Walter & Group........
Shooting techniques:
I'll start the ball rolling by briefly describing some of the line shooting techniques that have helped me in actual fishing situations over the years. I won't get into hauling, since we've already gone through a mountain of information on that subject.
# The combination of a tight loop and high loop speed is needed for a good shoot.
# For fishing /distance casts, I find that elevating my casting arm and pointing the rod directly at a point just above the place where I want the fly to land ("target") during the shoot helps gain a bit more distance.
# Turning my rod so the guides point toward my either side helps, too, because it reduces guide friction and line slap against the rod shaft.
# Holding my line hand directly over the very center of the pile of coiled line on my skiff deck during the shoot with the line shooting through a. "guide" made by my thumb and forefinger helps prevent a line tangle. This technique of having the running line shoot through this hand, "guide" does slightly diminish total distance achieved, but the trade-off is well worth the loss unless I'm casting to a fish at the very upper limit of my distance ability.
This works simply because taking line rapidly from out to the side of the pile of line is much more likely to yield a knot or tangle than when taking it from the center.
(It is just the opposite when reeling in line from the bottom of the pile. In that case, it works best to keep the reel low to the deck and reel slowly from the side. )
# I learned this one from Lefty : If you have already begun to shoot line out to a fish and you see a line knot coming off the pile of line on the deck, a lightning quick twist of the rod so the guides point up toward the sky may save the shoot once in a while. (Still won't shoot far, but may not get stuck on the way.)
(By the same token, if you are reeling in line which already had a tangle between the rod tip and the fly... or even a fish you are fighting, turning the rod so the guides point straight up will make it a lot less likely that the tangle will jamb in the guides.)
# When casting directly into a stiff wind, finishing my cast with a forward THRUST and literally having no stop until I've, "run out of arm" helps. This has been called, by Jason Borger, the thrust cast. Minor variations of that technique have been called the, "storm cast" (Charles Ritz) and the, "wind cast" (Lefty Kreh). When I use it, I combine the thrust with the elevation of the casting arm and pointing of the rod directly at my, "target".
This is well depicted in a 1992 video called, "Casting With Lefty Kreh" by Gary Borger. It is also well described in Gary Borger's book, PRESENTATION , pp. 239 - 241, and in Jason Borger's, THE NATURE OF FLY CASTING, pp. 235 - 236.
NOTE OF CAUTION: I don't teach this technique to casters who have not reached to point of good rod and line control, because of danger of elbow damage.
# To make a shoot for a distance bow-and-arrow cast, place the line coils on the ground or skiff deck outside the rod tip (rather than between the reel and the stripper guide). Make an exaggerated pull back with the line hand. Then a wrist flip to yield a bit of quick rod arc and follow this with a forward thrust as you release line.
FROM YOU :
Some of you may wish to add to these shooting/fishing techniques.
Shooting techniques used for tournament distance casting will vary. Perhaps you may wish to add these.
Guide placement, height and diameter of the guides as well as ring material my be worthy of your comments. (Al Crise may teach us something about the Joy Dunlop rods.)
FLY LINES FOR SHOOTING:
Keeping our fly lines clean can make a big difference. Different line surface finishes as well.
Fly line core material chosen to work best in different climates .... and with selected stretch can help.
Thinner running line works better on the shoot.
Fly line surface geometry can make a difference, too ...... like fly lines which are super slick, those with longitudinal grooves (Airflo "Ridge lines") and lines about to hit the market with matt finish, raised, "bumps" and the SA, "sharkskin" finish, etc, etc.
Gordy