowadays for a grown man to take his life into his own hands, and wrench it out of the grip of the nanny state.
We have no wilderness here that hasn't been tamed but those remote parts of big lakes that a long cast might reach and explore...