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Question on Skagit casting

3K views 14 replies 14 participants last post by  salmo_g 
#1 ·
I fished for about 5 hours today and can't figure out what my problem is. While using a double Spey Skagit cast, my fly is taking off great but around 50 feet out, it just seems to lose all power and kind of dies out. I was swinging in pretty shallow water, so was rigged pretty light. Could this have something to do with it. We did have a decent wind at times but even when the wind died down my cast's seemed to lose steam around 50 feet out.

I was using an 11'6 Cabela's Switch Rod, a 450 Rio Skagit line, about 7 Feet of Type 3 and intruders with medium size eyes (but heavy on the marabou).

My form felt great and at the release, everything felt right. I am very new (and self taught) so perhaps I just need some more practice. Will rod length affect the distance I can get on a cast? I have been considering going to a rod in the 13' range.

Thanks.
 
#2 ·
skagit casting

Rod length does have an affect on the ease of casting further, especially the deeper you wade.
That said I think the problem is the size/weight of your fly given the light tip you were using. If you want to see if this is the case simply put a smaller, lighter weight fly on and see what happens. I suspect your line will shoot easier and turn over more consistently with a smaller fly.
I personally would rather use a little heavier sink tip and a unweighted fly in such conditions or go to a dry line and weighted fly.
 
#3 ·
Rod length does have an affect on the ease of casting further, especially the deeper you wade.
That said I think the problem is the size/weight of your fly given the light tip you were using. If you want to see if this is the case simply put a smaller, lighter weight fly on and see what happens. I suspect your line will shoot easier and turn over more consistently with a smaller fly.
I personally would rather use a little heavier sink tip and a unweighted fly in such conditions or go to a dry line and weighted fly.
I looked at the original post several times not knowing how to answer but I agree that the above might be a place to start = there are so many variables its pretty hard for me to give an answer without more info. But sometimes those big fluffy bugs fly like knuckle balls.
 
#5 ·
Trekker,

I am a complete beginner myself, so I'm not going to give any "advice". I did have a question that might help others with answering your problem though. You said you had an "11'6" rod and I'm wondering if you meant 11'6", or an 11' 6WT? Ultimately, what I'm wondering is, what is the rod ratings?
 
#6 ·
Could be????...

....running line management,if you are shooting line(which I assume you are)..if you have all your running line that you want to shoot piled up on the water...and not looped through your top or bottom hand(I loop the running line through my top hand)....the line will get bogged down while shooting out,by water surface tension,and that will kill your shoot-distance.

Just a thought.

There is a he!! of a lot more to skagit casting properly i.e.technique and timing, than some people might lead you to believe.;)



Cheers,

WB.
 
#7 ·
Another new caster here, going to chime in with something I noticed in my casting the other day. I was doing the snap T, and was obviously having to focus on ALL the elements of the cast, and found quite often that on the forward stroke, I wasn't following a straight line with my rod tip, and would occasionaly rotate my shoulders and drop the rod tip after the launch. This seemed to put a bit of an arc in the cast and more tension on the shooting line. Slowed things down a lot and caused a nasty crash short of the distance I was getting when I managed to get all the components aligned.

Did any of that makes sense? I'm sleep deprived today.
 
#9 ·
All responses above are good. The only thing I have to add is consider the anchor. Adequate anchor is critical to turnover of the loop. Many new caster come to vertical in the d loop sweep resulting in insufficient anchors. A good anchor should be aligned in the direction of the cast and have the fly, leader/tip and a few niches of fly line in the water.
 
#13 ·
Personally, assuming the tackle was dialed in correctly I would spend some time studying post #4.
 
#14 ·
symptoms and signs

diagnosis is to me, from your history at least- is that you maybe Blowing Anchor. risks for this is long day casting, short line long rod and shallow wade. put a lil mother nature snot in the mix and body will try to overpower these factors. easy to blow anchor. try and slow it down to super slomo practice mode and see what happens. go methodically through motions with no real power other than a positive stop and see what happens plus add all the good stuff from above
just my 2c consult
 
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