[mike63]

Thanks everyone, I practiced a bit today despite the wind. I tried watching my line in the backcast to get the timing down. I put a rubber band on my wrist and stuck the rod butt into it to try and lessen the wrist bend. I even took a bucket of water and dipped a big paint brush into and tried that drill using my garage door as the target. The pain brush drill helped a lot...I then picked up my rod and imitated the action on the lawn. Instead of thinking of stopping abruptly which implies a "braking" action, instead I think of "flicking" the rod, like the paint brush. That seemed to generate more line speed and help considerably. I've found in actual fishing conditions that I rarely have the luxury of having a clear zone behind me, usally there is brush and trees at my back.

Right now I would say that I'm only semi-proficient out to about the 35-40 ft range. Beyond that things get messy pretty quick. I would still rather be able to lay out the line nice and straight though vs. longer and tangled.

I also think I'm using rods that are WAY too advanced for my skill level (Sage One and ZXL). I don't think either of those rods belong in the hands of a beginner, but who knows. I should probably look for an easier rod to cast until I get better. My goal is to get good in the 35-40 ft range and go from there.