More than one way to skin a cat

I've been trying out a few options in the last few days and I think I have come to a conclusion on what I'm going to use – that said, it's possible I may change my mind if the weather is very different from what I'm expecting on the day. Firstly I don't have any 11 foot rods to try, and even if I did, I very much doubt I'd ever want to try distance casting with it. Therefore I tried what I had, specifically my 10ft ST27 rod and my 9ft #10 weight that I typically use for the #5 and #7 trout distance events at the BFCC. Now I should say here that we didn't fancy travelling with a rod case, so my two piece 10ft rod was never a real option. However, I did check with another competitor and he kindly agreed that I could use his 10ft rod, which I'm hoping isn't too different from mine. I should note at this point that this is very typical of casting sport competitors – there's very little secrecy or protection of tackle, it's very apparent that as a group they all want everyone to cast well. I like to think I'm the same, people can use any of my gear at the BFCC if they want, although I do prefer it when they don't crack my lines like a lion tamer's whip.

My first option for a line for the 'lake' event was a WF Di6. As you would expect I could produce an impressive line speed with this, however no matter what I did I could not slow down the aggressive turn-over. With it being a very dense line the difference in diameter, and therefore linear weight, between the running line and the head is not that great. As such, it didn't really matter how much overhang I used, the front end would still turnover and tuck. Now this is probably great for the intended purpose of the line i.e. fishing lures deep on reservoirs, where the aggressive front end will fire out a snake fly etc., but I hit a brick wall as far as distance was concerned. My next option, and the one I'm going with is an intermediate DT #8 (I'm sure I've seen requests for such a line on the Board – Celestial lines will have something coming out soon). Anyway, holding this line at the backing knot seemed to work quite well for me, although I will say it feels pretty heavy on a 10ft rod (I know I've complained in the past that I feel the MED #7 is a bit heavy for me once the carry gets long). I'm pretty sure that if I was casting better, I may be able to aerialise the whole line outside of the tip ring, however I'm not at that point this year yet. I also don't like 'clanking' the backing joint in the rings whilst false casting, so my option is effectively a comfortable carry whilst holding the backing knot or a monstrous carry (near 100ft) if the line is utilised like a normal shooting head.

Unfortunately I've returned from Scotland with a pulled muscle in my ribs, probably from overdoing the Spey casting practice with the 15ft double hander. Because of this my single handed practice has been limited – and hauling is really quite painful. Therefore the shorter carry (holding the backing knot) is going to have to do unless I have a miraculous recovery before Saturday.

Tracy has also been trying outfits for the 'Lake' event. She also quite liked the DT # 8 intermediate line but on a 9ft rod, saying that the 10ft rod was too much leverage for her. However, in testing her best distances came from the #7 outfit that we typically cast at the BFCC, i.e. a long belly, floating line (Celestial Tournament) on a 9ft rod. As such, the two of us are going with two very different approaches, me with a DT #8 intermediate on a 10ft rod and Tracy with a WF #7 floater on a 9ft rod. I'm very much looking forward to seeing what others are casting and who wins out on the day.

Have a great week, James