Judging casting or target distance

[GoneFishingLTN]

I have the Ranger rings set up on my carbon unit I have roughly know when I’m 50 foot away but I’m having trouble Eyeing how far I'm actually Casting. 
so I’m curious how do you guys know roughly how many feet are you Casting?

Have y’all tested your casting distance before?

any tips?

[Mike L]

No never did, I just eye ball it.

If you need to know, the most accurate way is to go to your local HS football field and have at it. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Deleted account]

Never really worry about the actual distance, more about hitting targets near, mid, and far. When fishing gets slow, turtle whack a mole becomes a thing.

[king fisher]

I just keep backing the brakes off of my reel, trying to cast further and further.  When the reel blows up my estimated casting distance is to far, and I go home.

[Darth-Baiter]

I bowhunting for years.  I can estimate up to 40 yards pretty well.  but not so much on water. 

[WRB]

Casting accuracy and judging distance comes with practice.

Unlike a golf coarse lakes don’t come with 150 yard markers.

Like golf casting requires distance judging skills.

Hula hoops set out at known measured distances; 25, 30, 40 and 50 yards (football field is easy) and practice casting. Hula hoops float and an be on the water targets.

Lures are not equal in casting accuracy or distance, aerodynamic wind resistance affects you casting.

No simple solution only lots of casting time practicing. 

Tom

[Cgolf]

57 minutes ago, king fisher said:

I just keep backing the brakes off of my reel, trying to cast further and further.  When the reel blows up my estimated casting distance is to far, and I go home.

 

This made me laugh. I know I have backed the brakes off too much when I get a hard back lash and the lure momentum almost pulls the rod out of my hands. This happens most often when casting into strong winds, small light aluminum boat that doesn't track well going with the wind where I could really get long casts, forces me to follow weedlines going into the wind.

[fin]

I use a parking lot to measure off line sometimes. Just measure one parking spot and multiply.

[Team9nine]

FFS units are a big help with this aspect, if you have one. Another option: mark something static on your GPS like the end of a dock, a nav or hazard buoy, or even your own dropped marker buoy, then back off using your casting rings at set distance like a marked fishing spot. Practice casting to that spot to develop muscle memory and repetitiveness. Distance on water is very deceiving vs distance on land.

[Jim Levite]

Never really even considered worrying about distance. As long as my lure goes where I want it to go I'm happy. That's not to say that casting into shore from my little Jon boat that I haven't sent one 20 ft up in a tree on the shoreline ? It happens though.

[Choporoz]

Even if you can perfectly cast 20 yards on the surface, the pendulum effect is so hard to estimate, even with spinning rods.  I generally try for what I feel will be about 5 yards long and work back through the target.  Doesn't help much if their focus is up and hitting on the drop... but probably 90% of the time, I am working from the bottom.

[WRB]

If you are a target caster like skipping under docks or boats or overhanging trees from a boat you set up a distance that works for you to make the cast. The distance came from hours of fishing and learning by making mistakes.

What often happens is seeing a fish jump or boil or movements. If you can’t judge the distance to cast accurately quickly you mis the opportunity to cast and catch that fish. 

Some lures require long casting like deep diving crank baits. Other lure require skilled accuracy like square bills, mis too long and you snag the lure.

Every outing is different and casting skill nearly always comes into play to make that perfect cast resulting in successfully catching bass.

Tom

[Choporoz]

.

[Columbia Craw]

Hand eye coordination and over time you can develop an internal clock in your head.  It’s a time and distance thing.  

[king fisher]

Zen and the art of casting.  Tune out any distractions, focus on your target, total concentration, make a smooth cast, don't take your eye off of your target, follow through, and swear like a sailor when you get hung in a tree.

[Koz]

I've never thought about the actual distance of my casts, nor do I practice casting into buckets or at objects in the yard. For me it's all just experience and touch and feel. 

 

But even with that, I'm still amazed at times when I drop a cast in a tight spot without really thinking about it as I cast.

[WRB]

A standard walking pace is 3’. Step off 20 paces and take a Sharpie and mark a 6” on your line. Pace off another 30 steps and mark off another 6” of line, 40 paces and 50 paces making line marks. Now you know approximately how far you are casting. 

Tom 

[cheezyridr]

i've been staring at a tape measure for 8-10 hrs/day for 37 years. when i say something is 60' away, i'm within a few inches.  but that's not important, aside from being able to communicate distance when talking to someone else.

 

i don't really think about the distance consciously.  i'm pretty accurate at about 50'. 

but i can go out to 70' and be confident - to a point.  as mentioned by others, lures fly different depending on what they are. the last 10' of a cast the lure is slowing super fast, and spinnerbaits will sometimes almost stop dead, or hook right or left some.  there's wind to consider as well.  somehow i can do the mental math without using alot of brainpower, and hit the target area pretty well. 

 

when i was young,  and fishing every single day, i could put a spinnerbait in a coffee can 7/10 times at about 60'.  i could throw a curve and a slider, and skipping was easy. i don't fish enough to do that now.  i never could cast well with a spinning rod.  but with a casting reel,  i have waaayyyy more control. thumb is everything (to me)

Edited June 24, 2022 by cheezyridr
squirrels

[Woody B]

I was going to step off how far I was casting....but I fell out of my boat

[Stratocat_Joe]

If you know the inches-per-turn (IPT) of the reel you're using, you can use that to measure casting distance. 

[J Francho]

If you want to know how far you cast, cast in a field, and measure the distance.

 

2 hours ago, Stratocat_Joe said:

If you know the inches-per-turn (IPT) of the reel you're using, you can use that to measure casting distance. 

IPT is variable as the spool fills up with line, so this isn't a very accurate method.

[Stratocat_Joe]

3 hours ago, J Francho said:

If you want to know how far you cast, cast in a field, and measure the distance.

 

IPT is variable as the spool fills up with line, so this isn't a very accurate method.

Yes, there is a variance...but I don't think it's very significant.  I've heard of several top anglers who use the IPT of their reel when spooling line to make sure they get the amount of line they want on their reel.  If IPT can be used to measure line as it's being spooled, it could be used to measure the line during a cast.  No, it won't be exact but it won't be far off, either.

[Bankc]

Use distances or lengths of things you're familiar with and place them between two points in your imagination.  Imagine how many you can fit between two places.  I played a lot of basketball when I was young, so I know a basketball hoop is 10 feet high, a full court is 84 feet long, and to half court is 42 feet.  For smaller distances, I know my middle finger nail is 1/2" wide, my first three fingers are 2" wide at the first knuckle, my shoe is about a foot, and my stride is about a yard.  Also a line made with a Bic pen is about 1/2mm wide, a nickel is about 2mm wide, a quarter is about 2.5cm across, and a meter is about a yard.  

[T-Billy]

18 hours ago, king fisher said:

Zen and the art of casting.  Tune out any distractions, focus on your target, total concentration, make a smooth cast, don't take your eye off of your target, follow through, and swear like a sailor when you get hung in a tree.

Especially at night!!! Shadows can really mess with your depth perception. I've rocketed a few baits WAAYYY back into the woods. Left standing there on the boat deck, half a spool of braid strung through multiple trees with a chatterbait snagged in one 30yds deep... Gotta make up new swear words for that one.

[fin]

Counting revolutions when retrieving can give you an idea, using a combinations of the suggestions above, but knowing the distance after you’ve retrieved might not be very helpful if the reason you want to know is if you have hit your sonar target.

 

You could mark your line with colored Sharpies at certain measurements.

 

I guess a fishing line counter might work. I’ve never used one.