As to the utility of such a technique, how often do you really need to cast more than fifty feet, how accurately can you cast at that distance and can you control the drift of your fly when it's that far away? I can think of very few situations, even when steelhead fishing, when a cast of over eighty feet is really necessary.
Preston's not the only one who questions the value and need for long-distance casting. For years, other flyfishing writers have also concluded that most fish are caught within a relatively short distance from the fisher.
Yet how does that square with the runaway popularity of spey casting? Do casts of 120 or even 150 feet really increase the number of hookups? Or has spey casting become more than just a means to an end?
Kent Lufkin
