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Gordy, Paul & Jim,
I actually went outside today and tried Paul's upside down roll cast and worked like a charm on grass.
Gordy this is a roll cast rendition of what I call the flip the tip cast. Many versions and names these days. This is where you take the rod low and end with an upward move of the rod tip at the stop. Paul has added a pull back or mend after the stop, which enhances the kick point or lifting the line in the air to complete the layout then continues with the reach for a nice layout. Very good Paul!
Gordy, I use this cast as a very low profile casts to address the fly line under docks, overhangs, or to make a cast were I want the end of the line, and the leader and fly to go in an upward direction to a stall & then gently fall back to the water for the delicate presentation.
Rod tip has a tea cup saucer shape path starting low like Paul explains and ending in an upward move.
Nice.
Gordy and Paul. After reading Ally's input on making dead line cast and Gordy touching on the subject of static casts, I had something hit me regarding static spey casts that not too many have touched on. That subject is "Torque".
I would like to see some substance addressing this subject as to how it applies in single hand casting.
Many of us Spey Casters use torque in two handed casting. However I do not see this topic covered in single hand casting other than the approach to vertical curve casts which trends toward implementation of torque before the stop moving the rod tip to the desired direction of the cast causing directional change of the line.
Torque can apply additional rod load that has not been discussed much. The best information I have found on the subject to date is by Al Buhr in his book Two Handed Fly Casting -Spey Casting Techniques. Page 42 entitled Torque Twist. *
If you know of any other books that cover the subject please let me know.
I spent some time with Dan McCrimmon this summer where we were making casts with very little D Loops using a Hardy Spey Rod of course, with a Shooting Head line by using a little muscle and torque.
Of course Dan said it was the Hardy Rod not the caster. ;o)
These are great casts in confined, restricted areas using the dead line or static roll cast touched on by Ally and you, Gordy.
I was just wondering if many in our group use torque in their single hand casting and where they apply this method.
All the best
Gary Davison
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[GH] Gary,
Technically, there must be a certain element of torque in all elliptical casts whether done with two handed or single handed rods. In Spey casting, for example, there is no way to go from the "lift" to the "circle up" without it.
Your reference to Al Buhr's, "TORQUE TWIST" is right on target! An important concept often missed as we consider casting mechanics.*
When we study single handed casts, we find that almost invariably, the caster uses slightly different rod planes for the back cast and the forward cast ... sometimes not much difference, but it is almost always true. That entails a bit of torque. Most casters are unaware of this. Casting mechanics instructionals usually ignore it. An exception is the caster who uses a strictly vertical rod plane for short distance accuracy casting.
Off hand, I can think of 7 casts for which I purposely use a "wrist twist". "arm twist" or combination. A form of torque when single handed casting.
1. A curve cast made with a vertical (or just off vertical) casting plane and a lightning fast twist of the wrist in the direction I want the fly to go. That twist is made at the very end of the cast, so close to the brief interval between the "stop" and loop formation that I really can't be sure its true relation to RSP.
This can be exaggerated to make a bigger curve, by making that twist in one direction and then following quickly with a wrist twist with torque in the opposite direction. Technically, super high speed video might prove that the latter is a mend. (Don't know for sure.)
2. The "Corkscrew Cast". (Distance curve cast with a dramatic curve layout.)
3. When permit fishing with a weighted fly I'll often use an elliptical cast (so-called reverse Belgian cast). I make my forward delivery stroke using an off-horizontal rod plane and finish with a wrist twist so that the rod tip flips up a bit. That results in the loop unfurling with the fly briefly rising above the entry point.... then dropping softly. Joan Wulff described it as, "an upward curving power snap". I see it as an upward vertical curve cast.
4. In close quarters such as a mangrove lined creek with overhead branches, I sometimes use a bow-and-arrow cast. When I need a bit more distance, I go to an "extended bow-&-arrow cast". For this, I augment the tip flip with a rapid wrist twist.
One trick in making this cast, is to have enough line out of the rod tip on the deck of the skiff to shoot line. (Reason: I can't get sufficient loop momentum to pull enough line through the guides and tip top if I place the line between the reel and the first stripper guide on the deck or hold a couple of loops in hand and the fly as when using the quick casts) *
These bow & arrow casts can be made with the rod loaded tip up, tip down, or tip bent to either side. When the tip is bent down, it can result in an "upside down loop".
5. For the "steeple cast". I use a wrist twist so that the torque changes the movement of my rod tip in order to convert my back cast into an "up cast" when I don't have room for a back cast or side room.
6. I use a lot of torque when I do a snap cast. That, too, is wrist torque ... but combined with an arm twist between the pickup and the delivery strokes.
7. When making various Spey casts with a single hand rod.
In his book, Jason Borger also describes short specialty casts such as his "cross-circle snap cast", his "squat cast", and "Flippin" (AKA, the flip cast) " each of which use a bit of wrist twist to provide brief torque. * *
* TWO-HANDED FLY CASTING, Spey Casting Techniques, by Al Buhr, 2006, p.42.
* * Jason Borger's NATURE OF FLY CASTING...., by Jason Borger, 2001, pp. 249-251, Fig. 15-4 (Note the line out of the rod tip hanging down below his left hand to the deck.)
Gordy
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