A Comparison of Distance Fly Casting Performance Between Three 5-Weight Long-belly Floating Lines

Abstract

Long-belly fly lines have gained extensive popularity around the world, both for fishing and for competitive distance casting. In Sweden, three long-belly fly lines are used as official lines in Fly Casting competitions: The Mastery Expert Distance (Scientific Anglers, USA), the Rio Gold Tournament (Rio, USA) and the Barrio GT140 (Barrio Fly Lines, Scotland). The objective of this study was to compare distance casting performance between the three long-belly fly lines using a standardized test protocol. Sixteen elite casters, eight competitors in Fly Casting and eight competitors in Casting, each performed eight casts with all three lines. All lines were cast in a randomized manner with the same type of rod (MSX Sapphire 790-4) fitted with the same type of reel and identical leaders. The test was performed as an indoor competition using the overhead cast technique. The statistical analyses revealed no significant differences between the lines. This result was consistent both for the whole group (p>0.05) and when the results from the subgroups of competitors in Fly Casting and Casting were analyzed separately (p>0.05). The conclusion of the study is that at group level there are no significant differences in distance casting performance between the three lines when casting is performed indoors. At an individual level, however, some casters may have preferences for a specific line. These preferences may be related to factors such as the familiarity with the line, or how well it suits an individual casting technique.