VARIABLES - Concept

These rules are the FFF generally accepted exemplar of a basic straight overhead cast. These rules can also be applied to all elliptical cast if you are willing to accept that RULE #1 is a variable, i.e. the rod tip follows an elliptical path, and that the rod plane is a variable too. It makes good sense to expand Gammel's rules and accept the possibility that RULE #1 is a variable too in a bigger picture sense. To become a FFF Master certified fly casting instructor you must learn how to teach all the elliptical casts and Spey casts to students. I submit to you, that this is a deeper level of knowledge and understanding which separates CCI's from MCCI's.

Again, "RULE #1 is the rod tip must follow in a straight line path. Your student will make a perfect cast every time if he/she can achieve RULE #1. Of course, this is easier said than done because of all the variables in fly casting which are well known to the Master Study Group community. RULE #2, #3, and #4 are variables, to which we can add such things as how much the student bends his/her wrist, other body movements of the caster, acceleration, the stopping sequence starting at maximum rod load and ending at rod straight position, rod plane, windy weather conditions, or an unstable casting platform such as the bow of a salt water flats boat, ad nauseam.

I couldn't agree more with Dusty. In my experience teaching, the crucial variable that that students find most mysterious is acceleration, and the proportional loading of the rod, that must be learned as a skill in order to achieve RULE #1. It's not that difficult to teach students if you stop saying "Power" and start using the term "Acceleration" because the term power is too synonymous with strength and muscle. I always begin with a definition. Acceleration is the change in velocity over time. All students instinctively know how Newtonian physics work. For example, when we accelerate an automobile we can feel being pressed into the driver's seat and the arc in our backbone changing. The faster you accelerate the movement of your rod hand, the more the rod will bend. Then I add this simple instruction. Start slow and end fast when you accelerate. Finally, I sum it all up for the student and explain that by perfectly matching acceleration (stroke speed) with the casting arc (rod arc), we are able to achieve RULE #1.

Fly casting is a very difficult skill to teach students and that should not come as a surprise now that the Master Study Group has examined all of the variables. The difference in skill levels between beginner and expert is the ability to control all of these variables. I am always impressed watching an expert caster...it all seems so effortlessly. It just proves again how instinct fly casting skills really are. It just take practice.

Gordy Hill and Carl Zarelli really uncovered a gem with this topic of discussion. A question like "What is your concept of variables?" on your Master oral examination could be a critical pass/fail moment for a candidate and I can think of others. For example, "How would you change Gammel's 5 Essentials?" Do you see the connection between these two questions? Enjoy the journey. :-)

Peter Lami

FFF Master

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Peter....

Your message represents some deep thinking !

I daresay that Jay and Bill Gammel were indeed thinking of straight line overhead casting when they wrote about the "essentials." Are they still "essentials" as we apply changes to them as variables ? Is a straight line path of the rod tip an "essential" when making a controlled wide loop cast when casting a heavy weighted fly ? If we have an absolutely straight line path of the rod tip throughout the entire cast can we avoid a collision ? Will not a slight VARIATION of this path with a bit of tip path convexity prevent this ? Perhaps, in as much as we may see variables as modifications of the "essentials" to suit a purpose.

Since this is a discussion of individual's concepts of the Variables, I didn't intend that there would be any "right" or "wrong" answers.

If you look back on the entries which followed our question, you will note that those whom you will recognize as Masters and well informed teachers gave logical answers though no two were the same.

I think you are correct in looking at our question as a good one for a Master oral exam..... not that we would expect any kind of "pat", "memorized" or "canned" answer. Far from it. Evaluating the candidate's way of handling this question, however, would go a long way in helping us evaluate his/her in-depth knowledge of fly casting as well as handling issues for which we do not have final answers and therefore fall into the catagory of concepts.

Gordy