I seem to have developed a fault in my casting where the tippet refuses to turnover. I'm using a 9' with FWF 5# line, a 5' furled leader and 5' of stroft tippet. It's the setup I've been using since the start of the season without any problems but suddenly???????

The furled leader turns over beautifully but that 5' tippet lands in a heap - very gently but still in a heap

Any suggestions as to what I may be doing wrong?

Hi Kev don't know without seeing you cast what ,if anything you are doing wrong.
On your final delivery cast try trapping the line with the non casting hand just before the line lands. The abrupt stop of the line will help turnover
Is it windy

Brian

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As brian says trap the line or if its windy a little pull back on the line will turn it over

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One possibility could be too round a loop with too low a stop.

My advice would be to carefully observe your back cast and forward cast by doing a few false casts. The line, leader, tippet and fly should fully extend on each back and forward cast at 180 degrees to each other. If you can do that then there is NO reason the fly should not fully extend on the delivery.

If you want to deliver the fly closer to the water, TILT the entire casting plane downward to keep the back cast and forward at an opposed 180 degrees. The backcast direction will need to be angled up the same amount as the forward cast is angled down. If you keep the backcast the same but lower the stop point for the forward delivery, you will create a rounder loop that could collapse. This may be what is happening.

Start with shorter casts and then gradually extend the casts to get the timing correct for each distance. Eventually you will reach a distance at which you cannot extend the entire cast, that will be your casting limit. If you want, you can mark your fly line so that you will not try to cast further than that distance.

many thanks for the tips and analysis. I'll work on it today

the diameter of the tippet is stepped down too much from the diameter of the leader, the 'heap' sounds like the energy is ending at the furled leader, not transferring to the tippet, causing the tippet to collapse.

its also a bit short, what your see is energy dissapating too early when it pings out of control, too short a leader causes this, or too late when you see it piling up, too long or too fine.

Is it possible, you are using heavy flies?

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I think your problem could be wind resistance caused by a bushy fly - if not, I agree it could be an unbalanced taper on the leader. I have tried the furled leaders but have not been too impressed, especially in windy conditions, I much prefer a hand-built leader, regardless that it is knottred, and use tucked double bloods in making them. Incidentally, Louis Noble once showed us a 'double-tapered' leader, built thin nearest line, thickening to middle, then thinning down to tippet again - I found this terrific in windy conditions.

I have used the Louis Noble leader for years (I fish with Louis) it is a great leader.

The OP's issue is a recent one, which seems to make me think it is a casting issue or as other people have mentioned a larger fly hindering turnover, the fact that the leader turned over without issue which steers me away from it being a tippet issue.

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If the rod is a soft action rod? You could be making the final delivery too fast?
I sometimes do it!! Or the line is still traveling as it falls to the water! As suggested earlier! Try stopping the line on the final forward cast; this usually aids the turn over of the tippet. Anyway, we all make a mess of it on occasions.

M