From Sarah E. White,
Your Guide to Knitting.
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The long-tail cast on starts differently than the knitted cast on. It still starts with a slip knot, but the position is different.

Instead of starting at the end of your ball of yarn, you make the knot further into the ball and work your way back toward the end as you form the stitches. The "long tail" refers to this long piece of yarn you need before you start your cast on.

How much yarn will you need to make the stitches? There are lots of tricks people use to determine how long to make their tail, but the way I try to measure it is to wrap the yarn loosely around the needle once for each stitch I will need. Then I add on a few extra inches for good measure.

After you measure out how much yarn you need for the number of stitches in the pattern you want to make, form your slip knot as discused above. If you want to practice the method without working on a project, start a couple of feet into the yarn.

Hold the needle in your right hand. Position the work so the yarn attached to the ball is in front. Wrap this strand around your left thumb, so it goes counter-clockwise around the thumb. The tail should go over your index finger and be held loosely between the two fingers.