But, say, as he is false casting he realizes his target moved further away, or there is another target further on. The weight forward-shoot caster at that point already has his extra line out. He simply adds a bit of power, allows the extra distance in shoot, and fires. If he DOESN”T have the extra line out, he is dead in the water since he cannot false cast AND pull out running line indefinitely. He MUST abort the cast, drop the line on the water, strip out the extra line…and begin all over again. That is why he always wants to have enough line out at the beginning. The double taper caster, in the middle of false casting, needing to get another 10-15 feet, just instantly and seamlessly keeps false casting, stripping line off the reel as he needs until he is on his target. It beats, by volumes, aborting the cast altogether, stripping more line into the bushes, and re-starting the cast.
Stripping line off the reel during false casting creates a line abrasion potential for the reel equal to but no worse than the abrasion on the stripping guide during the forward haul. In fact, both are occurring simultaneously. The angles are great, up to 90 degrees. The tension is significant, in many cases more on the stripping guide than against a light, trout reel drag.
Thus an interesting paradox. In the heavyweight world of salt water fly fishing the abrasion issue is greatest on the rod, and least on the beefy, hardened fly reel. In the light, double taper, traditional fresh water world, line abrasion is less, but still serious, on the rod, and potentially much greater on the light, simple, and relatively frail fresh water reel.
To further complicate the issue, the TRADITION in fresh water trout reels, tradition in design and tradition in metals for construction goes back almost 300 years when metallurgy was still a primitive science. That led, by inference, to a tradition of durability….or rather, LACK of durability. In the age of bamboo rods, the rods were expensive, treasured, frail, and had a high upkeep. It was common to refinish, re-wrap, and re-guide (abrasion on nickel silver guides) a rod every few years. A reel attached to such a rod is necessarily going to be pampered.
In the 20th and even into the 21st century, this TRADITION in reels is best exemplified by the House of Hardy in England and the Orvis company in the US. And it was a tradition based on 19th century metallurgy, brass, nickel silver, and later aluminum.
There is a second tradition that was in play when The House of Hardy opened it’s doors in 1871 and it still plays a role to this day. In 1870 England fly fishing was, and had been for centuries, a “noble” sport in more than one sense of the word. Hardy’s customers until well after WWI were the Lords, Dukes, and Earls of British and European royalty. All reasonable salmonid habitat was included in the Royal manor estates and all fish and game belonged to the King…or his titled designees.
Within that life centered around privilege, rank, and ostentatious display of wealth, the cost of a “simple device to store fly line” was about the same monetary consideration as the cost of a fly today. But the equipment had to display class, rank., and wealth in “ simply storing line“. Being very expensive and a tradition of being hand made and endorsed by men of “class” worked.