Quiz discussion

Lots to be learned from these discussions. This way we can learn so much from a seemingly simple quiz. G.

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How was the striper fishing this year? Fish came in late. We got some smaller fish wading the bars in the bay. Big push, according to Peter Minnick who fished and did very well on large fish one day after I left .

Question 7: I'd say your student has a bigger problem in that TCR's don't come in the allowed length for a 7wt (10' only)! I never quite understood why Sage did that. All other weights come in 9' for the TCR. They corrected this in the TCX line.

I never understood it either. Actually this person was using a 6 wt. with a WF 6 F line. When I wrote the question, I'd just finished practicing with my Sage 10' 7 wt. TCR, so it was burned into my brain. After Dave Diaz pointed this out, I made the correction in a followup message. This didn't change the essence of the problem part of which was the use of a rod with a very stiff tip and super fast action .... hard to bend with the energy applied which was one of the reasons the caster couldn't match casting arc with rod bend. A convex rod tip path resulted in a wide loop.

Question 11: On the reach mend, isn't the problem with waiting until the RSP to reach the line upstream is that a belly will result? This is well explained in Swisher/Richards Fly Fishing Strategy, and it's something that took me a long time to correct for fishing after taking the CCI exam (where I had been stopping the rod prior to the reach for the exam).

This can be one of the problems..... harder to get that straight layout if you wait too long before making the side sweep. If you don't wait 'til the cast is complete and the loop has begun to form (at RSP), then you are making a true REACH CAST..... not a REACH MEND. (Going by the definition of a mend which I see as repositioning the line after the cast.)

Actually, one can achieve an even longer drag free drift depending upon the current if the layout is curved with the belly of the curve upstream... this, then, would be a compound move consisting of a curve -reach either cast or mend depending on whether it is executed before or after completion of the cast.

As I understand it, however, when performing the task on the CCI exam, the expectation is that the candidate will demonstrate sufficient control as to be able to make the reach mend with a straight line layout between the target and the rod tip.

Question 13: From an injury point of view, I'm trying to reconcile Joan's philosophy w/Lefty's. I can't quite understand from the description how this differs from 'Lefty style' which maintains a sidearm type of stroke with the loop plane at an angle to the ground other then Lefty advocates maintaining the rod tip 'raising' at the end of the backstroke such that the line continues 'in the direction the rod tip was going when stopped'. This means that the student can't swing the tip around behind him at the end of the back stroke.

Big difference ! Both Joan and Lefty take issue with the arm position and movement which yields the wide loop back cast curved behind the caster. She and I have discussed that as she writes her new book. That is the cast made with the casting arm out to the side and held aloft (extended). We've all seen poor casters do this. It is very inefficient partly because you can't deliver much energy to the cast that way and it leads to a sideways curved sweep of the rod tip. This arm position is not only inefficient, but makes it almost impossible to achieve a straight line path of the rod tip, thus violating a basic essential of straight line overhead casting. This also, along with other inefficient arm movements can lead to shoulder injury when done repeatedly.

Joan and Lefty, as you know, use different default styles of casting..... neither of which violates the substance (essentials) of casting. They each are expert at changing their casting styles to suit the casting/fishing challenges off the moment. They do not agree on the topic of style used for teaching. G.

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If the student is hitting the 30' & 45', then the forward cast into presentation are probably appropriate for those distances, but too high of a stop @ 20'.
A better answer to (b.) might be 'stop the rod tip lower' or simply 'lower your trajectory' rather than 'lean forward', I even like 'tip the cast forward'. Lean, at least to me, just cries out to do something with your upper body, not your cast. I only say this because I can lean forward and simultaneously throw a cast almost strait up above my head, which does nothing to change bad trajectory.

Gordy:

After further consideration, I challenge both answers given for 9.

I took to the lawn, and have established my best 2 short answers for 9, followed by a long answer explaining my case.

Short:

a) too long of a line.

b) 1. 'shorten your line', 2. 'shorten you casting stroke', or lastly 3. 'raise your trajectory'

Long: when you break the problem down in 'practice', a 24' cast intended for a 20' target can be corrected by shortening the line, shortening the casting stroke, or raising the trajectory. If you advise the candidate to throw the same cast while only tipping the trajectory forward, it will result in a very sloppy 24' slack leader presentation into a 20' target; not desirable or acceptable.

Further: It is always good advice to gain accuracy on a lawn target by suggesting a lower trajectory, but this is consistent for all casting distances. In this instance/example, raising the trajectory may diminish accuracy but will shorten his/her cast at rsp, resulting in pulling the overthrown cast back into the 20' target range, try it!

I can't sleep,

Michael Jones

As a matter of STYLE, some expert accuracy casters will lean forward.... they do so, to make it easier for them to achieve their control over trajectory and distance. Is that forward leaning a necessity ? Certainly not.

I could add something I teach when coaching for short distance accuracy...... the turning of a billed cap around backwards. This makes it easier to bring the butt section of the rod and the casting hand straight all the way up to the forehead. When Joan Wulff teaches this cast, she has used the technique of placing an orange marker on the thumb nail as a visual guide. Floyd Franke has taught the technique of "squeezing to a stop" on the delivery cast as the thumb lines up with the target. Are these necessities ? I think not.

Re. your last comment: The trajectory of your accuracy cast is determined by one thing.... the angle formed by an imaginary line between the target and your rod tip at RSP with the ground or water. That will necessarily change by virtue of the distance between the caster and his target.

Let's look at the extremes to make the point: If the target is 100' from the caster, the angle gets close to 180 degrees. If I'm casting to a target only one rod length away from me, the trajectory is almost straight up and down..... 90 degrees.