Books / Panfish on fly

Walter & Group....

Don't forget my request for some of you to come up with your favorite teaching aids, props, etc.

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From Walter Simberski:

I love the duck idea!

 

One thing I do with students that are overthinking their casting is to stand aboout 30-35 feet

in front of them and hold out my hand at waist level. I then tell them to try and hit my hand.

Some people worry about hurting you but after some reassurances that it's okay they begin

to focus on hitting the target and quite often their casting improves instantly. I think their are

two reasons. The first is providing a target to aim at and in this case it mimics where the average

cast should be aimed in fishing conditions. The second is that they take their mind off of all

the mechanics and just focus on getting the fly to the target.

 

Cheers

 

Walter

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Walter,

When teaching to make small low loops while roll casting, Floyd Franke would stand in front of the student.  He'd hold his arm out straight from the shoulder and have the caster try to place the loop below his hand.  Same concept.

Gordy

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From Mac Brown. My comments in blue italics in his text :

Hello Gordy,

Small targets are key in casting, shooting archery, guns, etc.. for developing increased accuracy. The hula hoops are better for threading the needle with loop control shooting through them in casting. I think it has been mentioned a few years ago Gordy, but David Lambert has an excellent system for groups that make use of pylons and a rope or tape measure. It offers several advantages for the student and makes use of the horizontal plane. It is similar to how we conduct the clinics for large groups here in Western Carolina. David and I have used this several times together with groups and the results are always positive. When the student becomes bored with nice loops of varying sizes-going vertical becomes much easier to accomplish. Advantage to the student is they can witness the cast in both directions equally well. I personally never bought into the fact that a beginner is better off perfectly vertical casting like the tournament guys. How can an instructor seriously tell the student to watch their back cast as if they had eyes in back of their heads? Larger muscle groups make the horizontal much easier for small children and petite framed individuals.

 

Agree.  Lefty has always felt the same way.  Even Joan Wulff who is considered to be a dyed-in-the-wool vertical rod plane caster teaches a departure from the strictly vertical style with open stance and off vertical casting plane style for distance casting and allowing the student to actually see and critique his own back cast.

 

This not withstanding the fact that many very successful tournament distance casters have chosen to use a vertical casting plane.  They do that because it's easier for them to have more perfect tracking when carrying great amounts of line.  Also, because some of them are built so that they can deliver more power this way.  I'm not......     G.

 

Have enjoyed the threads the past few weeks Gordy. Probably the best tidbit of info is on the shotgun approach to have one chief and the rest act as Indians. We have all been in both roles. Working large groups takes a great plan of approach and it is the norm. Even though one-on-one would be best for efficient instruction-it rarely happens. The FF shows here in the east always will have a few casting demos followed by 2-3 classes which I believe they limit to 15 students. At least that is the typical weekend for the shows during the past decade. There you go, one instructor and 15 students and you have one hour (sounds familiar?). As instructors, we then miss out on quality time with other great instructors due to time constraints-often no time to grab lunch. This often limits what we the instructors walk away with from the show.

 

Again, I'm in agreement on both issues.  This is why when giving workshops at an FFF Conclave, an entire morning or afternoon works best, especially if there is more than one instructor involved.    G.

Mac

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From Gary Eaton re: teaching younsters:

Gordy and Group,

 

For teaching children, I recommend some standards as reference.

Phil Genova's First Cast: Teaching Kids to Fly Fish ISBN0-8117-2761-0 and Phillip Brunquell's Fly Fishing with Children : A Guide for Parents. ISBN 0-88150-289-8

 

The Boy Scout Merit Badge Handbook for Fly Fishing has a few pointers, too. My Boy Scout Merit Badge Counselor humiliation led me to CCI pursuit.

 

My personal observations may run counter to some others. I do not say anyone else is wrong. There are myriad forms of family dynamic that may alter what we do. I have a lovely adult daughter who came to me and asked to learn fly casting . . ."but not from you." (OUCH!) I found an MCCI and we took his class together. We now enjoy an outing or two every year trout fishing or chasing bluegill at the park. It reminds me of what Tom White told me - "Never teach someone who shares your last name or might."

 

I think that the earliest age I like to teach kids is about 8. The age at which it gets hard for a same gender parent to teach a kid anything is around 13. By 14, all parents are stupid; buy a professional lesson.

 

Keep the sessions & distances incredibly short - fatigue, both mental and physical is a huge limiter.

Keep gear extremely light - My 2 weight and three weight outfits are very nice.

Keep groups extremely small - maximum of 2 per instructor. These kids are innocently dangerous and need a lot of attention.

Keep positivity exuberant - nothing is bad, everything is brilliant - for some purpose.

Keep parents like Spey casts, "fine and far off" - I avoid letting parents become co-instructors. If they start, I turn the tables on them and have the kids tell them what they're doing wrong. Drives home a lot of points, sometimes very sharply.

Keep it FUN! Games, challenges, prizes, melodramatic reactions, and FISH add to the excitement.

- Games - "Let's see how many times you can hit the pick-up truck in a row"

- Challenges - "Now move back five steps and let's see what you can do?" -or- "Now put it in the bed of the truck" then "Now in the window".

- Prizes - "You did so great that I am going to let you pick a fly from my special fly box." -or- "You practiced so well that I am giving you a lucky fishing hat."

- Melodramatic reactions - "Mr. Jones, You didn't tell me that your daughter was a professional trick caster. Teach  me how you did that!"

- FISH! - Have you ever tied power bait into a fly?

 

This from the top of my head. These things work for some adult beginners, too.

 

Gary Eaton, MCCI

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From Bob Rumph:

Hi Gordy,

 

Here is a list of study books that I presently have available. The attachment is self-explanatory. I am sorry to have taken so long. You will no doubt note the absence of Bruce's book "Modern Fly Lines", unfortunately as I aforementioned, they just cannot be found anywhere.

 

Regards,

 

Bob Rumpf

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(See attachment for his list of available books.)    G.

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From Bill Hoot on fly fishing for pan fish:

Regarding Michael Jones' question regarding flyfishing for freshwater 
panfish, my favorite book is Bluegill......Fly Fishing and Flies by 
Terry and Roxanne Wilson.  

 Also informative is The Sunfishes by Jack 
Ellis.   And the older  Fly Tying and Fly Fishing for Bass and 
Panfish by Tom Nixon. 

 As far as rods, any small stream trout rod can 
be used.  Rod lengths between 7and 9 feet can be used.  2 to 5-wt. 
rods and floating lines will provide more sport and fun than heavier 
gear. 

  Any line taper;  distance is not an issue for panfish.  A 
commercial tapered leader catches less weeds and pond scum than home-
tied leaders, due to the knots catching more scum. 

 
I might mention that simple slow-sinking wet flies such as " brim-
killers"  with chenille bodies and rubber legs are very seductive to 
bluegill.   The bluegill will slowly swim up to inches away from a 
slowly sinking fly [no retrieve imparted at all by the angler], 
deliberately inspecting whether it appears  to be an edible bug, like 
a very near-sighted diamond-cutter, before taking it.  "Brim- 
killers" is a generic group of rubber- legged chenille-bodied flies, 
including  the Wilson's deadly Bully Spider, easily tied from the 
directions in their book.  Most trout flies will work..... dry flies, 
wets such as McGinties and Black Gnats, and most small nymphs, esp. 
bead-head nymphs.  

Some specific top-waters include rubber-legged 
foam spiders or Miss Prissy poppers.   I started flyfishing on 
bluegill and other panfish, and hope to never out-grow 
it.            

 Bill Hoot

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Bill...  Lots of great info there for the Fly-fishing-for-panfish affectionados. Well done!         Gordy

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More info. from Gary Eaton:

Greetings All,

 

Been away from the computer for a few weeks and had to do some catching-up.

 

Most Fly Fishing books of a general nature have something on panfish. Often this is under the heading of "Warmwater" "Frshwater" or "Stillwaters".

Rosenbauer, T The Orvis Fly Fishing Guide ISBN 0-941130-92-4 takes this approach. Some incredible books are entirely devoted to non-salmonid freshwater angling - Whitlock, D. L.L. Bean Fly Fishing For Bass Handbook 2000 ISBN 1-58574-079-9 which seems to be an expansion of L.L. Bean Fly Fishing Handbook ISBN 1-55821-437-2, also by Dave Whitlock with Chapter 7, Fish Made for Fly Fishing presenting over a dozen families of these species with methods.

Bill Mason also has a chapter entitled Warmwater Fishing in his 1988 (reprinted 1994) book Sports Illustrated Fly Fishing ISBN1-56800-033-2.

I have more than a dozen such titles in my library and they crossover very well. Also, Terry and Roxanne Wilson have a nice book titled Bluegill Flies.

Lefty Kreh's Ultimate Guide to Fly Fishing (ISBN1-59228-111-7) dedicates the entire first chapter to Freshwater Fish in exquisite detail.

 

Gary Eaton, MCCI

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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