Peter
I don't earialize much at all, other wise I stuff up my casting, I only have two back cast then shoot, maybe around 50ft of line in the air, my best cast wouldn't pass 75ft.

I suspect that when I try for extra distance, I shoo too much line on the last false cast and then the whole lot collapses, still getting only 75', but now with extra slack

One thing that really stuck from the Penrith lesson was to get those loops really tight, particularly on the back cast, before shooting ..... although I'm still reeling from JD's comment that I should always cast on my backhand

Peter Like anything, its not that simple and there's a couple of variables that need to be considered. Apart from your own casting ability the length of the head is a really critical factor. A short and chunky head like a shooting head or the Rio Outbound short or even a bass taper cannot support a lot of the running line in the air. On the other hand a line with a long head that incorporates a long back taper (like the SA XXD or ED) is very stable in the air. The Downunder line was also like that as well, a lot of guys struggled with it earlier on because they couldn't figure out how much line to hold in the air. The choice between using a short head and shooting a lot of line or using a longer head and aerialising more line is what you have to deal with. In the extreme distance 5 weight events the better casters are aerialising between 80 and 90 feet of line, now you really want all your ducks and drakes lined up to be able to do that.

Loop shape and control is the most important thing to focus on and it takes a long time and very good technique to build up to those sorts of numbers. Tracking is the key - the straight line path of the tip of the rod - once it wobbles its all over.

Morsie

Morsie

Well said Stuartt