# Tommy casting lesson report



## shughes (Oct 28, 2011)

My friend and I recently purchased Tommy's 13' 6-10 which is my first with the fast action design. I have his 11' 2-5 and 12' 3-7 and they perform wonderfully with the overhand thump but I knew I would need to increase my game to benefit from the design of the 13' 6-10. I played around with the rod for a couple weeks trying to learn the Hatteras cast and could get respectable 125 yards with occasional 130-135 yards but knew my form was not good and started worrying about picking up bad habits. We arranged to meet Tommy this past Monday for some private lessons and also took down another friend so there were three of us total. 

Tommy was prompt and wasted no time to getting us rolling. Tommy had us cast with our normal casts to get a baseline to work from. My initial Hatteras cast was 392 feet when Tommy used his rangefinder. It was a relief to know I had been measuring at home correctly (tape measure) as this was right in the range I consistently cast when playing with the 13 footer and a slight tailwind at home. I was fully mentally prepared to get humbled with the actual measurement but there were no surprises. We set out flags to mark our baseline cast. I was casting the 13' 6-10 with a 6ounce weight using a combination of 15lb big game and topped with 18lb sakuma (~200ft) and 50lb big game shock leader on a Akios 656SCM. 

Tommy then started into the fundamentals of the ground cast and we spent a solid 3 hours casting the ground cast. My first ground cast came well short of my baseline, believe it was in the 330's. Then each cast afterwards I was adding 10-15 feet as form improved. After 2.5hrs I was able to match my baseline cast. Near the three hour mark I passed my baseline with a 413ft cast. I was having issues with my Akios 656 as it was way too hot. Zing, pop, pow. I replaced the bearings with ceramics last Fall which was also the last time I added a drop of oil. The temperature was also 20 degrees warmer then I had been casting during winter months so with two break blocks in I was only able to keep mags at 2-3 clicks from maxiumum. Tommy pointed out how hot it was along with other extremely helpful hints in reel mechanics. For my last cast of the day I used Tommy's 666W that had been fished hard (original bearings) with one break block and 20lb Sakuma. I casted 431 feet using the Hatteras cast. I knew immediately I needed to correct my reel tuning procedures to gain more control in the speed department. 

My early cast form improved during the day but my weak area is the pull/push. I went away from the casting session learning there are multiple variables in controlling a reel and that my suspicion of a weak power hit at end of cast were my first two areas to work on back home. Tuesday I removed my ceramics and put the original akios bearings back in with a couple drops of red rocket oil to give me more reel control. I immediately picked up 20-25 feet in my cast as I was able to remove one break block and run at half mags. Probably important to note that the temps fell back down 20 degrees so that is yet another attribute that is allowing me to control reel more then on Monday. Last night and this morning I started focusing on my left arm extension and hitting cast harder at the end and acheived a new PR this morning of 483 feet using 6 ounces. For good measure I hit a few other casts and they were all hitting around the 480 mark. 

So summarizing I went from casting 375-400 feet to 480+ feet this week after the lessons and working on the problem areas. 500 is now in sight. We had a great day casting with Tommy and fully recommend his lessons for anyone aspiring to improve their casting form and distance.


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## tiaank (Feb 27, 2014)

*I second that*



shughes said:


> My friend and I recently purchased Tommy's 13' 6-10 which is my first with the fast action design. I have his 11' 2-5 and 12' 3-7 and they perform wonderfully with the overhand thump but I knew I would need to increase my game to benefit from the design of the 13' 6-10. I played around with the rod for a couple weeks trying to learn the Hatteras cast and could get respectable 125 yards with occasional 130-135 yards but knew my form was not good and started worrying about picking up bad habits. We arranged to meet Tommy this past Monday for some private lessons and also took down another friend so there were three of us total.


So I am "the friend" referred to above. I am a significantly less experienced fisherman (been fishing for years but all self taught and experimenting) and was originally concerned that I was going to look a bit ridiculous compared to my 300-400ft casting friends. Turns out my concerns were unfounded and the experience was amazing.

I started the day with a semi-sad 166 foot cast with my 15 year old 12' Ugly Stick and spinner. Once Tommy started working with me, in an amazingly relaxed and un-intimidating way, I improved dramatically very quickly. My distances went to 220, 240 on my newer 13' rod and Penn SQL reel. Tommy put a 12' 3-7oz demo rod and a Akios 656 SCM demo in my hand, and I immediately jumped to 308. After some more instruction, I put in my best cast of the day at 360 feet! I more than doubled my initial cast.

I continue to work on my casting and hope to break 400 feet in the near term with 450 being a stretch goal with the 12' rod. Absolutely impossible to even imagine before the lessons. Tommy is an awesome guy with no chip on his shoulder. He is very humble and we even had to egg him on to do some casts for us because he wanted to spend the time working on our casting rather than just showing off.

~TK


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## printrman (Feb 28, 2014)

I was the 3rd guy in the group with Tommy. To be someone with his abilities and credentials, a very humble man. The class was great! I started with a 326' cast and my last was 458'. I'm the type that needs not only to be told how to do something but then shown a couple of times. Tommy has all the patience in the world, you can tell he truly loves what he does and wants to pass on his knowledge.

I guess the long casting all started when a bunch of us were at Hatteras drum fishing. There's always a few in the group who know more than everyone and no matter how you do something, they can do it just a little bit better. Needless to say, this was true when surf casting. So here we go. After a few years, I started trying a couple of new casts and my casting length improved enough to where it was obvious who was the long caster in our group. But then it became a little more, how far could I cast and still catch fish? Evidence speaks for itself one year when I was the only one catching anything at night b/c I was hitting the 2nd sand bar or a little more and no one else got a bite.

Hooked up with my buddy Shannon from above and the competition started again. This time, we're trying to help each other out and the race is on to 500'. I have a feeling one of us will hit it very soon and then TK will be right behind us!

If you really want some real world, practical knowledge on how to improve your cast and add crazy length, give Tommy Farmer a call. You won't be disappointed.


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## bronzbck1 (Jun 13, 2007)

Great report


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

Thanks guys. 

It was a pleasure to spend the day casting with the three of you. I get to work with all types and skill levels and it was a fun challenge to get to work with 3 completely different guys in style and experience.

Shannon, 

Thanks for putting together the group for our mini seminar. Of the three you had the most polished cast and it showed with your initial baseline cast of almost 400'. It is always challenging to help an experienced guy make the changes to improve, muscle memory just wants to keep doing what its been doing....  . An experienced caster making a change almost always results in a step backward in distance and it did with you. You listened, learned and applied what we covered and in just a little while were moving right on past your baseline cast. Several of your best casts were lost to crackoffs directly associated with the "hot" Akios 656. Slowing her down will help you a lot. Keep working on the left pull and focus on accelerating through the cast and 500' will fall soon for you, 600' with dedicated work. Very well done.

Hayden,

I can teach most anyone to cast a good far distance. I cannot teach size and cannot teach natural speed, attributes that you have in spades. You made an impressive gain of almost 50% from your baseline (to over 150 yards) by applying the fundamentals we covered. Power is a wonderful tool. You can literally be as good as you want to be in this sport, be it out-casting your buddies on the beach or moving into competitive casting. The question is, how bad do you want it???



TK,

What a pleasure it was to work with you. Your cast was raw, a little rough around the edges but I saw potential right away. To more than double your distance (over 360'!!) in just a few hours is something to be proud of. You really listened, stayed focused and immediately started to improve. It seemed that each cast was just a little longer than the one before it. Your goals are reasonable and attainable. If you focus on technique you'll soon be pressuring Shannon and Hayden!!

Once again guys, thanks for coming down. It was a great day.

Tommy


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## dsurf (Aug 5, 2003)

Tommy said:


> Thanks guys.
> 
> It was a pleasure to spend the day casting with the three of you. I get to work with all types and skill levels and it was a fun challenge to get to work with 3 completely different guys in style and experience.
> 
> ...


Tommy, it's always therapeutic to read your positive, encouraging posts......you're always able to find a silver lining where others may not. Thanks for being a such a positive roll model. Doug


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## shughes (Oct 28, 2011)

dsurf said:


> Tommy, it's always therapeutic to read your positive, encouraging posts......you're always able to find a silver lining where others may not. Thanks for being a such a positive roll model. Doug


Indeed. Received many follow-up emails of encouragement and answered questions. Good stuff.


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## tiaank (Feb 27, 2014)

*Hit my first personal goal in just 10 days!*

Hey Tommy!

Thank again for the great lesson! I wanted to let you know I managed to hit my first goal today! I hit 405' with my 12' Cast Pro w/ Akios 656 CTM reel with a 6 oz tournament weight!

I also got to try out shughes' 13' rod (with my reel) and hit 432' with my 3rd cast! Quite a long way from my 166' initial cast Monday 2/24 barely 10 days ago!!!! 

I am averaging 370-385' with my 12' rod at this point. Couldn't have done it without your lessons and the support of shughes and printrman!

~TK


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## printrman (Feb 28, 2014)

Gotta give props again to Tommy. We've been keeping in touch and he's had some great tips to try and help get over the 500' hump. Finally did it yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. Had a personal best of 519', throwing 6oz with his 13' 6-10oz rod w/ an Akios 666 spooled up with Sakuma 20# line. 

Anyone who is interested in wanting to add some serious length to their casts should get in touch with Tommy. The man really knows what he's talking about and does not hesitate at all to give you pointers / advice when needed. After our seminar with him just 3 weeks ago, he' been able to help my cast go from an original 326 to 519 yesterday. Looking forward to another lesson with him this spring to try and get to the 600' mark!


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## shughes (Oct 28, 2011)

Very nice casting, guess the pressure is back on me to beat 519  I'll admit I have the urge to take off the BG line.


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## printrman (Feb 28, 2014)

I really like the Sakuma line, I think I'll be able to add a few more yards once I switch it out to 18# instead of the 20#. Seems to me that just having a shock leader tied to the main line helps vs having a few shorter pieces spliced together, but that's just my observation.

Also think I accidently stumbled on something by throwing the 8oz for several times. All the casts with the 8 hit with in 5 yards of each other at 150-155yds out. The very next cast after switching back to the 6oz is when I hit 519.

It has been a great competition between us 3. We just can't let the ******* from S Africa come up and beat us!


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

Great stuff guys. Nothing like a little competition between friends to push you to the next level.



Tommy


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## BigWillJ (Jan 21, 2001)

Tommy said:


> ......Nothing like a little competition between friends to push you to the next level...


Yeauhp....it's what got me over the 600 mark amongst the "older" guys....
Haven't been in touch Tommy. Hope all is well with you and family......
Going to try and send you a PM about what I believe to be one of your old haunts.
Will.


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

All is well here Will. Retired Dec 31 after 34 years with the power company. Selling rods and reels, casting, fishing (all that qualifies as WORK...lol) and golfing make up my life now.

Will was there when I started down this obsessive distance road. He kicked my butt nicely back in the day... 

Tommy


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## BigWillJ (Jan 21, 2001)

Well folks, that's not EXACTLY how I remember it, but if it happened, it didn't last for long. Early on you could tell Tommy had something special. His desire and dedication had him reaching distances that some could only dream about. He's earned it, he deserves it, and he's good for the sport! Me, I'm still dreaming......


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