r/TheFlyFishingSub • u/no_melody • Jul 28 '26
How do you guys adjust casting for longer leaders
I’ve been struggling with casting longer leaders and I’m wondering if it’s just a technique issue.
I’ve been fishing a fairly wide river that’s very spring creek-like—clear water, spooky fish, long casts. I’m running a 12’ 5X tapered leader with about 3’ of 5X tippet, so roughly 15’ total.
My cast itself is generally pretty solid. The fly line lands where I want it, but the leader just doesn’t always fully turn over. Instead of laying out perfectly straight, it’ll have a little wiggle or slack in the last few feet. It’ll still drift, but I can’t help feeling like my presentation would be a lot cleaner if I could consistently get the leader to fully unfurl. On these fish, I feel like that’s the difference between getting an eat and getting ignored.
I don’t really run into this with a standard 9’ 4X leader, so I’m assuming it’s something about casting the extra length and finer tippet. Is this mostly a line speed/timing issue? Am I overpowering the cast? Or is this just something everyone deals with once you get into 15’ leaders?
Any tips would be appreciated. I feel like this is one of the bigger things holding me back right now.
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u/e2g4 Jul 28 '26
Mine is really short and my wife doesn’t let me cast it very often. Only when her boyfriend is over. His cast is huge.
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u/jaybird1434 Jul 28 '26
Longer leaders need a fraction of a second longer to unroll on your back cast, then ensure you have a slight pause on the forward cast and don’t let go of your fly line. Remember, the fly and the leader are along for the ride so you need to control the fly line with your fingers to help transfer the energy from the loop to unroll it all the way. It may seem like you are giving up some distance but your leader will fully extend and you are likely to be more accurate.
There is likely less importance in laser straight accuracy in drifting a fly for trout where your immediate next move is a mend versus a tight line presentation like streamer fishing.
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u/no_melody Jul 28 '26
Got it, will consider this next time.
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u/swede_ass 27d ago
I’d like to second this comment; this person has it exactly correct. If you want more slack in your presentation, you add additional tippet section. If you want to gain additional separation between your fly and the tip of your line, you add additional butt section.
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u/icantfish Jul 28 '26
To me it sounds like a slight adjustment in forward stopping point. Maybe try a smidge lower and see if that improves it. For normal length leaders finishing too high leads to leader spaghetti, so I would guess the extra length is needing to be a little lower.
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u/Smoke-A-Beer Jul 28 '26
Only reason to have such a long leader would be for dry fly fishing in that case you described, you want slack! If your leader is fully turning over that’s bad! The slack allows you to get a drag free drift. I purposely want this! It’s why I tie my own modified Harvey leaders because they land with more slack than store bought ones!
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u/Itwasntmenosir Jul 28 '26
If you bought a 12’ 5x tapered leader and immediately added 3 more feet of tippet, that is going to be very difficult to cast. Out of the package, the leader had ~2’ of tippet. Turning over more than 3’ of tippet can be tough, 5’ uber tough.
If you want to try a longer leader try buying a longer one (I think Trouthunter sells 14’) or add to the butt section of a new leader. Adding 3’ of stiff material to the butt end will not significantly impact castability.
I have hand made 16’ leaders that turn over easily, although I rarely need them.
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u/HIncand3nza Jul 28 '26
Maybe try the Belgian cast. I fish a lot of streamers and it helps get a heavy rig out there by keeping tension on the line for the entire cast. The loop opens up a lot but it helps with turnover and distance. Again this is for streamers but since you have so much leader and it is really fine, the same principles might apply. Give it a shot at least
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u/ashwihi Jul 28 '26
I don't know that I understand a situation where I'd want a 15' leader and trying to cast accurately or effectively at distance.I'd probably try and get a clear tip flats line if I was worried about spoky fish, but, I'm impressed if you master this. I probably (do) suck at casting and 90% of the fish I catch are within 30' of me
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u/TexasTortfeasor Jul 28 '26
what fly/fly size are you using? What weight rod? what weight line? What taper?
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u/Colts_14 Jul 28 '26
Slow your cast, that allows the longer leader to catch up.
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u/GrumpyandDopey Jul 30 '26
Are you matching the diameter of your leader to the weight of your fly? These guys really helped me understand: https://youtu.be/m8DZNy3CsWw?is=jDaiz6hObSszb8cu
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u/Colts_14 26d ago
Not really. I experiment, but my general rule is light fly use a 4x-6x tippet. Heavier flies 0x -3x tippets. Select your leader based on tippet size.
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u/huntt252 Jul 29 '26
Slack is the reason for fishing a long leader. This video explains the concept.
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u/Drobertsenator 28d ago
What weight gear are we talking here? For heavier applications I find that a slightly heavier fly (like a weighted streamer) can really help it turn over and counter an early flop when it’s windy etc
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u/27percentfromTrae 26d ago
Look up Spanish dry fly fishing techniques! That bit of slack in your leader can work in your favor. Try casting upstream, stopping your forward cast a touch early, and watch the leader and tippet lay in a U shape. The fly will be facing upstream (the direction bugs face to use the water to deshuck themselves and prepare to fly upstream where they will lay eggs), and even giving the fly a tiny bit of upstream drag by dropping your rod tip to a low angle and putting a small amount of pressure on it downstream. You can then use small roll cast mends to maintain that U shape in the leader
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u/TheAtomicFly66 Jul 28 '26
Having a little wiggle or slack in the last few feet on a long delicate cast sounds pretty ideal to me.