How far..........

[Skook]

........of a cast should I be happy with using an early 1990s G.Loomis GL4 9ft. 5 weight rod?

I'm throwing a SA line that's probably 15 years old and hasn't been cleaned in a long time. There was no wind to speak of yesterday or today, and I was casting on my lawn with a small piece of yarn tied to the end of my leader.

Just curious what an average trout fisherman/woman is capable of to know how much more practice I need. Unfortunately, I get very few days on the water because of work and family. I plan to retire in a few years, and I wouldn't mind catching up on a lot of lost fishing days when I do without embarrassing myself.

I had a very frustrating day on the Salmon River NY last winter fishing a 7 weight with split shot and a bobber. The wind was blowing good and I had a heck of a time getting anywhere near the distance I had hoped for. My roll casting can use work, too. I should've bit the bullet and went back to the rig for my switch rod, but I stuck it out with the single-hand rod and had a tough day of fishing.

I know I can use more practice, but I want to keep my expectations reasonable for an average fisherman who spends limited time on the water.

Thanks.

 

[JerryC]

Depends on what you're fishing for, and where you are fishing. I've never fished for steelhead, so I can't help you with that. I'm not great caster, if I get a 50-60 foot cast off with my 5 wgt, which is built on a Loomis blank from the early 2000's, I'm amazed. Even with my 6 wgt and 8 wgt that's close to the maximum distant I can cast. I've found I don't need that long a cast on most of the trout streams I've fished. Even in salt water and warm water most of the fish I catch are within 40 feet of me. The streams I fish here in SE PA aren't that large. My suggestion would be to work on accuracy. The ability to put a dry fly in a rising trout's feeding lane at 20 or 30 feet. Nymphing to me is blind fishing. Still you need to put a nymph in the lanes where you think fish are feeding. If you can make an accurate cast in the 30 or 40 foot range, you'll catch fish.

 

[tomgamber]

I would say if you're casting far enough to catch fish you should be happy. Just cleaning that line will probably give you at least an extra 10-15 feet.

 

[ryansheehan]

........of a cast should I be happy with using an early 1990s G.Loomis GL4 9ft. 5 weight rod?

I'm throwing a SA line that's probably 15 years old and hasn't been cleaned in a long time. There was no wind to speak of yesterday or today, and I was casting on my lawn with a small piece of yarn tied to the end of my leader.

Just curious what an average trout fisherman/woman is capable of to know how much more practice I need. Unfortunately, I get very few days on the water because of work and family. I plan to retire in a few years, and I wouldn't mind catching up on a lot of lost fishing days when I do without embarrassing myself.

I had a very frustrating day on the Salmon River NY last winter fishing a 7 weight with split shot and a bobber. The wind was blowing good and I had a heck of a time getting anywhere near the distance I had hoped for. My roll casting can use work, too. I should've bit the bullet and went back to the rig for my switch rod, but I stuck it out with the single-hand rod and had a tough day of fishing.

I know I can use more practice, but I want to keep my expectations reasonable for an average fisherman who spends limited time on the water.

Thanks.

........of a cast should I be happy with using an early 1990s G.Loomis GL4 9ft. 5 weight rod?

I'm throwing a SA line that's probably 15 years old and hasn't been cleaned in a long time. There was no wind to speak of yesterday or today, and I was casting on my lawn with a small piece of yarn tied to the end of my leader.

Just curious what an average trout fisherman/woman is capable of to know how much more practice I need. Unfortunately, I get very few days on the water because of work and family. I plan to retire in a few years, and I wouldn't mind catching up on a lot of lost fishing days when I do without embarrassing myself.

I had a very frustrating day on the Salmon River NY last winter fishing a 7 weight with split shot and a bobber. The wind was blowing good and I had a heck of a time getting anywhere near the distance I had hoped for. My roll casting can use work, too. I should've bit the bullet and went back to the rig for my switch rod, but I stuck it out with the single-hand rod and had a tough day of fishing.

I know I can use more practice, but I want to keep my expectations reasonable for an average fisherman who spends limited time on the water.

Thanks.

 

[ryansheehan]

If you can cast 50 feet and manage a drag free drift you're doing great.

 

[Frederick V. C.]

I have a rod I built on a Loomis blank many years ago. Pretty fast action 9" 5wt. and it will push 60'. However most of my fishing is a lot closer, so it seems about the only time I'm trying for that distance is on the lake (or yard) working on my double haul. Work on accuracy and what is comfortable for you.

 

[pcray1231]

I haven't heard too many "how far can I cast with Rod X" questions. Because it's not a answerable question. Not many of us in PA are really ever maxing out a rods casting length ability while on stream. You can cast a lot farther than you can effectively fish. And you can cast dry flies a mile (but not necessarily control drag), while even a little shot will cut down your distance a ton, and a truly heavy weight rig is pretty much flipping. Wind doesn't help either! These variables are huge. You can cast a short soft brookie rod farther than a big fast distance rod if the brookie rod is underlined and throwing a dry while the fast rod is chucking weight.

If you are lawn casting, or competition casting, with rigs ideal for distance, then you see differences in "max distance" between rods. A lot of those guys actually underline rods to get a little more distance (but of course doing so sacrifices something at short distances). A rods line weight rating is supposed to be for 30-40 feet of fly line of the tip, if you typically cast closer you want to overline, if you typically cast further you want to underline to properly load the rod.

The GL4 was pretty short lived, I think. My #1 workhorse of a rod is a GL3, for what it's worth, I love that thing. The GL4 was supposed to be somewhere between the GL3 and well loved IMX, I believe. Faster rod with a softish tip. I've never cast a GL4, but if I came across one, I'd go in expecting to like it a lot. There's nothing lacking about that rod.

 

[Skook]

Thanks for all the replies and advice. I bought the GL4 new in the early 1990s. It was the first fly rod I ever purchased. Prior to that, I would fish a 7' fiberglass Vince Cummings 5/6 weight River Rat my dad bought for me when I was a kid (still have it) or use older fiberglass rods from my dad's quiver.

I went in thinking I was going to buy a hot new GLX. I casted the GL4 and a GLX side-by-side at a local fly shop and chose the GL4. I really wanted to like the GLX more, but I casted better with the GL4. The GLX is a better rod, and it's also a lot faster with more power. I think having cut my teeth on fiberglass rods steered me toward the GL4 at the time because it has a much more moderate action than the GLX. On windy days when I'm struggling to reach that next seam or far bank, I wish I had opted for the GLX 30 years ago.

 

[JeffK]

An old rough guideline was 10 ft for each wt, so a 5 wt would be about 50 ft. Of course that was the days when the Fenwick 7 1/2' 5 wt was considered light tackle. In any event, 50 ft is a good distance foe most places unless you want the fish the Delaware system on a sunny day.

 

[Sylvaneous]

........of a cast should I be happy with using an early 1990s G.Loomis GL4 9ft. 5 weight rod?

I'm throwing a SA line that's probably 15 years old and hasn't been cleaned in a long time. There was no wind to speak of yesterday or today, and I was casting on my lawn with a small piece of yarn tied to the end of my leader.

Just curious what an average trout fisherman/woman is capable of to know how much more practice I need. Unfortunately, I get very few days on the water because of work and family. I plan to retire in a few years, and I wouldn't mind catching up on a lot of lost fishing days when I do without embarrassing myself.

I had a very frustrating day on the Salmon River NY last winter fishing a 7 weight with split shot and a bobber. The wind was blowing good and I had a heck of a time getting anywhere near the distance I had hoped for. My roll casting can use work, too. I should've bit the bullet and went back to the rig for my switch rod, but I stuck it out with the single-hand rod and had a tough day of fishing.

I know I can use more practice, but I want to keep my expectations reasonable for an average fisherman who spends limited time on the water.

Thanks.

You should be able to quickly (few false casts) and consistently cast 60 feet without a tailing loop. into a hula-hoop. That's what I would consider a proficient trout fly caster. Better than adequate but short of Zen Master.

 

[Swattie87]

You should be able to quickly (few false casts) and consistently cast 60 feet without a tailing loop. into a hula-hoop. That's what I would consider a proficient trout fly caster. Better than adequate but short of Zen Master.

Are there Trout in this hula-hoop?

 

[Skook]

You should be able to quickly (few false casts) and consistently cast 60 feet without a tailing loop. into a hula-hoop. That's what I would consider a proficient trout fly caster. Better than adequate but short of Zen Master.

Looks like I have some work to do....

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Clean your line, and don't worry about what "brand" of rod it is. If your casting mechanics are solid, then to a large degree, the "equipment" doesn't matter. I know rod manufacturers want you to believe that w/ their newest and greatest and most expensive gear, you'll be a casting wizard. It's all marketing.