alhuger Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 I hit the Golden Gate casting ponds this morning and finally got to cast my Beulah with the matched Elixer line. Wow!! I was rolling out 100 foot casts and felt like a god! Mind you this is in a casting pond so it bares no resemblance to actual river casting, but hey, it's still good for the ego of a beginner caster. I have to say this rod with the matched line is on fire. I also got a chance to push a long belly line today. It was humiliating :< The more time I spend with new lines I am finding I gravitate towards heads less than 50 feet long, likely because I find it easier and also because they suit my needs for the water I am typically fishing. Very cool stuff. Gives my something to think about on flight back to our wintry northern paradise.... -al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ogilvie Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 Golden Gate pond...nice... I was out yesterday until early afternoon playing also with different lines set-ups on the Tamar. The 7/8 Spey Elixir line with the 14' fast sink Poly-tip was working just too easily. The Tamar is a very fast tough rod that feels like it's meant to be where it is. The 13'6" 8/9 Beulah rod is completely different in hand. The Tip action is unbelievable,somewhat delayed almost to a regressive feel. The weather here on the Island is about 4 above,sunny and fishy. The water levels are getting low because of the Colder weather last week...with the next rise in water levels we will see many new Steelhead coming in..out comes the rods! C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alhuger Posted February 2, 2008 Author Share Posted February 2, 2008 Golden Gate pond...nice... My work takes me to SF about once a month so I am lucky to enough to get to the ponds pretty often. Oddly enough when I lived in SF I pretty much ignored them, it's funny what someone will take for granted when it's right next to them. It was there I actually decided I wanted to buy a spey rod. Last summer I watched this tiny woman name Donna move a line 130 feet with nearly no effort across one of the ponds. It was one of the most graceful things I've seen in casting and it planted the seed in me. So rather than pick up a two hander for practical reasons I bought one because I just love the way they cast. There, I said it. I was out yesterday until early afternoon playing also with different lines set-ups on the Tamar. The 7/8 Spey Elixir line with the 14' fast sink Poly-tip was working just too easily. The Tamar is a very fast tough rod that feels like it's meant to be where it is. The 13'6" 8/9 Beulah rod is completely different in hand. The Tip action is unbelievable,somewhat delayed almost to a regressive feel. The weather here on the Island is about 4 above,sunny and fishy. The water levels are getting low because of the Colder weather last week...with the next rise in water levels we will see many new Steelhead coming in..out comes the rods! C Ahhh 4C, must be nice. I nearly opted to stay in SF over the weekend just for the weather but I figured the martial discord that would engender was not worth the hassle. I will have to cast the Tamar one of these days. I actually would like to load up my sage with an Elixir line to see how it handles it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weedy1 Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 Those ponds are interesting, haven't seen anything like it. I like how they have grid lined the bottoms of the ponds. Must make for a perfect are to practice those spey casts. http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http...6CA256%26sa%3DN Click on the "(click here for a full panoramic view of The Golden Gate Angling & Casting Club). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alhuger Posted February 2, 2008 Author Share Posted February 2, 2008 Those ponds are interesting, haven't seen anything like it. I like how they have grid lined the bottoms of the ponds. Must make for a perfect are to practice those spey casts. http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http...6CA256%26sa%3DN Click on the "(click here for a full panoramic view of The Golden Gate Angling & Casting Club). It's pretty handy for understanding how far your cast is for sure. The best part of the pools IMO is that the people there are fantastic. Some of the best casters you will ever see frequent those ponds daily and nearly everyone is willing to help you sort your cast out, it's awesome. During the competitions there in the summer I got to watch the distance and accuracy trials, pretty mind boggling stuff. Watching someone put down a dry fly with a perfect lay down at 90 feet with a mild wind is pretty cool. It's no big surprise that guys like Rajeff and others come from those ponds, they are a pretty valuable resource for practice and have a really healthy community to help you refine your cast. The only downside I can think of is that actually learning to cast there can be a bit misleading at least when it comes to the spey. The current makes a huge difference and you have to adjust a bit when you learn on the ponds and then go to a river as I did. I can cast half again as far on the ponds as I can in a river. As far as that goes though I think my cast is fine enough for fishing but I would like to get the distance going because I really enjoy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headscan Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 I think a great advantage of the casting pools for practicing is that you're only thinking of your cast and not about catching fish. How many people actually go down to the river to practice casting without a single thought of catching fish? Even if you tell yourself you're only there to practice/improve your cast you'll usually have a fly tied on and there'll be that little something in the back of your head thinking about fish. Next time I head down that way I'll have to make sure to bring a rod and reel along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ogilvie Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 The Golden Gate area has a very interesting and long history with Spey Casting and long rods. Few know that before the 2nd World War long rods were used off the beaches for Stripers and other such fish. The War effort reduced that interest to almost nil until much later. I fished long rods off the Pescadaro Beaches a bit ...great waters C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDone Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 Hey Al good to finally meet you today, we'll have to get out soon, maybe a playdate for the little ones. Colin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alhuger Posted February 3, 2008 Author Share Posted February 3, 2008 Hey Al good to finally meet you today, we'll have to get out soon, maybe a playdate for the little ones. Colin Yeh it was great to run into you, small world. When the weather warms up we need to hit the water for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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