Evening gents....hope you can point me in the right direction a bit!

I recently got myself a cheapish setup for nabbing surface carp, and hopefully a few chub on one of my local coarse ponds. I have done OK so far, a good few fish on biscuit flies, a couple of them doubles, great sport.

I got myself a cheap shaky oddessy 9'6" 7/8 with a used pflueger trion, and some WF #7 floating line from sparton. End setup is a tapered leader trimmed back a touch on the thin end, and then a tippet of just less than 3ft of 8lb, with either dog biccy or bread fly. I tie the tippet to leader loop to loop and keep ready made up tippets on pole winders for a quick change. All in, leader to fly is about 9ft.

All this is ok, and ( don't laugh ) I can get the fly out about 17-18 mts, but to do this I have to double hand the rod at the fighting butt to load it up a bit better. The place I fish has allsorts of bankside crud, so getting a nice deep D loop is not that easy.

I picked up a used greys platinum 10ft #7, and am hoping the bit of extra length might help, also the rod feels far more supple in the mid section that the shaky, so maybe this will help. Have also got a poly leader to try that might improve things.

So I am stuck with the venue I fish, and only being able to roll cast. Could I gain a bit of distance with a DT # 8 or #9 floating line? I am assuming the DT line as it is weighted in the middle will help load up the rod a bit better when some line is out?

All I'm after is a few extra yards to reach the fish that are following bait the wind has carried, and to try and not look a pleb double hand casting a single hand fly rod!

I seem to manage ok in getting the line out there for the first 10 yds to build up the cast, it's just that when I go for the final chuck to reach the fish, the cast often collapses and falls short. Also I think the dog biscuit flies are quite heavy for the roll to pick up off the water, and this seems to be the point the cast often goes belly up

Thanks in advance for your help

Sorry.. But think about getting some lessons. See here for details...

The Game Angling Instructors' Association

Cheers

Andy

BLIMEY! 1000th post... do I get a badge or something?

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GAIC Single Handed Casting Instructor

http://www.andygreyfishing.com/

A line like a Rio Outbound Short or Loop Opti stream is ideal for these sort of casts and have the beef for larger flies.

When you are going into the forward cast, try leading with the rod butt and rotating your wrist at the end of the cast. Putting in a haul will also give you the line speed for a few extra feet.

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Cheers boys..

what do you mean by 'putting in a haul' ?

I do that occasionally for carp. What doesn't help is the weight of the dog biccy (especially when soggy) and large size of imitation bread. Try something smaller and lighter. Recently I found an ideal surface bait - don't laugh but....there is an old Woolies store near us, now a B&M Homestore, and they do cheap bits of rubbish tackle. I spotted some jars of surface floaters, which were basicallt scopex puffed sweetcorn - very light, a good match size wise for the smaller chum mixers you can nowadays, and stay on hook well - ideally for use with a fly rod. And carp seem to love 'em. I think the brand is some generic brand like "Big Catch" but basically, a smaller, lighter bait will help. Some rod/line combinations are also more suited to roll casting, but you'll have to experiment a bit with that I'm afraid, basically avoid very fast action rods.

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Have a look at this great clip. Adding the the haul is described near the end of the video. You can add two hauls, the first is on the backward movement, which will creade a larger "D loop", which is important for distance of the roll cast, and the second haul is on the forward cast, for line speed to shoot the line out. Important to remember that the forward movement of the roll cast, should be exactly the same as a normal cast.

Fly fishing instructors in the UK and overseas ­ AAPGAI

or here: How to perform the Circle Cast by Glyn Freeman AAPGAI

"For single-handed rods, the leading foot goes to the side where the back-cast is to be made. By adopting this stance the upper body will not twist too far around as the back-cast is made, ensuring the rod tip does not travel behind the caster mis-aligning the “D” loop which should be 180 degrees in line with the target."

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Thanks for all your advice folks so far...

JeffR...I had a scratch round my local B&M, and they didn't have any fishing tackle. Tat, yes, by the skipful, but no tackle!

Regarding the roll cast, I tried out my new rod yesterday, and the difference is amazing. Whether it's the softer more forgiving action ( still a #7 ) , or the extra 6", or both, I don't know, but it was much easier to get a good distance single handed.

I also found that by kneeling at the bank, and bringing the rod back to form the loop just below shoulder hight, and then just before the forward stroke, a quickish movement back and up at 45 deg of a few inches seemed to get the rod working a bit better.

It would probably make a pro cringe to watch, but its gets the bait out!

I did hear a story of a guy catching Carp on a Fly Rod and using a Bait Boat to get the Fly Out

By the Way one of my top Carp Flies is a very lightly tied Klinkhammer something similar to this

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Allan
Only dead fish go with the flow.