What's a Far cast?

[Crankbait]

I’m curious what a far cast is. I hear of guys spooling their reel on a cast. On a full spool that could be anywhere between 90 to 190 yards. Is that possible? When I supertuned and did a bearing upgrade to my reel I was getting 170 feet throwing a 3/8 oz crank. I met a kid who does competition casting and he tells me that’s far for throwing any weight bait that we use. Curious what you guys throw and what you consider a far cast?

[oglejust]

im guessing u mean feet not yards? i mean 190 yards is darn near 2 football fields lol. if i really tried i could maybe get my silvermax with a full spool and a 3/8 crankbait to cast 100 feet.. its far enough for the ponds i fish. and even when im at a lake i have no need to cast that far, especially when my fishing partner (my dad) is using a zebco 33 with a 5.5 ft rod lol we tend to stay close to the bank... sometimes closer than i want.

[nofearengineer]

A lot of guys like to lie about how far they can cast a lure. Basic physics will usually shoot a lot of holes in their tales.

[BigBassin144]

I think a lot of guys just don't know how far they're casting because they can't estimate distance.

It can get tough, especially if you fish different sized bodies of water. A cast that seems really long on our 1/2 acre pond doesn't seem nearly as long on a big lake.

BB

[Tavery5]

1/4 to 3/8 oz baits, I can get an easy 40 yards, 120ft out of most of my setups, this is allot further than I usually need to cast. The type of lure def makes a difference, as spinnerbaits and some large cranks seem to have a lot more resistance.

[nofearengineer]

Originally Posted by Tavery5

1/4 to 3/8 oz baits, I can get an easy 40 yards, 120ft out of most of my setups, this is allot further than I usually need to cast. The type of lure def makes a difference, as spinnerbaits and some large cranks seem to have a lot more resistance.

Exactly. 40 yards is a huge cast. It drives me nuts when I hear guys talking about throwing cranks 70-80 yards. Yeah...right.

[Bubba_Bruiser]

I would say 50-60 yards is a pretty good distance for cranks probably. It's like shooting a gun. I have met a lot of people that say they can make a 300-400 yard shot. I thought I was doing the same thing until I got a better judgement for distance. But when you go to the range, they really meant 300-400' because they don't know how to judge distance for squat.

*NFE beat me to it*

[TN_Bassin]

realistic with the wind with a big deep diving crank I'm getting 50 yards or so.

[kennethdaysale]

Even in some of the super-clear places I fish 40 yds is plenty, and maybe its just me but I find it harder to make those short casts (farther than a good pitch but closer than a heave) anyway.

[joedog]

Being a shore fisherman and with a basic stratagy of covering more water can cure most catching challenges, I make alot of long casts or what appears to be long. Took grandkids to football field to practice casting, both casting and spinning reels. First I can tell you we(I) got best distance on spinning vs casting. Even with distance being the only varible,(not accuracy) my average cast (1/4 oz. jig) came to approx. 28 feet, my longest 37 ft. This was completely unsciencentific and done for fun and practice. Another thing I realized is accuracy goes down fast as distance increased. Now I'm a little guy (5'5") but if done properly a cast really dosn't increase due to the size of the launch pad (size and weight of angler). Better question is, how far can you cast accurately. I think bass fishing is more about accuracy as opposed to distance. Unless your long cranking dive baits for depth, the average pro cast would probably be around 10-20 ft. through a tournament day.
Just my opinion and experience.

[PAfisher76]

Can you imagine trying to set the hook at the end of a 190 yard cast? LOL

[DVT Mike]

30-35 yards (100' +/-) is a long cast. Somewhat longer is very possible under the right conditions. This is plenty far enough to fish clear/shallow water without spooking fish. Much more and hooksets become an issue as stated above.

[WaffleJaw]

Originally Posted by DVT Mike

30-35 yards (100' +/-) is a long cast. Somewhat longer is very possible under the right conditions. This is plenty far enough to fish clear/shallow water without spooking fish. Much more and hooksets become an issue as stated above.

+1

I have a 30 yard area marked off where I test cast,Once I get the rod hitting over that Im happy...Anything longer is just overkill and pointless in my opinion.The more line you put out,the more stretch you deal with.

[Jrob78]

How much you want a bet I can cast a football over them mountains?

[WaffleJaw]

Originally Posted by Jrob78

How much you want a bet I can cast a football over them mountains?

[gottafish]

Yea far cast's are not all they are cracked up to be. The only time I worry about casting far is throwing crank baits and even then I don't want to be to far out because I will never get a good hookset with a crankbait rod. I read something from a guy one time that said do this experiment. Spool out your line like 50 yds or more then hold the bait in your hand(no hooks of course) and then let some one try to get the bait out of your hands by setting the hook at that distance. You just can't do it because by the time it gets to the bait you have lost most of your power.

[Handlebars]

Alright, I have been struggling with this same thing for the last few months. I have had Mike super tune both reels for me and you can tell a big difference. I really like the way they feel. ( No bearing upgrades, only cleaning, polish and re-oil).

I have 2 equal rods:

• 7' Quantum MH/Fast tip rods.

I am using 2 different reels:

• KVD tourney edition casting reel (TKVD150SPT) spooled with 10lb Seaguar Red Label fluorocarbon line - Bearings 10+1

• Pflueger President Wide spool with 10lb Seaguar Red Label fluorocarbon line - Bearings 9+1

_______________________________________

I set up both with a 3/8" rubber practice plug.

I can take a stock President and get an average cast of 85' with a long cast of about 92'.

The same reel cleaned and tuned will now do an average of about 95' with a long cast of 105'.

The KVD reel is casting around 110'+ with a long cast of 122'.

I have no measurements before the KVD was cleaned and tuned.

_______________________________________


Now I have discussed this with Mike several times and I now finally realize that I am not going to throw any plug 200'. #1 my arm won't allow me to (degenerative arthritis) & #2 I'm not going to spend 500 bucks per reel to do it even if it can be done. I am very happy with the distance that I am getting out of my reels. ( I purchased the KVD reel from Ryan for the same price of a new President. It did outperfom it a lil but not enough that I would spend twice more money for it. Although w/ the wide spool on the Pflueger we do have a weight issue difference which may possibly account for some of the performance difference.)

You also have to figure into the equation: wind, ability to properly thumb the spool, rod, line weight, exact lure weight, etc.

I will say in agreement with others, 80' - 120' on land does not look near the same as it does on water. The distance on water since you don't have anything to gauge it by, seems much less which was most of my problem.

This weekend I did the same experiment from the bow of the boat and my cast were about 10' or so shorter it seemed. I set up on a fish attractor marker buoy and going by my side scan grid measured out 100' and threw out a marker buoy. It was not nearly as easy to set up of course as on land but I think I was close enough to say approximately 10' + or -.

It helped me to realize how much different it looks when out on the water especially when you have nothing around close to you to gauge it by. 80' looks like 30' so the guys that say it went out 300'-400', yea there full of crap! Their 12" bass are probably keepers too. LoL.

Anyway thats what I have come up with and its not rocket science from my end for sure but I can now see whats going on and finally let it go so I can go and over analyze something else pertaining to Bass fishing,

Like how to catch more of these!




Thanks for the reel help Mike.

[bamabassman]

the ONLY time i think a far cast (40-50 yards which is around 120-150 feet) i swhen oyu are trhowing DEEp diving cranks. i may be wrong on this. but that is the ONLY time i TRY to throw it "over the mountains". i prefer to cast to a specific spo9t. which usually means some tree or stump or log i want to cast BESIDE not into, lol. so i really don't "try" to judge how far i cast. i would just make an eagles nest anyway if i did. which i did and do at least once every trip.

[kennethdaysale]

Anyway thats what I have come up with and its not rocket science from my end for sure but I can now see whats going on and finally let it go so I can go and over analyze something else pertaining to Bass fishing,

Like how to catch more of these!




Thanks for the reel help Mike.[/QUOTE]
Good post..you're right about judging distances on water. Now it's time to figure out the source of your username?

[lilmule]

30 yards is a long cast with the average crankbait,something like a rattle trap tad farther.
One piece frogs that weigh 1/2 oz to 1 oz one can toss forty-fifty yards on a good outfit,long rod with dual grip handle is a benefit.
Can those who toss long distance for records go farther yes,not exactly same stuff we use and not designed for fighting fish just casting.
And in some locales 12 in bass are keepers.
Here a 14 15/16 doesnt make the grade.

[Crankbait]

When I was doing some test casting on the water it didn’t look far at all. I actually counted the number of handle turns to get the distance at first. Got home measured off and was like man that’s a lot farther than I thought. Did some casting in a field just to back up my results. I throw my bps egg 60 yards with a Pflueger purist reel and a 7’ rod

[BigBassin144]

Big crankbaits cast far, but for pure distance, I think it's hard to beat a lipless crank.

crankbait, the problem with just going by handle turns is that as the spool fills up, the actual line retrieval rates varies. Also, we don't know where on the spool the manufacturer's IPT specs were taken or how completely accurate they are. But I'd assuming the actual distance is less than what you calculated, if you calculated it based on the IPT specs of the reel.

BB

[Bender]

I'm curious about how far I am casting with my 7'11" crankbait rod and good reel with maybe a 1 oz. trap. Now it is too cold for me to go someplace and set up a testing area, maybe next year. I don't completely agree with the hook set problem, if it becomes an issue then I'll start using braid with a leader.

I think that the long casts could really be an advantage on lakes like Saint Clair when you are really trying to cover water since a 1' change in depth may take half a mile. If not for catching fish you can at least find the weed beds where fish hold that way.

[DVT Mike]

Glad I could help. Stay in touch!

[WTL]

A few years ago i read where scientists determined what the max distance was for a home run. Same type principle here. You can have the greatest form in the world, but once you let the spool go its all air resistance and thats the same regardless.

As such, if i had to try to hit 50 yards, i could fail nobly with a little george. Ive never met someone who can cast farther than me, not that i normally try to find out...i can almost outcast my ability to get a good hookset anyway.