# Long Distance Casting



## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

SS's thread about all the huge stripers made me think about long distance casting below the dam. Many years back I had been below the dam fishing the chute and had a few crappie. After I had my boat back on the trailer, Camilla side, a man approached and asked me how I had done. I offered him the crappie, which he took. However, he re-paid me with kindness. It turns out I was meeting Sammie Roberson. I bet SS knows him well, and I don't gamble. The blue cat state water body record was caught by Sammie and is on the wall at Browders, which SS believes does not charge enough for launching, lol. Anyway, after me asking, Sammie was very helpful about my long distance casting questions. In fact, he was so nice he asked me to follow him to his home nearby. He showed me the rigs he used in the day, and suggested knots for leaders and also the "topping". Such great force can be put on your line during the specialized cast that your main line would break if you did not use a heavier topping. Ten pound test per ounce is recommended. Meaning if you are using a 4 ounce casting float then a 40 pound topping is good. This topping should be long enough for swinging the cork/jure/bait for casting and still have at least a few turns on your reel spool. Sammie said the same reel SS mentioned was his go to reel, a Shimano 200GT. The proper matching rod is an absolute necessity. The rod must load up correctly with the amount of weight you are tossing. A 10 or 12 foot broom stick does not work; you want the rod to help you. Anyway, this is getting long but it is a fun hobby to try. The best I have done is a bit over a hundred yards. Before you laugh get out on a football field or other opening and try it. You learn quickly practicing in a field that a lead weight will bury itself and you will have to reel in as you walk to it. So, an eyebolt through a baseball or lacrosse ball works great as a practice weight, and gives the more lifelike wind resistance of actually casting float and lure/bait. Now you don't have to go that heavy, but your rig must have the right rod for what you are casting. Roger Seiders of rod making Flex Coat fame made a light spinning rod for use with an open face spinner to cast great distances for whites in a tail race using about an ounce of weight. Flex Coat also started selling "launchers" which are weighted casting floats. Browders and FTU also carry the old "Lake Livingston casting float" made or wood and lead. Anyway, my point for this thread is just to suggest a possible new hobby for those who might have an interest. :doowapsta Casting techniques are crucial, as is the amount of "drop" or amount of line hanging below the rod tip for the great swing. By the way, lol, if you get good at this type of casting, you are using physics whether you like it or not. Let me add, before people start buying or looking for Shimano 200GT's, that Ambassadeurs make great long distance casting reels.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

Very well said.
Here is a Youtube that will also lead to other videos on the subject. These fellows are several notches above our tail race type casting but the principle and techniques are the same.


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## Danny O (Apr 14, 2010)

Thanks for the tips. I've never fished below the dam. Hopefully, I'll get out there before the hydroelectric project construction changes things down there. Sounds like fun.


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## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

Funny story Matt always reminds me about ---- We were below the dam about two years ago and this gentleman next to us was long casting and catching blues. Matt was on the bow and was casting his 7ft rod with some distance. When I thought - that looks easy. I picked up my big redfish rod and while standing behind Matt took a great big round swing like the guy next to us. Anyway, I lost balance in the spin and smacked Matt behind the head with the reel. I don't know why but he still hasn't forgot about that.


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## HGX_Fisherman (Feb 26, 2009)

Great info WBF. Surprisingly with how much bank fishing I've done, long tossing is not something I've ever tried. GoFish2Day, I learned very quickly that Matt's mind is like a steel trap, especially if the story is slightly funny.


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## FISHROADIE (Apr 2, 2010)

I have always wanted to become proficient at long casting. I guess I will have to start practicing, thanks for the info.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

"Stripersonline.com" has a "Distance Casting Forum"

http://www.stripersonline.com/f/184/distance-casting-forum


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## longhorn daddy (Nov 10, 2009)

What happened to the thread with the stripers picture.Ive been looking for it and cant find it.Can someone help a brother out?


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I used to be able to cast a 17' surf rod below the dam. With it I could bounce it off of the rocks from the top of a platform boat, and the rocks were a little further then.
Back problems caused me to cut back and now I use a 10'. 
It will get me into fish more days than not, if I fish a feeding time.

In the night and early morning the fish tend to roam all around the basin back there.
And then move towards the rocks where there is a trench all along the rock/bulkhead facing where the water crashes through. 
The fish get into tightly packed schools there and it will hold some fantastic size cat fish, stripers, and drum among other fish.
As the morning turns to day most of the time they suck up into the rocks tightly and a long cast is required to reach them.
When they feed hard they will venture back towards the cable and some times past it, then retreat back to the rocks for a while.

The guides who cast long rods from the platform boats cast 15 to 17' rods with 6oz of lead in the end of the balsa corks. An average cast is 200 yards for them.

The Texas king of long casting is BigLou, as he appears on some fishing boards.
He fishes sometimes around the upper coast.

He actually at one time, or may still hold the American and possibly the world record for long casting.

Several of the guides below the dam went to see him and get instructions on long casting back in the 80s to help them get the game down on casting below the dam.
Lou told me that Wayne Bland was the only one who could stand on the ground and cast 200 yards of the ones who came for help.

As far as from the top of the 12' platform boats they fished from it was very different. You can trail a leader just right and make a figure 8 with the tip and put some juice to it. The longest caster I saw from the cable was Johnnie Lockheart. I watched him one day cast onto the concrete slant where the gates empty. It had to be in excess of 250 yards. He is a huge fellow with arms bigger than me!
Still he had to have the swing, that is what it takes to long cast. 
A feel for the rod as it loads up and enough practice to make it right on the down swing which releases the rods power.
A man who used to be a customer of mine was 6' 10" and he was wide at shoulders and 250# of muscle. He could not long cast for anything, no matter how I tried I could not get him to understand that really that no amount of shear muscle would get it there.
He spent all of his time slicing line out of a reel with a pocket knife.


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## ComeFrom? (May 21, 2004)

Oh, I get it. I just watched a Shreik movie. I couldn't understand anything they said...almost. LOL! J/K CF?


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## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

Great job and nice fish guys!


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

Good information.
Loy those fish don't look like they weighed 10 1/2 to 11 lbs each.


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## WilliamH (May 21, 2004)

Its been years since I've been down there. 

We hired Bobby Fly and crew once many years ago. They would cast and we would reel!! LOL . . .


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Matt has his PFD on, congrats!


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## ranger374v (Dec 23, 2010)

Just curious how many yards from the cable to the dam?


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

After you help recover a body or two from down there it will make you think about wearing a PFD.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Mattsfishin said:


> After you help recover a body or two from down there it will make you think about wearing a PFD.


Believe me, it was a sincere congrats. My guess is that of the bodies you have helped recover, none had on PFD. It could happen, such as hitting their head on something. Probably usually they can't swim as far as needed, or the current is too strong, or this time of year the cold water would do you in quickly.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

It was Kenny Lockheart, not_ Johnny_. The cable used to be 195 yards from The rocks on the east side and 220 yards to the rocks on the west end until they bullheaded the rocks and made it somewhat closer. I would say it's ,ore uniform and closer to 190 yards now.


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## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

Maybe you can get you one of those potato guns and stick the cork in the top and pull the trigger. I bet that would get the cop at the cable a little antse?


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## fishin_envy (Aug 13, 2010)

Whitebassfisher said:


> Matt has his PFD on, congrats!


Maybe he was afraid of getting hit in the back of the head again by GoFish. Maybe a good hardhat should be worn with it.:cop:


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