Since I could not wait for my new leader material to arrive before I tried casting practice, I just hodge-podged a leader together that I thought might work just to cast around in my yard today. I ended up going with 4 feet of 150 fluro tied direct to my clear fly-line then I just tied a regular leader/swivel/snap at the end of that and then a 6 inch pike fly which is the only one I own currently. I now realize that this will not work when it come time to strip cuz of the knot sticking in the guide for fig-8 stuff so I will definitely shorten the leader down to 2.5 feet or so to allow for the fig-8.

So I watched a 2 minute "how to fly cast" video on YouTube (and also took a quick nap at my local Holiday Inn Express) and then headed to the yard for my first performance...........after about 30 minutes I was getting 52-55 feet out there so I am happy for now. I think I might be able to get another 10 feet once I am standing higher above ground zero in the bow of my boat.

Last questions for now: Are you guys using a snap to attach the fly to the leader or do you have to re-tie a loop knot each time you switch flies? Are there any swivels anywhere in the leader set-up? Will I be OK in attaching a 2.5 feet of 150# fluoro directly to my fly-line and then just snap on a fly and go fish or what?? My rationale is that the longer and heavier fluro I use, the more whip (and deeper presentation relative to the water column) and further casting distance I can get.........is this accurate??