how far can you cast?

[bblatt]

I was able to cast the top section of my surf rod a good 50 feet the last time I went out. Amazingly, it came back...how do you attach a shock leader to the mainline to precent that? I was using the Albright knot, but I might not have trimmed it close enough??

[jmairey]

I cut a nice hole in my wetsuit cause peeing in a wetsuit on the kayak is not as simple as on the surfboard.

all was good until that 40 knot gust at stevens creek,  .   and no, those are not tears,  .

I'd be into casting distance from the kayak. that is one of the reasons to go for a longer rod, more distance
from the sitting position.

maybe a paddle from the line, and cast into the circle, like casting into a boil.  but what are we casting?

special tournament lead casting, or senkos? or zoom flukes? it makes a difference!

J

[guitarzan]

Great idea J, I'll take anyone on in an accurasy contest as long as I dont have to spell anything.
We used to set up tires in the backyard and try to hit them. We should plan it for sure at the next big camp out.
Prelims, finals, semi- finals and then, the CHAMPION!!!
Let the smack- talk begin! (Molbasser!)

[KZ]

I was able to cast the top section of my surf rod a good 50 feet the last time I went out. Amazingly, it came back...how do you attach a shock leader to the mainline to precent that? I was using the Albright knot, but I might not have trimmed it close enough??

I use an albright knot as well, and it is important to trim the knot well, but the most important thing is to make sure the guides / tip are sized large enough to pass a shock leader easily.  I generally don't go any smaller than size 12 guide rings where I need to pass a shock leader knot.  I generally don't use a shock leader unless I'm tossing over 3 or 4 oz of lead.  I use 30# powerpro on my surf rod and if I need a fluoro or mono leader, I'll just size it short enough so that I don't need to bring the knot into the tip.

When I use a shock leader, I make sure there is enough length to go  the lenghth of the rod, plus however much you want out the tip to cast, plus enough to go around the spool about 6 times or so. 

[fuzz]

When shorefishing in Hawaii, I used to be really into competitive casting.  The standards at the time for the cliffs there was a thick 13-14ft pole, a 4/0 113HLW or 6/0 114HLW(newells were also popular, but I was poor), 60-100# mono mainline, & 6-12oz sinkers being the norm.  When casting off the beach or baitcasting, my rigs were smaller - still a 13-14ft pole, but either a jigmaster or 4/0 113HL rigged with 40 or 50# mono.

A standard casting competition would have 4 divisions in the open category - 6/0, 4/0, jigmaster, & international.  The last catergory was usually 12# test with adequate shock cord to do a few wraps on your spool.  I was competitive in the smaller 3 categories, but lacked the physical size and hands big enough to adequately cast a 6/0.     It's really a sight to see all these well-rounded(literally) fishermen putting every ounce of themselves into casting these absurdly large setups. 

For the 12# test category, I started out with a 6500c3(levelwind removed) and it served me well.  I eventually made my way to what was revolutionary at the time - the Penn 525mag.  Broke the bank for me(student) since I had to buy it new, but put me in contention for 1st place with a little tweaking.


All that being said, Molbasser has the best answer for casting distance "As far as I need to." 

Many a time, the dump shot bait would take a fish as the predators hunted the contours of the cliff faces.  In fact, one of my favorite techniques was hang-baiting, which basically just meant hanging a rod horizontally over the edge of the water.  A small hardy tidal pool fish would be lowered till it just touched the tip of the water.  When the water receeded, it was out of water.  It was so simple, but very deadly - mimiced a small fish that got swept into the deep & was trying to scamper back to the rocks.

[Rock Hopper]

...kayak jousting 

Or Kayak Tug-of-War!