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Walter & Group...
[GH] Phil Gay's comment on over lining the fly rod by 2 fly line wt. designations brings up another ploy to help students get the feel of the resistance of the line and rod bend.
Years ago, Tom White took it one step further. He made a heavy 25' "head" out of 50 lb. nylon monofilament.
Using almost no overhang *, he would have the student do pick-ups and lay-downs, and then graduate to false casting.
That gave the student an immediate sense of what we call the loading of the rod ... and the FEEL of the cast.
One drawback to that system was that the mono "fly line" wasn't tapered, so was of no real value in teaching loop control.
I recall Tom teaching his students the use of very limited overhang as he would explain that..."Fat line can't turn over skinny line ! "
* OVERHANG: The light running or shooting line between the back end of the fly line head and the rod tip.
(Most of us use the term, "running line" to describe the line behind the rear taper of a fly line. The term, "shooting line" is more often used for the lighter line behind a shooting head or shooting taper.)
* Jason Borger's NATURE OF FLY CASTING a modular approach, by Jason Borger, 2001, pp.240, 241, Figure 14-12.
Gordy
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>From Alan Laprade :
Gordy, one trick I used for golf coaching was to keep your breathing in tempo. Applying it for casting: inhale on the backstroke and excel on the forward stroke it is just fantastic. Now imagine coupled with your body movement and sometime with closed eyes. I'd like some feedback on that.
Alan
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[GH] Alan,
I've never thought of that for teaching.
After I read your message, however, I was out tarpon fishing in an area where I couldn't spot the fish, and so was making some "blind casts". I tried it by matching my breaths to the tempo of my casting. Interesting feeling. Looking forward to trying it next time I teach casting.
Wonder if any other fly casting instructors have tried that.... ?????
Gordy
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>From Paul Arden:
Hi Gordy,
teaching feel is a very interesting topic. I think the best technique I use is something I learned from Mel, which is where he used a rod without line and asks the student to flick the rod - maybe pullback!! I use that all the time, and then repeat with a short 4 or 5 metre length of line outside the tip.
Joan's circles eights and straights is useful too.
Many casters are top body orientated. I ask them to move around a bit and feel their feet/ground.
However I don't think the focus should be on feel first; first it should be on the loop, then feel.
Cheers,
Paul
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[GH] Paul,
Teaching the feel of the cast is, of course, only part of the equation. It represents only one of the many ways students learn fly casting. We'll likely get into discussion of some of the other ways, later.
The loop can, indeed, be considered primary.
One description of fly casting taught by Lefty Kreh goes something like this: "Unrolling a loop of line to a target".
Of course, there are ways that we all know of making short presentations of a fly with no true unrolling loop formed, but most fly casts do rely upon loop formation.
Gordy
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