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What can the rest of us takeaway and apply to fishing based on insights from tournament casting and tournament videos?
First, for 99.9% of fishing situations, using the maximum distance techniques of tournament casters would be counterproductive. But what if you simply want to cast a bit further than ususal when fishing your favorite run?
To cast further, I do the following in about the following order -- according to how much extra distance I need and what's most convenient.
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- Use a longer rod with a correspondingly heavier line. My personal rule of thumb is that I get about 10 feet extra casting distance for each additional foot of rod length.
- Use a right-foot-forward stance when right hand is up. The winding and unwinding of the torso acts like a spring -- producing more distance with seemingly no additional effort.
- Cast tighter loops based on better fundamentals: set the anchor in the right place, put a bit more energy into the back cast (but not so much as to pull out the anchor), load the rod before applying full forward power to a positive stop ("accelerate to a stop", as Steve Rajeff teaches), cast the rod tip in a straight line that's parallel to the D-loop.
- Use a lower rod-tip, faster, greater energy, V-loop back cast (instead of a slow, wide D-loop) in combination with a forward stroke that produces a tight loop. This takes a bit more practice and timing, but is extremely effective. By keeping the rod tip low on the back cast and making a positive stop, a V-shaped-loop forms. As the forward stroke begins, the rod begins to load automatically because of the extra energy in the back cast. Make sure that you get enough line on the water to form a solid anchor. The whole stroke is faster. You will likely find that you need to start your forward stroke before your anchor is set and thus slightly earlier than "splash and go" would suggest.
The exact timing comes with experimentation and practice, but it's well worth developing the ability to make this kind of cast when needed. It not only produces extra distance, but works especially well into the wind.
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