On Sat, 3 May 2008 14:53:39 -0700, "Bob Weinberger"
wrote:

I consider myself at best an average caster ( at least among the PNW
steelheading fraternity), yet, absent all your post hoc restrictions, I
would be glad to demonstrate picking up 60' of line with my 5wt and shooting
it right back out - bring your wallet.

No great feat that. I've done it with Peter steelheading in Ontario
with an 8 and 7 weight. But how do you originally get the line out
that far. Does not that require a false cast or two. Or, are you
letting line out on the downstream drift. At sometime during that
entire process, a falsecast seems inevitable.

However, I seriously doubt that anyone can nymph effectively with 60' of
line out - nymphing is best done at relatively short range to maintain good
drift control, so why even bring up casting such distances in regard to
nymphing?

High stick nymphing is less than 20 feet (as practiced by me with or
without an indicator). However, there are more than a few occasions
when I will cast 40, even 60 feet with a single nymph, piece of shot,
and a strike indicator, and catch fish *consistently*. Some of the
biggest landlocks I have taken on the Rapid River where by long-line
nymphing. There are more than a few holes on this river that require
a long cast if you are to fish them effectively. One spot in
particular requires a good 50-60 foot cast across two different speed
currents which means I am only going to get a few feet of drag free
drift no matter how hard I mend. But, the saving grace is that if I
do not get a take in those first few moments, there is a chance that I
will get one on the swing, and sometimes even on the retrieve. On
occasion I have felt the take without seeing it.

Dave