Note: Shortly after I posted this video, Whitney Gould won the gold medal in this event at the 2026 World Championships with a cast of 43.5 meters. Her training paid off!
Seatrout Distance is one of six casting events at the World Flycasting Championships. It’s a shooting head event, and this video shows Whitney Gould making a relaxed training stroke. There are a lot of pieces to put together in this event—weight shifts, upper body rotation, hauls, late acceleration of the rod on both the backcast and forward cast, and a high, early release are some of the things she’s focusing on here. Importantly, we’re paying no attention to the actual distance she’s achieving. That’s a byproduct of the overall stroke, and if sound mechanics are attended to the distance will take care of itself.
