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Walter & Group ....
We have a couple of interesting messages which comment on our haul quiz and discussions.
Some comments may be controversial. As such, they deserve your careful thoughts. Another great way to learn ! I added some comments to their texts.
>From Paul Arden :
Hi Gordy,
I don't have much to add to this discussion although I have a few comments:
"4. Some students seem to assume that when they are hauling that they do not have to make good stops at the end of each cast. (often creates slack problems)"
Interestingly, a friend of mine has a handle rig he uses which attaches a rod handle in parallel to the rod for teaching purposes. When the cast is made without a haul, the stop and rod rebound is clearly felt. When hauling the stop is not felt - and this is with the best distance casters in the UK. So I actually think the stop isn't essential when hauling, and it is the hauling hand that controls the rod tip.
[GH] I can't argue against that, Paul, since I have not tried it. Does make sense, however.
The other comment I have is that there is a considerable difference in tip travel with a haul compared to a non-hauled cast. The rod tip is held in a straighter path for longer with the haul which makes the entire casting stroke more efficient.
[GH] True. Easy to observe on comparative casting video's. Tom White called my attention to that several years ago when we were filming casts made with and without double hauls.
For some casters, the cast is much more efficiently made when combined with hauls. There are many reasons for this. One example is something I do almost daily as I fish in the salt with heavy outfits. The haul, even for short casts, assumes some of the work of the rod hand allowing this casting arm to function more efficiently. Less effort leads to better control and less arm fatigue.
While this may be hard for trout fishers to understand, it is one reason that our best salt water fishers use the haul for every cast they make. For them, casting without it is an anathema !
The haul becomes an integral part of the cast itself. For our latinis, the "SINE QUA NON" * **
I don't think there is any advantage to hauling throughout the stroke. All that matters is that peak haul speed occurs at the end of the Casting Stroke. The faster your haul (and maybe the shorter your arms!) the later this must occur.
[GH] My only problem with teaching the haul to be made at the end of the Casting stroke, is that this timing is difficult for many casters learning hauls to manage. For me, teaching the haul to be made during the entire casting arc as a "mirror image" of the length and application of force made by the casting arm is easier for them to learn. I think that is because the timing is a bit less critical.
Gotta run - Hungarian lesson!
Cheers, Paul
* The "without which not"
** An indispensable condition. (Webster)
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Detailed comments from Aitor Coteron. His latest reply in blue text. :
Gordy, I continue replying below.
Aitor,
Interesting analogy (the two engine car).
You are correct in saying that the function of the haul is to add line speed.
However, in line with Rene Hesse's message, I see some additional functions which can be accomplished by the haul :
1. Adding line speed
2. Increasing rod load. Granted, this can also contribute to line speed, but it also yields increased rod bend. This is sometimes needed to assure a match between casting arc and rod bend when an almost straight line path of the rod tip is desired for a tight loop.
Well, IMHO rod load has been traditionally overestimated in fly casting instruction. The flexibility of the rod delays the application of force from the caster to the line, but doesn’t add any energy (actually it gives back some less due to internal losses). So with more load in the rod we get more line speed not because the rod has stored part of that energy (it stores only what we have put previously, the rod adds nothing only delays), but because a flexible rod is a more effective tool than a rigid one for adding speed to the line. We should think of rod load as a consequence of casting and not as its primary goal.
[GH] Agree. This speaks to the old argument over which is more important the cast ? The "SWING" ? or the "SPRING". Even crude studies favor the former.
With regard to matching rod bend and arc IMHO I don’t need to add more or less bend to achieve it. Less bend asks for a smaller arc. Although I find easier to get very tight loops when hauling.
On the other hand, and although hauling bends the rod, in an actual cast to a short or moderate distance you get less bend in the rod with hauling than without it.
[GH]
I see the balance between rod bend and casting arc as needed for a relatively straight line path of the rod tip when a small loop is desired.
That very balance is, I think, achieved by the contribution to rod bend by both the application of power by the casting arm and that of the haul even if that includes a relative diminution in rod bend by the haul matched by increase achieved by the action of the casting arm.
I can bend a rod using ONLY a haul. Obviously, that isn't what happens when casting.
My point is to emphasize the balance between the rod bend yielded by the action of the casting arm and the positive, negative, or neutral effect added by the haul.
3. The haul can help diminish or eliminate unwanted slack.
Of course. However, the haul is more effective when applied to a line with as less slack as possible.
[GH] When used to take up slack, it is a sort of crutch. Poor casters use it that way. As Lefty Kreh once said, "poor casters use their haul to throw their mistakes farther."
It is due to the same principle that makes more effective to leave rotation for the end of the stroke.
4. The haul can allow the line hand to share the work performed by the rod hand. (This is particularly true when we cast with heavy outfits when fishing large fish in the salt.)
Of course. If we are pedaling a bicycle for pleasure and use only a pedal we’ll find a big relieve when we add the other foot to share the work. Those who, like me, managed to break one of his pedals in his days as a youngster know the difference very well. :^)
[GH] I like that analogy ! (You're really good at those.)
Your statement that, "the haul doesn't interfere with loop formation and development" is interesting. That may be true when the haul is done with proper timing. When done improperly, as you note, it can yield a tailing loop. An important distinction.
In general, I think that your statement that, "a haul that finishes after the loop has formed won't give us the maximum distance....." is true. Since the loop is mature one can only deform it a bit.
What I was thinking of when making that statement is another important issue.
The fly line only shoots forward while the loop is unrolling; just after the loop unrolls completely the line goes down without gaining any more distance. This is the reason for the very precise adjustment of the overhang needed when casting shooting heads: if the overhang is too long the loop collapses; if the overhang is too short the fly doesn’t go as far due to the fact that the loop unrolls too fast. What we must do is to use the exact amount of overhang that ensures a good energy transfer from shooting line to fly line (to avoid the loop collapsing) and that delays the unrolling of the loop as much as possible.
If we haul after the loop has formed we are increasing the speed of the loop and, therefore, reducing the time of its unrolling and the distance we get with that cast.
[GH] Point well made.
Mac Brown has pointed out the value in finishing the haul a tiny fraction of a second after the Rod Straight Position (RSP) as the loop starts to form. I think he may be correct.
Yes, he is correct. As explained above you must finished hauling just at the same time that the loop forms.
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