What is wrong with my roll cast?

[kingofamberley]

Hey all,
I got out on a pond with my new TFO Pro Special II yesterday. I was noticing that at short range, roll casting was fine, but at any distance more than 20 ft of line or so not so much. It seemed like no matter how hard I zinged, the loop just didn't have the power to pull the line off of the water, and the loop would collapse.
My normal casting was pretty rusty at first but got better as I went on (and as the wind died down), normal low back casting problems but adding some line speed with some double hauling does the trick. A lot of tailing loops but those are normal problems with plenty of info around here to look at.
Thanks!

[itchmesir]

The bigger your D-Loop and the more bend you can force into your rod will allow for longer ranged roll casts... I say the more bend YOU can put into the rod because you have to load the rod... the line will not load the rod for you during a roll cast so you must put enough power into your forward stroke to make the rod bend yourself... another thing to take into account is how much line you have laying on the water when you perform your roll cast... the more line you can have lifted off the water while still having the tip of your line anchored to the water... the more efficient your roll cast will be... experiment with how high you lift your rod tip in the air during your forward stroke and timing and speed of your roll cast... it should start out slow with the lift and turn into almost a snap of the wrist as you cast forward... coming to a complete halt at the end of your casting stroke

[dillon]

Mel Krieger has a good Roll Cast you tube video. Watching a spey casting video would be helpful as well. Spey casts are essentially roll casting and can be done with a single hand rod. They can be very useful trout fishing, when an errant back cast may cost you your well tied fly...

[silver creek]

Originally Posted by dillon

Mel Krieger has a good Roll Cast you tube video. Watching a spey casting video would be helpful as well. Spey casts are essentially roll casting and can be done with a single hand rod. They can be very useful trout fishing, when an errant back cast may cost you your well tied fly...

Mastering the Roll Cast with Mel Krieger - YouTube

Mastering the Roll Cast with Mel Krieger - YouTube

[mbchilton]

I like the video, but I disagree with the meat cleaver analogy. One of the Rajeff brothers uses a wet paint brush to demonstrate. To throw water in a straight line you need to flick the brush forward. Use the same motion with your fly rod. If you bring the rod down hard at the water you will get the poor oval loop Mel talks about. Come down hard, but flick the rod forward. This advice has helped me with my roll cast.

[fly_guy12955]

What really got my roll cast working,,was more of the paint brush tenique. I'd imagine,,,a bubble inside my rod,,(silly I know but it worked) and I not only had to bring the rod forward and move it thur the rod,,I had,,HAD to mentally put the power to be running very fast to the tip at the end,,a FLICK,,at the end,,to FLING that bubble out of my rod. This is hard to explain, but I think a level motion cast will have you coming up with less good effect than a forward FLICK at the termination of your roll.

That's just the image that helped me,,a bubble inside my rod. I don't imagine a bubble now,,,but after a good bit of practice it's become natural.

Michael

[kingofamberley]

Thanks for the replies everyone. It is helping but I am stuck on one point.
I think the confusing thing for me is the fact that I've always heard that its the tension of the water that loads the rod... however, it seems that there is no loading of the rod, not really. It seems more like you are just trying to do an un-loaded forward cast that is just barely powerful enough to free your anchored line from the water and lay it out. This takes a lot of energy and takes its toll on my shoulder haha. If your line was anchored on water behind you, that would load the rod, but that is not the same situation at all. Can someone set me straight on this?
Thanks again. You guys are truly a wealth of knowledge.

[dillon]

Here is a Simon Gawesworth Spey casting video trailer. There is a short piece on single hand casting. I hope it helps, Simon is amazing...RIOs Modern Speycasting - YouTube

[kingofamberley]

From watching videos, I think maybe I was applying too much force too early in the cast, rather than directing it more forwards. Do you guys ever haul while roll casting? Is that a thing?

[mbchilton]

Yes, I will occasionally throw in a haul to build line speed when roll casting.