Non-dom. casting for Instructors / Archiving messages

Walter & Group...

From Lefty Kreh :

Gordy-- You suggested I explain that my name is Lefty but why do I cast right-handed at clinics, seminars, shows, etc.?

 

 Of course I learned first to cast left-handed. When I began teaching fly casting in the mid-1950's I realized that a good instructor must be able to cast with either hand. I feel it is important to place your hand on the student and let them allow you to cast while they relax. They quickly get a better understanding of the correct stroke. 

 

A long time ago my wife asked me to turn over the bedroom mattress--a routine matter I frequently did. With my arms straight out I lifted the mattress and flipped it and felt my bicept muscle tear off my arm. It sounded like bed-sheet ripping. For two months I couldn't lift a cup of coffee with my left hand. Gradually I re-built a small portion of the biceps.

I can still make a long cast with my left hand but if I make several or do repetitive casing with the left hand I suffer a nasty Charley horse. Since that time I cast mostly right-handed although it is easy to switch hands to make a quick fishing cast.

 

I believe there are three criteria to being a good fly caster. The first is never display your knowledge but share it. The second is to learn how to make bad casts. I believe much of the casting instruction taught (honestly) is incorrect because that instructor cannot make the student's bad cast. Once you know how to make a bad casts you know why and how to correct it--invaluable to students. The third is to be a really good instructor you should be able to cast reasonably well with either hand.  I also believe that three criteria are equally important. 

 

Lefty

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Lefty....   Thanks for sharing those experiences with us.  It's obvious that your experiences, both good and bad has helped you as a teacher of fly casting for more than half a century !

 

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                                                                      ARCHIVING MESSAGES

 

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From Mark Milkovitch :

 

Gordy,

When I left for the Bahamas in early November we were discussing a way to archive the Study Group information. While I was there, your Comcast server would not accept my e-mails. Now that I?m back I?m attaching two files which show how I am organizing the posts.  The Index is organized loosely around the five subject areas for the MCI exam.  The Index entries are hyperlinks so when I click on an entry, I?m taken to the appropriate string (Walter Simberski?s archives work in the same fashion).  As I left you were asking how I cross referenced materials.  If you look at the Casting Augmentations section of the Index, you will see a few entries with identification numbers beginning in ?L?, those strings are stored in the Casting Augmentations file.  The entries with ID numbers beginning in ?A? are stored in the ?Casting ? Distance Issues? topic file.  I cross reference by simply inserting a link in the Augmentations section of the Index. I am using 15 different Topic files (Note the letters ?A? through ?O? on the topic file names in the index) to organize the posts.  When I receive one of your study group e-mails, I copy then paste all the info on a single topic in a ?Blank but Formatted? Word file I named ?Study Group Template?.  As I read the posts in the Template file, I quickly edit by: 1.standardizing font size and margins and 2.eliminating spaces between Lines and Paragraphs.  The edited copy is then ?Cut? from the reusable Template file and ?Pasted? in the appropriate topic file.  Since we have been discussing ?Teaching? lately, I am attaching a portion of my Teaching Topic File to illustrate what the storage files look like both for Conversational Strings and Quizzes.  The topic entries at the top of the file are links so you should be able to jump to the strings with a ?Ctrl + Click? keystroke with the cursor on the appropriate Link. In addition to the topic files, I maintain a folder, Hyperlinked Articles and Sites (?HA&S? notation in the Index), for all the attachments (Articles, Photos, etc) people send with their posts.  This allows me to link to them from the Index and/or the Topic Files.

This system requires very little more time than that required to read the posts. And, it is a whole lot less time than would otherwise be required to go back and find some information if it were not well organized.  The three knowledge items required to use this particular method are the: 1.Format/Styles and Formatting; 2.Insert/Bookmark; and 3.Hyperlink functions in Microsoft Word.

You?ve recently mentioned a FFF CICP Wiki for archiving our posts.  I?m not sure what that is but if there?s anything in what I?ve done that might be useful, take whatever ideas you like.  I?m happy to help anyone set up a system like mine and would be very interested to hear what others have done that?s faster, better, and/or easier.

Thanks,

Mark

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Mark....  I appreciate your offer to help.  Many are interested in archiving fly casting messages.  Those who wish to work with you can do so on an individual basis.  Later we can all learn from your combined experiences.

Your attachments are lengthy .....and well worth studying.     I'll try to send them anyway. (414 KB combined.)

Gordy

 (Mark's contact:  mark@xxxxxxxxxxx )

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Attachment: Casting -Teaching (C).doc
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