Long Cast Verses A Short Cast.

[WRB]

It far easier to get a good hook set when you are close to the bass verses being further away for several reasons. Less line stretch, the rod tip movement moves the hook faster with less line in the water.

When you use the rod to hook set all the line movement is a direct result of how far the rod tip travels, minus the rod bend. For example you swing your 7' rod tip 4' , the slack in the line must be tightened, the line starts to move transferring movement to the lure, then the rods upper flexible section bends reducing line movement and the force being applied to the hooks through the lure.

When you make a sort 20' to 30' cast there is little line stretch, little slack to take up and the rod movement transfers to line movement with maximum force and the result is usually a good hook set.

When you make a long 90' to 100' cast, everything changes. The 4' rod movement no longer moves the line as far because of the angles are more horizontal, more line slack and drag in the water, plus the line stretch becomes a factor. Your rod hook set is ineffective because little to no movement occurs to the hook with any force. To over come all these issues when making long cast, you need to use your reel to first take up all the slack line until you feel some weight, then use the rod to complete the hook set.

Tom

[thehooligan]

Thanks for the info, braid really helps too 

[LgMouthGambler]

A little trick I use on long casts and using coply, is to thumb the spool so no line comes off with the drag when I wail the hookset.

[Silas]

I solved the problem years ago!

 

I moved the boat closer and make pretty short casts!  Of course, the water here is always stained so spooking fish is not a problem.

 

However, recently, I've been making longer casts with a Pointer 100; thank goodness, fish hook themselves with that one! LOL!

[WRB]

I posted this thread for a reason; you should always make an effort to control the length of your cast whenever possible. Sometimes we have the need to make very long casts to cover more water like fishing a crank bait to get the lure down where the bass are holding. Most of the time we can make shorter cast and should due to missed hook sets. Bank fisherman sometimes need to make longer cast to get out to where the bass are located and believe that is what is needed. This is a big handicap for the bank anglers, due to hook setting issues.

Where I fish for bass most of the time during daylight hours, the big bass have learned to avoid boats and lures fished with line they detect easily. At night this is less of an issue. If I make shorter controlled cast with line heavy enough to force a big bass to the boat, you will never get a strike in the gin clear, heavy pressured lakes of SoCal. Using 12-14 lb FC line is considered heavy line by most experienced west coast bass anglers, unless you are casting big swimbaits.

To catch big bass during the daytime in SoCal or other gin clear, high pressured lakes, you are faced with being very quite approaching areas where these big bass tend to be located and make a long cast. Using 6-8 lb FC line will get more strikes, however getting a good hook set at 90' to 100' with a jig is extremely difficult and trying to control a big bass after it's hooked is nearly impossible with line lighter than 10 lb. Some days it takes 10 lb FC line to get strikes, however I usually start out fishing 14 lb with jigs and big worms, 20 lb for swimbaits, simply can't cast a heavy swimbait with anything lighter, 25 lb is better if you can get strikes.

So with a long cast rod sets are out, you need to learn to reel set and use the rod to complete the hook set.

Tom

[Fishes in trees]

Just to be contrary, let me point out that the gist of this post ignores some things, i.e. that long casts are fun, and often necessary.   Rather than lament how long distance casts are tough, why not just try to get better at all phases of long distance casting?

 

Maybe it is just me, but I get a certain sense of satisfaction out of making a successful, accurate long cast.  Hey, I know that long means different things in different situations.  A long pitch is different than a long crankbait cast, but the statement is still true in either case.  I'm pretty certain that it goes back to my childhood when, provided with inferior equipment, I was fairly certain that I could catch more fish if I could just cast farther.

 

40 years and many dollars later, the equipment  issue has been addressed, and I know now that it can only be solved for a while.  Anyway now, when I miss a long range hook set, and I don't miss all of them, just some of them, I just say," darn, I need to get better at that."

 

Let me also point out that if you are tournament fishing as a co-angler long casts are often necessary.  Would you rater try to catch a percentage of fish at long range or would you rather catch 0% when, while you are waiting to get into comfortable casting distance your boater picks off all those fish?

 

Anyway, that 's my current thinking on long distance casting.

[WRB]

You often read or hear how long a cast anglers can make as if it's a badge of honor.

Like most anglers I learned to bass fish from shore and tried to cast as far as I could . This back in the 50's, my rod was glass and the reel was Langley Lure cast with 50 yards of Ashaway dacron braid. Under the right conditions I could cast all 50 yards off the reel with a #3 Hawiian wriggler spoon. 50 yards or 150' is a very long cast, very few bass anglers cast that far.

When jig fishing my average cast is between 90 to 100 feet accurately. I know others can do this, the only other bass anglers I know that cast a jig long distances are Mike Long and John Kerr.

Tom

[Marty]

I make long casts because that's who I am, a person who often likes to cover a lot of water. Distant hooksets have not been a problem while using braid.

[merc1997]

fishing in table rock with its clear waters, catching bass from a distance is usually the case most of the time. when deep water fishing using mono, i always used a 7'6' heavy action flipping rod. the reason for this was to be able to move enough line on the hookset to bury the hook. i have fished with many people that were using shorter lighter rods fishing with mono, and their hook up ratio was terrible. fish as close as possible is a very true statement, but sometimes, you just have to make a long cast, and get better with your hooksetting techniques.

bo

[islandbass]

Very good stuff, very true. That is why salmon and steelhead rods are longer, to improve line control as stated. Many times when fishing from the bank for salmon, it is going to be a given that you hook set may very well be made well past 100' from you.

[xbacksideslider]

Stealth matters.  That's the best reason for long casts.  Sharp light gauge hooks help.  

 

Sometimes I get lucky with a long cast, reaching back across a cove, to water we covered five or ten minutes before.

 

WRB's point, the reel set, is well taken. 

[flyfisher]

I am confused in your first post you say a long cast is 90-100ft and is difficult to get a hookset yet in a subsequent post you mention your average cast when jig fishing is 90-100'.

 

Sounds a little contradictory to me if you are trying to make an argument about a shorter cast equaling more fish in the boat.

[ChrisAW]

Maybe upward motion casts are only 4 feet of line pickup. Sweep sets are more like 7 or 8 feet of line pickup, anf i always reel down unless its a cranking technique with rod tip down.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Shore fishing-

3 of my top 5 bass this year have been hooked at over 100'. My #1 & #5 though were about 15' out I sighted them and got 'em. Braid does help very much at the distance. Ive been using Sniper 10# fluoro and have noticed at the 100' + range missed hooksets, it just stretches sooo much reel setting yep is needed. Went back with trokar hooks this helps had VMC hooks on but trokar just sharper. @100' No issues with VMC hooks and braid   or closer in say 50' with fluoro.

[BassinLou]

The long cast is sometimes a necessity, when bank fishing. I know one particular pond I fish, I have to cast over the 100ft range just to clear a flat and get into the cover I need to get strikes. Braid really helps in that situation.

[dreamertino]

this topic reminds me i need to practice my pitching 

[Preytorien]

Call me a newb but I never knew there was a technical annotation to reeling up the slack then using the rod to set the hook. I've done this many times, especially with using Senkos and such.....reel set....that's cool. Glad to know I seem to be on the right track with things. 

 

Anyways, I've noticed as well that using braid seems to alleviate the long-cast issues I've had with flouro having just that little bit of stretch. I'm a 90%-of-the-time bank fisherman, and I often like to use a soft-bodied topwater popping frog for open water, especially if I can hit the open water and drag it through weeds later on in the retrieve, close to the bank, but I noticed that too many times I lost fish when using flouro and being so far out there. Now, I am not certain which, but it could be attributed to 1) the slight line stretch that is in the flouro, 2) the distance of the line out there just taking a split second to tense itself when sweeping the rod, 3) the slick-ness of the flouro digging in, adding just those few millimeters of slack, allowing the fish to throw it 4) of course the inevitable poor hookset

 

Maybe it could be all, a couple, or none of these issues, but I've noticed a lot more consistent long-cast hookups using braid and a heavy action rod. I recently bought a BPS Carbonlite rod, 7ft XF Heavy rod, and I've noticed an instant difference in these situations.

 

 

 

[flyfisher]

Braid is going to give you the most instant force being applied to your bait as far as line goes.  Then the longer the cast the more important having a a good backbone on your rod comes into play.

 

You also have to take into consideration that al onger cast has more of a chance to have slack in the system and if your mainline floats this will change the angle of the line in relation to the water and bait.

 

There is also a time gap on a longe cast that must be considered.  For reaction baits it may not be as much a concern but when fishing jigs or other non moving styles of presentations the more line out, the longer it takes for you to determine that yeah that was a hit and then subsequently set the hook.

[tatertester]

I've found that how hard my hookset needs to be has more to do with hook thickness than any other single factor......Braid has taught me that a sweep set works just fine in most cases, and a cross their eyes mentality is neccesary only in heavy cover and a thick hook.

[J Francho]

Many times, a long cast is necessary for a proper presentation.  That doesn't mean that the presentation begins the moment the bait hits the water. It takes about 20 yards to get a 20+ crank ticking bottom in the zone.  If I can cast 20 yards longer than you, who has a better chance of catch that fish?  Casting distance is just a tool.  Uses it at the right time for success.

[derekxec]

am i the only one that barely sets up no matter the distance? i rarely lose fish and i rarely rip back and set the hook too lol usually the fish sets it for me...i only use braid