Long range carp fishing – casting to the horizon just needs the right tackle and technique

Carp fishing at long range has never been easier and more accessible to everyone than it is today, thanks to the quality and affordability of modern fishing tackle.  

Obviously, there is no point in fishing further out than you really need to, as that just makes everything more difficult, especially if the weather changes for the worst.

But there are definitely also situations where being able to cast a long way, and ideally further than those around you, can be a real advantage, and at times this can be the case on larger lakes where the fish push out into the middle and out of reach, and so the closer you can get to that ‘safe' zone the better.

It can also be the case that the fish are in areas that are a long way from the bank due to the type of features found out there, natural food sources, water depth, or any other number of natural factors, aside from the impact of angling pressure.

Of course, some waters do allow bait boats or even actual proper boats such as inflatables, but there are also plenty which don't, and for the purposes of this article we will focus on the tackle and techniques that will help you to cast your rigs as far as you need to.

What are the best distance casting carp fishing rods?

Whilst it is true that without the right technique, you won't be able to achieve the maximum distance that your tackle is capable, it is also very much the case that no matter how good your technique, if you don't have the right gear you won't be able to fish at long range.

Buying a rod and reel that are suitable for this style of fishing won't immediately mean that you are able to put a rig the same distance as anglers who have been practicing and fishing like this for years, but it is certainly a big step in the right direction.

When it comes to casting distance, the length of the rod plays a significant part in that, due to the leverage you can get and the overall casting arc, with the tip of a longer rod moving further through the air and giving you more opportunity to generate a faster tip speed.

That means that the difference between a 12 ft and 13ft rod, of the same test curve and action, can be fairly significant in terms of potential casting distance. But at the same time you also need to be able to actually utilise that extra length, and for some anglers a 13ft rod just doesn't feel comfortable, and they'll actually cast further with a 12ft model – certainly without lots of practice with the longer rod anyway.

The good news is that these days 12ft 6in. rods have also become popular, and both the Korda Kaizen Green and Kaizen Platinum ranges include such a model which is very much designed for long range casting.

At this point you might be wondering why carp rods stop at 13ft, and the answer to that is that far fewer anglers would actually be able to make use of anything longer than that, and especially so with regards to the type of carp fishing situations that we tend to find ourselves in with limited overhead clearance from trees and the like, as well as to either side of the swim.

If you look at beachcasting or tournament casting, where these longer rods are sometimes used to achieve extreme distances, you will also notice that the casting style required to fully wind them up and make use of the power and length, tends to be different to how we cast when carp fishing, and also often requires a lot more space around you – such as an open beach or field. So 13ft tends to be the maximum length for carp fishing.

For long range angling you want to go for the highest test curve models in the range, and in the case of Kaizen Green or Platinum rods, this means the 12ft 6in. 4lb or 13ft 4lb models in either range – or if you really do want to stick with a 12ft rod, then both ranges also include a 12ft 4lb model as well.

The action of the rod plays a big part in how far it can potentially cast, and a fast tapered profile, like that found on both Kaizen ranges, gives a very tippy action and allows for very efficient power transfer through the blank, as well as generating very fast tip speeds, and this is what gives you the force needed to send a lead a very long way – how far depends on factors other than the rod, such as line diameter, and all you can really do is to put as much energy into the lead as possible, via the rod.

The type of carbon used to build the rod blank also plays a big part in performance and distance casting ability – as well as when it comes to price – and super tensile, high grade Japanese ZERO90 carbon, which is used in the Kaizen Platinum rods, is as good as it gets, but also comes at a cost, as you can get three of the Kaizen Green rods for the same price.

This ZERO90 carbon comes in just two layers, and with very little resin content, to produce a thin, strong and very light blank, which is also stiff and very efficient when it comes to power transfer, versus a lower grade of carbon, which helps with casting longer distances. The recovery speed of the blank is also important in helping to ensure that as much power as possible is transferred - a rod which continues to wobble for a longer time after the cast hasn't efficiently transferred energy to your lead.

This type of carbon is also much less susceptible to any twist when under loading, which means that it is easier to cast where you are aiming, even when really winding the rod up for a big cast. After all there isn't much point being able to cast a long way if you can't do it accurately!

So, if you really need to get every available yard out of your cast, and will be fishing at long range on a regular basis, then the Kaizen Platinum rods are well worth the investment, plus feature all the top fittings – lighter single leg rings for instance also help with the speed that the rod moves through the air.

But for many anglers, the Kaizen Green rods will still allow them to fish as far as they need to, and all that extra money that you save can be put towards other tackle, bait, or the like to help you catch more carp.

The Korda Kaizen Green really is an exceptional rod for the price, and to the extent that plenty of our Team Korda anglers can be seen using them on a regular basis, even when fishing at long range – the likes of Terry Edmonds have used the 13ft 4lb model from the Green range to cast in excess of 200 yards!

What type of reel should I use for maximum casting distance?

When it comes to pairing a reel with your rod, then any of the tournament casting style ones are ideal and will allow you to get a good distance.

The main impact from the reel on your casting distance will be via the line lay on the spool, and therefore the way that it comes off during the cast, and making sure there is as little friction as possible – ensuring that your spools are correctly filled to the maximum level as well will gain you extra distance, as this causes less drag as the line comes off of the spool lip.

The diameter of the spool also plays a part as well and the way that the line cones off of the spool and through the butt ring, but big pit reels in general are designed for the type of rods that are popular these days, often with 50mm butt rings, so isn't something you overly need to worry about – although a long spool will of course mean that the depth of line on the spool remains nearer to the lip, and therefore should create less drag than a shorter spool would do, once it starts to empty of line.

The other area where the reel will make a difference is the retrieve rate, and how quickly you can reel in when fishing a long way out, but although you will see some difference in that, it often isn't too dramatic – reels designed solely for spodding typically have a significantly higher retrieve on them, and can use higher gearing as you aren't putting them under lots of pressure playing fish on them.

These days there are lots of very good big pit reels around, without the need to break the bank, and which you opt for will very much depend on your budget, and won't make huge differences to potential casting distance.

Line and shockleaders for distance fishing

The thinner your main line, the lighter it also is, and the less drag and resistance you get as it goes through the air, so your lead retains more energy and will go further.

So, if it was all about purely distance, then the lighter and thinner your main line is, the further you will be able to cast.

But in a fishing situation, you need to balance that with using something that you are actually able to play and land fish on, without it snapping or cutting too easily. So, when it comes to monofilament nylon lines we tend not to go below 8lb breaking strain, or somewhere around 0.26mm, and the very thin braids which are perfect for spodding, yet will cut like cotton if they go near anything sharp or abrasive, are avoided as a fishing main line, even when using some sort of shock leader.

To be able to use such a light/thin mono line you will need to pair it with some sort of leader, which is strong and long enough to take all of the force of the cast, but its length won't significantly impact on distance.

In terms of the length of shockleader that you need and for it to be safe, you need at least three or four turns of leader material on your reel spool when your lead is hanging down from the rod tip in the position that you normally cast it – so for most people somewhere around 6m of leader is about right.

The ideal choice of leader material is a braid, such as 30lb Korda Arma-Kord, and which is strong enough that you won't get crack-offs – as long as you use a good leader knot which doesn't cause frap-ups around your rings - and also provides good abrasion resistance when playing a carp.

The advantage of a braided leader like this is that it has pretty much zero stretch and so all of the power that you put into the cast through the rod is transferred to the lead – rather than any of it being lost, as stretching line requires energy. The downside is that many fisheries ban braided leaders, even if using them with some sort of fused leader or tubing.

So the other option when it comes to a shockleader is some sort of heavy mono that is able to withstand the force of the cast, and typically that will need to be around 30lb if you are going to dramatically reduce the risk of crack-offs, although that does depend a bit on your casting style and it may be possible to safely get away with less.

The disadvantage with a heavy mono leader is that even the neatest of knots is still quite bulky and rattles through the rod rings, which causes a loss of distance. But it is far more fish friendly than a braided leader in terms of possibly splitting fins or lifting scales, and doesn't need the addition of a fused leader or tubing, like a braided leader does.

The good news is that these days you don't even have to bother messing around with a separate shockleader for your long range fishing, as there are tapered main lines such as the Korda LongChuck Tapered, which come with a shockleader section built into them, and therefore no need for any joining of lines with knots, so less chance of frap-ups and wind knots.

The LongChuck Tapered main line features 6m of 30lb breaking strain line at either end of the 300m spool that it comes on, which is made from as low a stretch nylon as possible, so as to transfer as much power from rod to lead as you can.

This tapers into a low stretch mono main line of 10lb (0.27mm), 12lb (0.30mm), or 15lb (0.33mm), and which is thinner in diameter than most nylon lines of a similar breaking strain, and will put extra yards on your cast, whilst also providing enough strength to land any carp that you hook. Even the 15lb version can be cast a very long way, in situations where you do need a stronger line, such as where it is weedy.

If you do end up getting cut off and losing enough of the 30lb section that it is no longer safe to cast with it, you can simply turn the line around by respooling it onto a spare spool, as the other end also has the same shockleader section.

Other leaders and tubing

The more resistance that you add to your terminal tackle set-up, the greater the impact that will have on the distance that you can cast.

Although you need to also balance that with achieving good, tangle-free presentation, and some anglers still prefer to use some sort of leader to pin everything down behind the lead.

That usually means using either some sort of fused leader such as those in the Dark Matter range, or leadcore such as Korda Kable, or rig tubing (it's worth noting that finer diameter ones such as the Dark Matter Nano Tubing are too narrow to get a shockleader or tapered main line through them).

The longer that leader or tubing is, the more drag it creates through the air, due to its thicker diameter, plus it also adds weight to your set up if it is impregnated with tungsten, or has a lead inner core, all of which will reduce distance. So you want to go with as short a length as possible, and around 1m is plenty long enough – you could easily go even shorter, and the Dark Matter fused leader range comes in 50cm lengths as well as the longer 1m ones.

As well as the extra drag that these leaders and tubing cause through the air, you also have to consider if they have any impact on power transfer from your rod through to the lead, and if they have any stretch in them, then the answer is definitely ‘yes'.

If you're using tubing then there is no stretch to worry about, as your leader runs through it, and the fused Dark Matter leaders have very little stretch in them – especially after you've initially given them a good pull to straighten them out when you first take them out of the packet – and will probably stretch less than your shockleader will.

But leadcore is made from a woven braid and is hollow, and under tension it will stretch to some degree – which is why you can splice it – and given that it also adds extra weight throughout its length, it tends not to be a great choice for long range fishing.

So ideally you want to be using no pin-down leader at all, other than your shockleader, but if you really do want to have one, then a short fused leader or short length of the thinnest diameter rig tubing you can get away with, are the best choices.

Terminal tackle and lead set ups

It is not only your leader which creates extra drag and resistance through the air, but also all of the terminal tackle components that you use, and by far the largest of these – ignoring your hook bait which we will come onto – is going to be your choice of lead system.

Not only is the size of the lead system important in terms of drag through the air, but also the way that your lead sits on it, and how stable it is in flight – for instance, an inline lead will have the hook link and your hook bait flying behind it and creating drag as it goes through the air, and therefore pressure on the nose of your lead, from whatever angle the hook link is at, and this will cause the flight of the lead to be less stable, and thus reduce distance. This is why you don't see inline lead set ups being used for extreme range fishing, even though there are distance casting versions of inline leads.

A lead clip set-up also suffers from similar issues, in terms of potential drag and stability through the air, although to a much lesser extent than an inline lead does, as any drag isn't being exerted directly on the nose of the lead.

By far the best lead set-up for extreme range casting is a helicopter set up, which flies truer than any other type of lead arrangement, with the hook link free to rotate around behind it, and well away from the lead, as it travels through the air.

The Korda Heli-Safe is a particularly popular choice for long range fishing, and especially our Heli-Safe Mini which is about as small as you're going to get for a lead system, but still allows the lead to be ejected when playing a fish if you need it to be. The way that it sits directly behind and in the slipstream of the lead also helps to minimise any impact from it in terms of air resistance, as your lead has already punched through that part of the air.

So, whilst helicopter rigs might not have as good hooking, hook link presentation (which can end up lying alongside your line/leader), and reset properties, as other lead systems such as a lead clip or inline, when it purely comes to casting distance, they are the best choice.

Lead size, shape and weight distribution

The bigger the profile of your lead then in theory the more resistance it creates as it goes through the air, but that is more than offset by the additional force and energy that can be generated due to its increased mass, so a heavier lead, in exactly the same shape, will cast further.

In practice there are other things to consider, the most important one being what the optimal casting weight is for your rods, as that will allow the maximum compression of the blank and power transfer through to your lead, and will result in it going further. A lead that is too light or too heavy will result in sub-optimal compression, and therefore less distance.

The casting style of the angler also plays a part in that, as the tip speed that you are able to generate with a certain weight also determines its maximum distance, and so you will see slight variation in the size of leads that anglers choose, but generally only by small increments, and around 4oz is considered optimal – possibly stepping up a bit if weather conditions dictate a need to, such as cross winds as a heavier lead will tend to be less easy to knock off of its trajectory.

This is the reason that the leads within the Korda range come in 0.5oz divisions, or in the case of our Tournament Casting Heli lead, which has been specifically designed for long range fishing and use on a Heli-Safe, it comes in 0.25oz increments to allow you to fine tune the weight to what suits your casting style, your rods, and the weather conditions.

The Tournament Casting Heli, like any lead designed for long range casting, has a very specific weight distribution profile. It has the heavy nose that you need – slightly more so than our original Distance Casting leads – but is also long enough and with enough weight towards the back end to ensure that it is also very stable in flight. A lead with too much of the mass in the nose will generate lots of speed and energy, but will actually lose distance if it is unstable and wobbles through the air – there is a good reason why the bullets used in a rifle are longer than those for a handgun, and that is to ensure they're stable and fly accurately.

Hook bait size

There is little point in making all of your tackle as efficient as possible in terms of the distance that can be achieved with it, and then undoing all of that hard work by using a 20mm hook bait that creates lots of drag through the air!

At the same time though you do need to remember that it is all about catching fish, not how far you can cast, and so the hook bait needs to be suitable for the situation – for instance, if there are lots of silver fish in the venue you don't want to be using small hook baits that they can take and be having to wind roach or small bream in from 150 yards constantly. Which can be the case on some waters, especially in Europe, and where it is still important to use a suitable hook bait, even if you are trying to maximise distance.

Generally though you want to use as small a hook bait as you can get away with, and that is why things such as 12mm pop-ups or wafters, or plastic baits such as the Korda Fake Foods corn are popular choices. With the right size bait, fishing at extreme range is easier.

It is also worth considering the length of your hook link as well, as typically a shorter hook link will create less drag, with whichever bait size you're using.

Feature finding and baiting up at range

Once you're got the right tackle and set-up to cast a rig a very long way, you need to think about exactly where you are putting it, and how you are going to bait up around it – in exactly the same way as you would do with the rest of your fishing.

It is still very important to plumb the area – unless you're just blasting out single pop-ups to showing fish – and to do that you will need a marker set-up capable of being cast that far, and allowing you to feel the lake bed and check the depth.

The Kaizen Green spod rods in 12ft, 12ft 6in. or 13ft, are ideal for this, and especially when combined with an ultra thin braided line, and the Korda SLR (Super Long Range) single strand braid has been specifically designed for this purpose and will allow you to cast at least as far as you can put your rigs – you'll need to use a shockleader, and 30lb Arma-Kord is ideal.

Your market float not only needs to be streamlined and stable enough that it can be cast a very long way, but also needs to have enough buoyancy that it will pop up even at very long range, and also be visible to you when it does. The SLR Marker Float is perfect for that, as it has a very slim profile and with a bright orange flight to make it stable and visible, whilst being made from balsa, so it is very buoyant.

When it comes to baiting up, the same Kaizen Green spod rods are ideal and especially when coupled with the SLR Braid, which is thinner than the standard Korda Spod Braid.

The size of spomb that you choose to use will largely be dictated by what feels comfortable to you in terms of casting – and of course what you fill it with – and for some anglers a midi sized one will actually go further than when they try to cast a large one. Although practice also plays a big part in that.

Obviously you want your rigs and bait to accurately land on the area that you have located with your marker rod, and that involves using some sort of distance sticks to clip up at exactly the right distance. Just make sure that when you wrap up your rods you do so with the line going around the same part of the sticks – if it is running at an angle from the top of one stick to the bottom of the other, for instance, then you are inadvertently adding extra distance to each wrap, and not in a consistent way, and over 35, 40 or even more, wraps, that can equate to a large degree of inaccuracy.

The right casting technique to get the most from your carp rods

Distance casting is all very much down to technique and practice, once you have the right tackle for it, much like with any sport.

You can't learn to cast a long way simply by reading an article like this – although it will ensure you have the right tools for the job – or by watching a video, even if it helps explain techniques and gives tips, as the only real way to learn is by getting out on the bank and actually doing it.

There are definitely some things that play a big part in casting distance, and the speed of your hands is one of them, and how much tip speed you are generating with the rod. That power which goes through the blank is basically created when you punch forwards with your hand that is holding the reel seat, whilst at the same time pulling with your lower hand, and it is that leverage which builds up compression in the rod blank.

It is something that will improve the more you do it, and especially if regularly fishing at long range and your muscle memory gets trained to it.

But the easiest and quickest way to improve your casting is to actually book a tuition day with a coach like Terry Edmonds, who will not only be able to show you how to cast at long range, and do so accurately, but will also be able to point out where you are going wrong and what you need to adjust to improve – much like having a lesson with a golf pro.