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Walter & Group....
[GH] Gary Eaton responds to Guy Manning's message:
Gordy and Guy,
Since Guy has singled out my list for criticism that you published, I hope for "equal time" on the forum to air a factual response. To whit-
ITEM ONE
Costs of recommended books 7-16-2011 from Amazon.com -
The Essentials of Fly Casting by Jay & Bill Gammel - FREE in a recent edition of The Loop
The Nature of Fly Casting by Jason Borger Not Available -substitute Joan Wulff's Fly Casting Techniques for $6.95 USD or use Tom Deck's book for no additional cost.
Orvis Fly Casting Guidebook by Tom Deck $9.63 USD
L.L. Bean Flycasting Handbook by Macauley Lord $1.26 USD
Troubleshooting the Cast by Ed Jaworowski $3.16 USD
Joan Wulff's Fly Casting Accuracy $7.25
TOTAL PRICE under $28.00 USD plus shipping on July 16, 2011 !
Seems reasonable to me. The available references may be used by the instructor in future lesson review. If there are no recommended texts to pursue, why have a reading list on the FFF website and why have an Amazon link on an MCI 's advertising web site?
ITEM TWO
I live more than 400 miles from a CASTING CLUB. This represents the MUCH more common experience of prospective candidates in 2011 in the USA and powers of magnitude more common world wide. If one has even two MCI's available to mentor them, less reliance on study may be available.
ITEM THREE
The term to define was " well prepared" - Could someone pass absent my suggested level of skill and experience - sure. I see weak CI's and non-certified instructors all the time. Their frustrated ex-students sign-up for our lessons.
When my CI hopefuls follow my recommended plan, they routinely pass on first attempt with competent coaching and recommended mock test performance and other preparation.
The nearest regional conclave to me is five-hours drive-time away with rooms about $100 per night. Likely costs to take an exam without undue sleep deprivation include:
$100 room,
$70 gas,
$150 testing & registration,
$150 fly lines,
TOTAL $520 plus leader and test rod, back-up gear, supplies etc.
Putting in a few dozen hours of preparation and even $100 of study material seems a paltry 18% in comparison. This becomes more powerful when one looks at repeat testing costs.
Gary Eaton, MCI
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[GH] Gary,
You have estimated those costs modestly. By the time the candidate figures in any time away from work, meals and (sometimes) an airline ticket the tab goes way up.
Since you mentioned THE LOOP, we should point out that a trove of information is available to all candidates in the past articles as well as the current issue. No cost to members.
We could add Al Kyte's Orvis Guide to Better Fly Casting. This morning, I noted used copies going for $13.95 on Amazon.com. *
Some public libraries have several of the recommended books available. I was fortunate to live close enough to the IGFA campus to be able to take advantage of the fabulous Elwood Harry Library there. I made many trips there to read material I didn't have including the 1875 page two-volume tome, TROUT by Ernest Schwiebert (a fly fishing historical masterpiece which was long out of print ... copies going for $500.00 to upwards of $1200.00 ! ). I now have a treasured copy given to me as a present . * * ***
You have also mentioned the value of the practice tests. When given properly, this can go a long way to polishing a candidate with respect to both knowledge and casting / teaching skills. True for both CCI and Master candidates. I won't go into more detail on that subject, since Kirk Eberhard is about to help launch this as our next topic.
* ORVIS GUIDE TO BETTER FLY CASTING a Problem Solving Approach, by Al Kyte, 2008,
ISBN 978-1-59228-870-0.
** IGFA : International Game Fish Association.
*** TROUT, by Ernest Schwiebert, 1978, 1984, ISBN 0-525-24269-4 (Vol. I & II set)
Gordy
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[GH] David Diaz and I had just finished trading messages relative to work in progress on our CBOG Continued Education Committee. He has given me permission to add a quote from him which relates to the subject of learning from books and other sources of information. It's timely to say the least . The highlights are mine :
"You and I like “the books.” So does Syd Smith, an aspiring MCI candidate. He’s a neurologist from Gulfport, and his are exactly the right motives. He bought all the books, too, without concern about their cost. Read them all, just as you and I did. But, you, Syd, and I are old school, dude. Youth isn’t going to buy books and read them. They have no money and less than not interest. That’s not crippling, Gordy.
I agree with Guy Manning that expecting CI candidates to read a lot of old books on fly casting is silly. A CI candidate who is teaching casting to his club members one Sunday a month, who buys the Gammel and Gammel and Mel Krieger pamphlets from the FFF, who can cast, and who has enough stage presence and confidence to teach can do a good job on the CI test.
Producing a Study Guide for CI certification that we all read and subscribed to would amount to the values clarification effort that I am pointing to as our essential head work.
David"
I think David, Gary and Guy are spot on !
Learning from the books is only one of many methods of acquiring information. As time goes on, more and more of our younger students and candidates turn to other ways of learning.
Dave is right in that I'm "old school" .... so I'll thank all of you for putting up with my many references to books during our discussions. I know these books are hard to come by, which is one reason that, of late, I've gone beyond simply supplying the references as I actually quote passages.
None of us will agree with all of the information presented in any one book or with the theories espoused by any one author. Easy to say, along the way, that the author is "dead wrong" on any issue. Yet we learn by comparing, trying what is recommended, and then coming to our own conclusions. This is made easier by first looking at the differences, and then the similarities.
I loved the candid way Lefty Kreh wrote to me asking for me to get back to him with, "anything you disagree with" in his latest book. *
All that is well and good as far as the student acquiring background information as well as on site useful information for teaching fly casting. This is a way of building upon the foundations handed down to us by authors and teachers of past years.
The generation of candidates yet to come are now in elementary school, slightly beyond, or as yet unborn. They will have been learning from the Internet and various electronic media perhaps as not even developed at this point.
It is with this in mind that several of us have given serious thought to embracing these modern teaching/learning methods even to having our very Master Study Group morph into a well organized and maintained Wiki ! (We can thank Peter Lami for coming up with that idea, and Walter Simbirski for archiving our material.)
I cannot see that this will, however, ever replace the need for on-water / on-the field-equipment-in-hand fly casting instruction. Doubtful that even advanced virtual reality scenarios such as those used to help instrument train aircraft pilots would suffice.
* CASTING with LEFTY KREH, by Lefty Kreh, 2008, ISBN 13:978-0-8117-0369-7 (still available)
Gordy
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[GH] Tomorrow : Thoughts from Gary Davison, MCI Candidate.
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