Tails / Words / Grip

I think Lefty's idea is a great one!

I agree that short, simple words are better than cabalistic words that are too recondrite and daedal. :-) just kidding!

I have had great success using the word "tilt" for line plane. As in "the tilt of the cast". I can say "tilt the cast down" or "tilt the cast up" and they always seem to know what I mean.

It is especially powerful when they see how to tilt the cast... by tilting the tip path.

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COMMENT: TILT .... A good one. Particularly since many of us use outstretched arms as we "tilt" one up and the other downward to demonstrate casting plane. Also fits, with the method of holding an unstrung fly rod tilted one way or the other as we teach this.

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David Lambert has some other good ones :-

Gordy: I've used the mnemonic rhyme '*lift, back, stop. .(pause).

.front, stop, drop'* for years. I thought it up in the early 90s for the

Flyfishing Kids programs, but found it works equally well with adults.

Seems almost too simple to work, but it does. Maybe simple is why it

works. No clutter.

I get them to say the rhyme in cadence with the cast.

David Lambert

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David... Yes... simple words to get the ideas across.

We have been speaking against words such as "POWER". Yet it remains true that this depends upon the way in which we use this and other words. Some will say, for example, that "there is no such thing as Joan Wulff's POWER SNAP " Yet I have witnessed her use this term along with her" LOADING MOVE " very effectively as she has taught many hundreds of students to be good casters.

It's the way she does it and the full context in which these words are used.

Gordy

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Roman Moser Grip

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From Jerry Puckett:

Gordy,

Question on the Roman Moser grip as pictured in the attachment. Do the extended fingers pictured in the attachment remain that way during the cast or do they make contact the rod as a part of the grip?

Just a little side note, I talked with Lee Benson of the Deseret News of Salt Lake City, editorialist, and he went in to detail regarding his first and only experience flying fishing 30 years ago with a guide on the Big Horn River.

His point was that the guide was relentless the entire day correcting his cast to the point he was just plain worn out and angry and wanted nothing more to do with fly fishing and has not fly fished since.

So right words and wonderful people ways make the day!

Love this e-mail group. I keep measuring myself against this extraordinary group and think will I ever be ready to be a Masters!?!

Thanks, Jerry Puckett

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Jerry... That picture is an exaggeration to show that only the thumb and two fingers actually are involved in the grip. The other fingers need not be firmly extended as seen in the photo.... they can be relaxed, HOWEVER, THEY DO NOT CONTACT THE CORK. Note that the index finger is placed lightly at the base of the rod shaft.

The whole idea is to teach that one need not have a tight grip on the rod for efficient casting when great distance isn't important. This one is used to emphasize the use of no more "force" or "power" than necessary.

Lefty has repeatedly demonstrated the casting of an entire fly line using only two fingers. ( A bit of a trick to this, but he really does it.)

One lesson to be learned from your guide story, is that it is best to be sure your client really wants to be taught. Sometimes that is not the case at all !

I'm confident you will one day be a Master...... You have done the right thing by taking the years to prepare. Too many rush right in. In the end, the learning journey is what really counts .... much more than the certification !

Gordy

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TAILING LOOPS - Interesting Ways of Looking at Them

Al Crise's CCI Study Group contained a note on the tailing loop and "Mel Krieger's concept of the premature release of power as a cause rather than the abrupt application of power."

Re Mel's, "premature release of power" :-

Mel was correct, as I see it. However, this is only part of the equation. (Albeit a very important part.)

One may have premature release of power as the result of the use of :-

1.) more acceleration in the beginning of the cast than can be maintained. ("Hitting it too hard too soon") or ("inappropriate application of power"). I see THIS as the tort which caused the whole problem. It makes the rod tip bend way down, then come up... a concave rod tip path. The premature release of power, likely wouldn't have occurred if not preceded by abrupt application of power. True, that abrupt application of power won't result in a tailing loop if the acceleration thus produced can be maintained....... however, the caster usually can't do that. (See, below.)

Of course, this is only one of 7 methods I know of creating a tailing loop ..... Others being:

2.) Casting with too short a rod arc for the amount of line carried.

3.) Creep (which leads to too short a rod arc for the amount of line carried, and tends to lead the caster to use inappropriate application of power. The caster often sensed that something is wrong and uses a spike of power early in the stroke.)

4.) Simple failure to unload the rod below the oncoming line (dip the tip) at the end of the cast.

5.) "Pushing" the rod forward without dipping the tip at the end of the cast (Lefty). This works partly because the rod tip is not dipped out of the way of the oncoming line and partly because the casting arc was lessened and didn't match the amount of line carried. In addition, as the rod is shoved forward in the direction of the cast, it's impossible to maintain sufficient acceleration.

6.) Casting with less than 180 degrees of trajectory (line plane) between the back cast and the forward cast without changing casting planes (rod planes). Example: An upward directed back cast followed by a high forward cast.

7.) Shoving the rod tip up into the path of the oncoming line. (This usually yields a collision between the line and the rod tip, but can yield a tail if the upward shove is immediately followed by a downward retraction (concave tip path). Some instructor candidates find that this works to produce a tail..... examiners will flunk them on the tailing loop task if this method is used, because it is NOT the way their students are likely to do it. )

Sometimes these "causes" are combined.

In 1.) , when this acceleration cannot be maintained, the rod tip which was bent down, now travels up. Thus, a concave rod tip pathway occurs.

With an upward movement of the rod tip at the end of the cast, the wave produced in the fly leg of the loop helps to make this leg curl around and cross over the rod leg. If complete, we get a collision ie. complete tailing loop. In the event that it goes around twice, we get a "wind knot". If not complete, we get an incomplete tail with no collision and no knot. This, however, yields an inefficient cast.

On the revised MCCI exam, the candidate is asked to demonstrate Numbers 1.), 2.) & 3.). As an examiner, I'd think highly of that candidate if he/she could explain and demonstrate all of them ! I'd follow by asking for a description of the various causes and corrections.

On a CCI exam, I would not expect this in depth analysis of the tailing loop. I would expect that the candidate to understand that rod tip path is an prime contributor and that for most tailing loops, this path is concave. As the task is performed on this exam, I'd accept any of the methods, 1.) - 3.). If the candidate used one of the others, (4.) - 7.) then I'd want it explained. I'd then want to be certain this candidate know at least one of the more common causes.