[First_Name] & Group...
Dan Storaska asked the question as to what might be the cause of his fly line striking the ground behind him as he made his forward cast while carrying sufficient line to make distance casts. (I accidentally erased his text, though I'll send it if he can retrieve it for me ..... especially since he came up with one of the reasons for the problem on his own. )
Gordy
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Dan,
Great teaching question !
A few years ago, I wrote an article on this subject for the Loop. I think I entitled it, "The Elusive Tick".
When your forward cast starts and the line behind you strikes the ground momentnarily, most of us call that a "tick".
Ticking can be seen as an elusive problem because the caster is so often totally unaware that it is happening. Loss of power and a little loss of control can result but not enough to always be obvious. It can happen and be undiscovered even when the caster watches the back cast, because it doesn't happen until the forward cast is in progress. Often it is only discovered and brought to the caster's attention when an informed observer sees it happening.
Years ago, the late Tom White observed that I was doing it repeatedly as I went for distance. At first, neither of us could figure out what the proximate cause might be. In retrospect, it was because we were both looking for the cause.
We both "slept on it" that night.
The next morning we set out to solve the problem. I decided to try to purposely make the "ticks" in the opposite direction ... not behind, but IN FRONT OF ME where I could see what was happening as I made my back cast. I noted these factors which combined to produce a tick :
1.) I was carrying lots of line for distance casting.... not enough to feel the least bit uncomfortable, however.
2.) I diminished my loop speed a bit.
3.) My forward cast and back cast line planes (trajectory) were just a little bit above horizontal. (Very little of Joan Wulff's "Seesaw".) *
4.) I opened my loop moderately.
5.) Still no tick ..... UNTIL I CHANGED MY TIMING A BIT WITH RESPECT TO THAT OF THE UNROLLING FORWARD LOOP. In addition to 1.) - 4.), I hesitated just a bit longer before starting my back cast. That yielded a definite tick as the line kissed the ground.
I did this repeatedly until I could make the tick or avoid it at will while under observation before me. Then I used what I had learned to produce and avoid a tick behind me. To avoid it altogether as I made my forward cast, I did these things :
1.) I continued to carry enough line to make the distance.
2.) My loop speed was increased.
3.) I increased the line plane for both forward and back casts ( Joan's "Seesaw") *
4.) I tightened my loops.
5.) I changed my timing by starting my forward cast just a bit earlier.
Tom and I practiced until we could both easily make ticks on the forward or the back casts at will ...... and by the same token completely avoid them.
We also noted that we could make the tick by grossly exaggerating one or two of the faults described above, though that wasn't what I'd been doing when it was discovered.
We both agreed that this was a particularly interesting and challenging issue because it represented a problem which was the resultant of multiple minor faults..... not just one.
* Joan Wulff's FLY CASTING TECHNIQUES, p. 121, "Long Cast Trajectory - The Seesaw".
Gordy