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Walter & Group...
[GH] From Jim Hund:
Dr. Hill:
So much of everything in life, and fly casting is no exception, comes back to basics (i.e. fundamentals).
I am a mew CCI who may never seek MCI. I am very interested in how an MCI (or MCI candidate) would create a lesson plan for a student who wanted to learn aerial mends. Put another way, what basics or fundamentals does the student need to understand and master at the end of the lesson so that the student can build on those fundamentals?
>From your comments and my limited experience, proper aerial mends is not easy and is in fact difficult, when done correctly To become proficient at this skill one must understand the fundamentals to include setting up the cast properly before aerial mending occurs.
Thus, am interested in "lesson plan" fundamentals when teaching this difficult skill.
Hope my comments are not off base.
Jim Hund
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[GH] Jim,
Great MCI teaching question !!!
The move made by the caster which is fundamental to any mend, as I see it, is a repositioning of the fly line, a segment of fly line or leader on the water or in the air after loop formation in order to change the layout of line and/or leader in such a way that it alters the in-the-water or on-the-water behavior of the fly. Most commonly, this sought after "behavior" is a drift of a fly unaltered by the resistance to the current flow.
The preparation of lesson plans which work well for fly casting instruction is a skill which is necessary for a fly casting instructor at any level. This is true whether the lesson is a several day long course for a large number of students .... or a ten minute instructional at stream-side, fly rod in hand.
This is why many Master examining teams often ask their candidates during the oral exam to present a lesson plan for a teaching event.
Sometimes a candidate will come prepared with several neatly typed out lesson plans. While I respect that effort, I will usually request that he/she come up with a different one on the spot in order to see if the candidate has had the experience and the "know how" to do it.
A Master, should be able to take over almost any workshop or class at a Conclave ("Fair"), etc. when requested to do so in the event the main presenter becomes ill or for some other reason cannot attend. I have personally done that on several occasions in past years. Sometimes I'd receive the request only a couple of hours before the class. Then I'd take the time to jot down a lesson plan as my only available preparation before hosting the workshop as a volunteer.
Whether teaching mends, slack line presentations, or distance casting, the lesson plan must take into account many things :-
- Pre. registration activities. (If and as appropriate.)
- Site considerations. ( Lake ? Stream? Skiff ? Football field ? Indoors ? Food & water ? Bathroom breaks ? Etc., Etc. )
- Introductions ..... Instructor(s) - Students.
- Scope and details of the instructional.
- Topics and related information to be presented.
- The number of students.
- A student/instructor ratio (when appropriate).
- The approximate level of skill represented by these students (Are they new casters ?, Advanced fly fishers ? Instructors ? Somewhere in between ?, Mixed ? )
- Student age range.
- The GOALS and OBJECTIVES of the lesson.
- The length of time allotted for the course or instructional interval.
- The minutes allotted for each segment of instruction.
- Planned "alone time" for practice.
- Student participation.
- Student feed back.
- Concluding remarks and recommendations.
OR.... It could be as simple as a 5 minute one-on-one fly casting lesson between one instructor and his student on a gravel bar.
LET'S SEE IF SOME OF OUR MASTERS OR MCI CANDIDATES CAN COME UP WITH ONE FOR THIS SCENARIO :
CHALLENGE:
You have two 18 Yr. old fly fishermen who have asked you to teach them aerial mends. They have mastered basic straight line overhead fly casting, can shoot line, and know how to haul and retrieve. They know how to make basic upstream on-the-water mends.
Now they want to know how to make and the reasons for using aerial mends and how they can be used for effective dry fly fishing.
I'll start our lesson plan. You complete it :-
Lesson Time: 3 hours.
Lesson objective: Teaching aerial mends and their uses.
Lesson Goal: Having these students able to perform and properly use aerial mends, including their use for dry fly fishing.
Venue: A local trout stream with moderate flow, large rocks, pocket water and tongues of current.
Tackle: # 5 rods with WF 5F lines, Tapered leaders 10 - 11" and dry flies.
Gordy
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[GH] Paul Arden answers Ally Gowans' questions :
Fantastic questions from Ally!
1.) How would a right handed student be taught to make a right handed reach based on a right handed roll cast?
1. make an upside down roll cast delivery.
2,) What are the problems of making curved mends to left and to the right using a right handed roll cast?
2. right mend can collide with bottom leg of D loop as it lifts - a problem particularly for mends close to the leader. Can't think of any problems off the left, but I'm sure Ally has one up his sleeve!
Cheers, Paul
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[GH] Paul...
OK.... I'll take the bait. What the dickens is an "upside down roll cast delivery" ?
Sometimes i use a side-arm roll cast with an upward swing forward stroke. Learned that one a few years ago at the Denver show from Kathy Beck who demonstrated it there.
Gordy
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