# Solid day casting on the turf



## sandcruiser (Jan 15, 2007)

I casted a bit with fellow surf fisherman Boo Boo on Saturday and was impressed with his newly acquired rig from this site. Great deal on a great rig there Boo Boo! He was heaving it close to 120 yards with a Emblem spinner on a OM 12' using the Breakaway cannon. Good to practice with another guy.

Well, I was only hitting 10-20 more yards out on Saturday with my conventional and decided that wasn't good enough and I had better get back out to the turf today for some additional practice.

I'm heaving a 5 oz weight with a 525 custom mag torqued by a 12'6" 1569 RS. It is a real smooth outfit, but is taking some getting used to for me. She's a long tall sally that's for sure.

I also took a professional measuring wheel to make certain our yardages weren't off. I respooled my 525 with 17# Tri Suffix and used a couple of wraps of 50# Trilene shock leader and it was back to the grass.

I was consistently hitting 400-420 ft with a good wind behind me. I am most pleased with my accuracy at this point. I was using the pendelum cast. Well, with all this good positive energy I of course had to have a massive blow up and snap off just to bring me back to reality. Oh well, that didn't stop me from respooling and trying later. 

I'm glad I went back. I hit a personal best of 449 ft. and a few more near that mark but none fell short of 425!! I'm beyond stoked because I don't even know what I'm doing. This is my fourth practice session.

A neighbor came up and watched a bit and was confused about why I'd want to throw and reel in that much line over grass. I just laughed and said it was sort of becoming an obsession. With that he drove off scratching his head.


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

150 yards with fishing gear is very good casting!!

  

Tommy


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## cygnus-x1 (Oct 12, 2005)

sandcruiser said:


> A neighbor came up and watched a bit and was confused about why I'd want to throw and reel in that much line over grass. I just laughed and said it was sort of becoming an obsession. With that he drove off scratching his head.


Tell them you are fishing for grass shrimp and see how they react  

We may need an open practice forum if this keeps up! I am getting excited now just reading these posts and want to get out and toss some lead too!


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

Had a 40 something (yep she was blonde) lady and her son stop on thursday and watch me cast, she rolled down her window and said,

"I just have to ask, what are you fishing for???"

With all the seriousness I could muster I looked at her and said.....

"Grass Carp"

The look on her face was priceless


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## cygnus-x1 (Oct 12, 2005)

Tommy said:


> Had a 40 something (yep she was blonde) lady and her son stop on thursday and watch me cast, she rolled down her window and said,
> 
> "I just have to ask, what are you fishing for???"
> 
> ...


I bet ... you then should have said ... "Now here's your sign" (Bill Ingvald)


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## barty b (Dec 31, 2004)

Great job SC! I think a lot of guys will be surprised at thier abilities if they get out on the practice field and apply some of the techniques discussed here. 
Keep the reports coming and keep practicing! This sport is growing and it's great to see lots of intrest!

One a related side note, those of you doing this for fishing applications, Try putting on your rig that you would be fishing with and use some plastic swim baits or foam pieces to simulate bait. This will give you accurate results to real world applications. You are going to cast further with just lead than with baited rigs.

I cast where a lot of people bring thier dogs to run and play, I had a lab chase and catch a baseball I was practicing with one day, He didn't want to let go, Actually got a couple of good jumps out of him before he let go!


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## huckfinn38 (Jun 13, 2006)

*Grass Carp....*

After you tell her you are fishing for Grass Carp..Stop and howl at the sky, the strip down naked and start running around the field...I had a group of people stop one day and just stare. It was like they were watching a freak show of some kind...


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## fingersandclaws (Oct 17, 2005)

cygnus-x1 said:


> I am getting excited now just reading these posts and want to get out and toss some lead too!


Cyg, it's a lot more fun if you are with some buddies. You can watch each other, see what can be improved, and also let your inner beast come out and have a "friendly contest"  When I do go out by myself, I don't know what I'm doing wrong, and I end up cutting the practice short b/c being stared at and photographed by strangers kinda freaks me out


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## BlaineO (Jan 22, 2001)

Good casting, guys.

And Tommy, they are tough to get in over the high spots on the field.










Blaine


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

That's IT!! That's the one, it was right there at the 500' flag....

honest


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## OV Renegade (Aug 5, 2006)

*I couldn't*

find a practice field.(didn't really look) Went down to the beach next to OV Pier with my freshly cleaned and oiled (Hot Sauce) 525mag mounted on a 12'Tica and threw a few casts into the 20-30?? mph winds blowing straight in.And to my surprise I was getting very good distance. The reel must have been very dirty or dry cuz now it casts soo smoooth even into the wind.Can't wait to go :fishing:


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## sandcruiser (Jan 15, 2007)

*line to spool tension*

Hey, I appreciate all the 'ataboys'. I actually had myself a really good time practicing. Tommy gave me some really good pointers along with many other tidbits I've picked up here. I need lots more work that's for sure.

I had a question to all the grass carp fishermen. 
When you guys are spooling your line back up do you put a little tension on your line because of the lack of resistence?

I think that's what blew me up in one of my casting sessions. My bait rigs in the ocean alway provide plenty of tension when spooling back in. 

Grass fishing provides zero resistence.


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## surfchunker (Apr 10, 2006)

*I Do*

to keep it tight and keep the twist knots out ....


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

SC,

Yes. Keep a medium amount of tension on the line during retrieve. Another thing that most guys don't do is pay attention to the line lay. It should be as level as you can get it. You also need to lay down approx the same amount of line per layer. The way to get this is to count how many revolutions of the handle it takes to make one pass across the spool. Some guys will think this is overkill, it may actually be a little on the anal side BUT, if you consistantly layer the line erraticly, as in 4 turns acroos on this pass and then 7 turn the next then 5 turns it will cause the reel to surge. It can't decide how fast to turn to feed the line off. 

Blowup waiting to happen......

A 5500 size reel needs about 6 handle revolutions per layer, 6500 needs about 8 and a 7500 9-10.

Just food for thought

Tommy


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## Cdog (Mar 18, 2002)

Tommy said:


> SC,
> 
> Yes. Keep a medium amount of tension on the line during retrieve. Another thing that most guys don't do is pay attention to the line lay. It should be as level as you can get it. You also need to lay down approx the same amount of line per layer. The way to get this is to count how many revolutions of the handle it takes to make one pass across the spool. Some guys will think this is overkill, it may actually be a little on the anal side BUT, if you consistantly layer the line erraticly, as in 4 turns acroos on this pass and then 7 turn the next then 5 turns it will cause the reel to surge. It can't decide how fast to turn to feed the line off.
> 
> ...


Thanks Tommy, I have been trying to get a handle on how many cranks per layer.


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## booboo (Jan 2, 2007)

*Sandcruiser*

I knew that you couldn't resist heading back out to the field on Sunday! I started to turn back in there when I was heading back to Raleigh myself.

I also used the "catchin Grass Carp" line on my wife Saturday evening and she almost bought it. I told her that we caught two and had them laid up on the grill cooking!

Here's a good story to go with that one---opcorn: 

When my wife and I first started dating about 14 years ago, I took her down to my family's place at Holdens Beach. She loves breakfast and there was a place with a good buffet on the causeway that I took her to. We served up a platefull each and started in to eating. 

I ask her how her food is and she says -"It's pretty good, but the bacon sure is salty."

I don't miss a beat and respond "That's because down here along the coast there's not enough room for the houses and golf courses and pig farms, so they raise *sea pigs *out in big pens in the ocean so the meat is a little bit salty"  

She gives me a little bit of a puzzled look and says "oh, ok" 

I stifle a snicker and keep eating.  About this time the waitress comes by and asks how the food is.

My wife pipes up and says "It's pretty good, even though this sea pig bacon is a little salty!"

The waitress looks at her like she has two heads, shakes her head and starts to walk away. 

I bust out laughing and almost fall out in the floor. Wifey still doesn't get it. The waitress comes back over and asks what the deal is. I fill her and my wife in on the story and the waitress bust out laughing   and the light bulb goes off in my wife's head and she busts out laughing (after giving me a good punch in the arm! ) and we're still laughing today


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## ASK4Fish (May 4, 2005)

OV Renegade said:


> find a practice field.(didn't really look) Went down to the beach next to OV Pier with my freshly cleaned and oiled (Hot Sauce) 525mag mounted on a 12'Tica and threw a few casts into the 20-30?? mph winds blowing straight in.And to my surprise I was getting very good distance. The reel must have been very dirty or dry cuz now it casts soo smoooth even into the wind.Can't wait to go :fishing:


OV renegade...the fields behind Ocean View Elementary are good for casting on...just make sure theres no recess or ball practices out there and you should be good...cast from the corner nearest the "monkey bars" toward the woods and you'll be good...


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