I consider myself an average fly caster. As with most fly fishers, my obsession is searching for the perfect cast. Unfortunately, they are few and far between; but that's what keeps me hooked.

I do most of my fishing in soliditude, thus all I have to judge my abilities to is YouTube. With my 6wt and a #6 bugger I can consistently reach out to 45'-50'. Anything beyond that and my loops die.

So, is that about average? Below average?

i kin hit 47 ft 8 1/4 inches on a good day, actually I have no idea, but I can cast far enough for the fish & aint that all that matters (btw 47'8 1/4" might be overstating it)

I would recommend pairing with someone who can watch your casts-especially the backcast. Your range now isn;'t bad and it sounds like you want real improvement. Assumming you can find a CCI to do the watching - then you'll probably learn why your cast is dying short of your target.

Years back after making no progress on my own, I finally decided to break my piggy bank and spend $50.00 on a casting lesson with a Certified Instructor- Colby Sorells. It was the best money ever spent on my passion. What I learned from that initial lesson I took home and practiced. Later at different events which tipically have free lessons, I asked for more help and always picked up a new trick or two.

If you decide to go to a local club before a meeting - there is a good chance you'll meet a casting instructor who will help for free.

Just my $.02

Les Jackson

Too hot to fish and ponds drying up from the drought, so I have been doing a LOT of backyard casting this summer, so I�ll pass on my thoughts for what they are worth.

I considered myself an a pretty good fly caster with years of experience with shooting heads with occasional distance of 100 ft with full sinking heads - you don�t cast them - you launch them! Much blind casting for striped bass but occasional accuracy required.

When casting floating lines I found sloppy loops and average 50-60ft casts.
I went back to basics improving my �casting stroke�, back casts and double hauls.
I soon was hitting 70 footers and thought I was doing well until Florida Keys tarpon taught me a lesson that the fish were frequently 10 feet farther than I could cast and accuracy was often more important than distance.

Returning home from my spring trip, I spend 10 or 15 minutes most mornings at first light practicing my casting � coping with hot weather cabin fever and health related therapy,

The answer to your question IMO is review your casting fundamentals, back casts, double hauls, � put some paper plates scattered from 10ft to 50ft targets �. practice � practice � practice
George Glazener

ps: up-line your 6wt fly rod one or even two line sizes for big flies - that will add 10ft to your disance - load and shoot!

What Les said!!! Also, remember that accuracy is generally more important than a lot of distance. If you can cast 100 feet but can't put it where the fish are you've accomplished nothing!!! Get a couple of small hula hoops and practice casting into them and through them. Getting a good hook-set at a distance over 50 to 60 feet can be a real challenge.

Watch the posts here for local fly club events in your area.
There are generally casting lessons/instruction at those events and like Les said it's almost always FREE.

Also, consider the Southern Council Conclave in October.

http://www.southerncouncilfff.org/

LOTS of learning opportunities.

I can cast to the backing with my 7wt 8wt 9wt and with my 10wt I can shoot some backing if the knot flows through the guides those are all high quality wff fly lines on my 6wt suffered some until I switched to a Rio outbound line and I can get it down to just a dozen or so wraps left before I see backing my 5wt has a sharkskin line on it and about 70' to 80' is all I can get.

That's about average for someone that hasn't spent time with an instructor, or serious time on their own (daily) trying to improve their cast. An instructor will shorten that curve and help you stay out of bad habits.

As far as some of the other comments, you should strive to be VERY accurate up to about 40-50 feet, pretty accurate (hula hoop) from there on up to about 70, and ballpark throwing the whole line (90+ feet). IF you ever learn to throw that far. If you don't, stick with the accuracy.

But when an acre of white bass or bonita blows up 90 feet from the boat, getting the fly within about 5 feet of the action is usually plenty close, and it NEVER hurts to be able to throw a long line.

+1 for what Dave said.

Sounds like you have a good start.

"As far as some of the other comments, you should strive to be VERY accurate up to about 40-50 feet, pretty accurate (hula hoop) from there on up to about 70, and ballpark throwing the whole line (90+ feet). IF you ever learn to throw that far. If you don't, stick with the accuracy."

As Dave said focus on accuracy-best advice

I fish with my 5wt every day . I have marked out 40' in 10' sections. I have yet to reach the 40' mark. Im guessing about 35' is all Im throwing. This also applies to my saltwater fishing as well as throwing from a kayak. I really dont think distance is everything as I once thought. As long as you are catching fish/ throwing that bug under a willow branch, landing a fly next to your target softly...etc is the main objective...yes I wont lie I would love to throw a line >70' but as yet I have had no need to.

Its all about being just as good with your left hand as well as your right....it feels strange at first but once you get the right motion you can really get it out there.

The places I fish rarely need a cast greater than 20 feet. Practicing one day I did get out about 40 or 45 feet of line, though.

I would guess average head+leader is 35'-45'? Umm I can cast some amount more than that?

But I would guess most of my fish come in the 25' range. I like to fish bass bugs with my 6wt, but they don't go very far.

That's what it really comes down to. I didn't learn how to throw a line 70 feet until I needed to, either. We have had this discussion before, but, one day you'll be in a boat with a caster who can get that done and the white bass will be on top and that person will be catching fish after fish after fish while your 40' cast continues to land 30' short.

If and when that day comes, you'll learn how to cast (or at least start down the road) pronto. And if white bass don't get you going, maybe bull reds on a bait ball a mile offshore will be the motivation.

If that day never comes, well, you probably have no need to improve your casting and that's ok too. We do this for fun.

we do ?

so I can forget that job as a high paid professional fly fisherman I suppose, aw it was only a dream but man what a dream,
April Volkey was in it several times as were Gheenoes being pulled by Bentley's with my tweed jackets & Bamboo 10 weight in the trunk. And flies tied of Caribou I wrasselled to the tundra on one of my many adventurous AA trips ( I usually like the Amazon in the winter & the Artic in the summer) I guess I can tell Tiger's caddie I dont need him to carry my rods (man I hope he has some unemployment benefits left.)