Michal Duzynski | Monday, 12 April 2021
What a fantastic day I had on Saturday.
Me and one of the Saltwater Fly Fishing Forum member from Brisbane decided to chase some Tuna out of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. We were just cruising parallel to the shore- not far from it as you can see on the clip- between Moolooluba and Noosa.
I was perfectly equipped for that trip: inter line, 25lb fluocarbon leader, 4210 reel, and HotTorpedo 10wt.
Let me tell you that I am super happy to be a distance caster and that I spent time on practice.
The start of the day was slow with very few feeding schools, but it was a perfect time to get the excitement and line management under control and get the casting into par.
Not long after the Tuna started busting everywhere and as soon as we approached them with a reasonable casting distance they disappeared and popped out again few hundred metres away. We decided to approach them from further distance and here is where the casting skills come to play.
I am talking 90'+ cast was the way to go, and not 3 out of 10 lucky casts because mass of 10wt line and a bit of wind helped us to do it. It had to be intentional and executed fast as those Tuna are super fast Torpedos of the Sea.
Here is where the PUALD challenge comes to help and shooting line into back cast in particular.
Fish is busting, adrenalin is super high, boat is rocking, wind is blowing- short window of opportunity- there is not time for too many false casts.
Short pick up as the boat is still moving, shoot in front then back cast (shoot into it) and of she goes.
I think my mate recognised some skills there and start approaching the school of fish in the way that the only cast I could make without hooking him, or the boat was a backcast delivery. This way he could cast as well, and our loops were safely apart. The tricky part was to turn around quickly and start stripping as soon as the fly touched the water.
So I did delivered my fly long way with a back cast and landed 3 fish.I missed few, but no worries there.
...but one cast/hookup stand out for me that day.
I was preparing my long cast to feeding fish, as soon as I shoot the line the fish disappeared and popped out near the boat. While my line was flying to the horizon in one instant I pinched the line with my fingers, the loop stopped and the fly landed in the middle of the school of fish- BANG- fish on- that was awesome.
Practice your casting guys, it will pay off for sure.