[SPAM] Master's depth of general knowledge

This very detailed set of messages between Mac Brown and me is reproduced here in order for you MCI candidates to get a better idea of the depth of knowledge and understanding posessed by a really accomplished Master.

read this one with interest because i have used it more for line placement on boulders in the stream for decades and it is also cast/mend for anchoring line on the rock to prevent drag in right circumstances. this is why it is taught on streams with lots of obstacles. i also think as jeff points out that a bit of slack in it is a great thing when angling. i personally think it is a fairly useless thing as far as presentation if it is straight if compared to a large curve cast.

so this brings me once again to a state of confusion -because in your lower example of bruce using a curve with a reach -i would say fantastic for fishing. am i understanding this correct that i should say it should always be straight? i love presentation of curves, piles, and even sometime straight. but, in teaching angling we tend to be a foe of straight line casts if we are teaching to have better presentation as in drag free for a dry fly. in fact, in 24 years of guiding i have had my share of anglers that could throw straight beautiful casts all day long. i had to give up 95% or more of the water that held fish so that i could match their casting skill with exacting currents for it to work. i know i accept it more for salt, bass, etc.. but drag free is a whole different thing, as is the casting. this is difficult to convey in email but i hope you understand.

i like the idea you mention below the best as a compound cast/mend. this enables us to flick the tip to where ever, when ever for the trees, rocks, etc... as in anchoring of line or for presentaion of line on water. i guess the reason this email struck me, is someone attempted to actually explain why a reach was so good for a begineer in dealing with current when i was in bozeman -stating that it provided a better drag free float. i humbly disagree, in that on average it does little for extending long float times. long float times are typically longer out of curves-need water to convey it though.

For your last question: First, note that the reach cast is a requirement on the CCI exam, not the MCI test. You've already passed that. Now the examiners on an MCI exam can probe the depths of a candidates casting knowledge by asking that any cast be performed....including a reach cast. The candidate can't be flunked for not doing a task not specifically on the exam, but CAN be flunked for not giving the examiners the confidence that he/she has a broad enough understanding of casting and teaching matters in general that would make that candidate a Master quality instructor. A HUGE difference from the CCI exam ! If I were taking the exam and were asked to make that cast, I'd go right ahead and do it without the curve, and then do one with the curve pointing out exactly as you would that the second one, "is a great fishing cast". MOST IMPORTANT IN THIS SCENARIO, HOWEVER, IS THAT YOU DEMONSTRATE 2 THINGS: 1. That you can do either, (control) and, 2. That you know exactly why the second one is a better fishing cast.

Teaching the many ways of producing a drag free drift for a dry fly is a detailed topic requiring high skill with advanced techniques. It's mandatory for a trout fisherman to know as many ways as possible to do that....in different directions and under differing conditions on the stream. As you point out, the straight line layout just won't cut the mustard !

One of the attributes of a real Master, is that he/she have a really broad understanding of fly casting as it applies to fly fishing in all sorts of areas. This includes some knowledge of what's best for fishing circumstances found in......say, fishing for Atlantic salmon....or for bonefish. I'd want a Master to know, for example, that there is a reason to, "bow" to a large tarpon when he jumps even if that candidate had never been tarpon fishing. His readings and his communications with fly fishermen who have had that experience will have taught him that. The candidate may have had very limited or no real experience Spey fishing with a 2 handed rod.....but he must have knowledge of the bare essentials involved including the basic principles such as what cast to use with a downsream wind, which bank he's on, how to line up the D-loop with respect to his target, and where to place the, "anchor" or the, "splash-down", etc., etc. If he doesn't, he's just not informed enough to be a Master.

As part of this great collection of general knowledge, is the fact that there are other fishing scenarios and venues which demand the use of a VERY straight casting layout such that hardly any slack appears in the leader or the line.....permit fishing is an example. The reason is that you may have the fly in exactly the right place and the fish may take just fine. In the event that there is ANY slack in the system between the rod tip and the fly, no hook up is possible, because the fish instantly ejects the fly and the angler never feels a thing. (It's one thing that makes this quarry such a challange.)

A well rounded Master may even know the idea of presenting a fly to the TAIL of a sailfish with a straight layout to make the fish turn and take with less likelihood of this big creature inhaling the whole fly, shock tippet and part of the class tippet.....which would result in an almost instant parting of the tippet. He should also know the value of a strip-strike when fishing for large salty predators as opposed to an entirely different method of striking when trout fishing......even if he's never actually done that.

Having said all that, I would NOT expect a trout fisherman candidate to know the details of tying up a tarpon leader. I would ask that question of a candidate I knew to be a salt water fisherman. (I was asked that as my first question when Tom Jindra and Bill Gammel tested me....because they knew darn well I sure ought to know that.) By the same token, you could teach me an infinite number of tricks about trout fishing that I likely don't know.....but I have learned the basics of that fishery.

One of the criticisms of the FFF years ago, was that it was strictly a club with no interest in any fly fishing other than trout fishing. That led to the formation of splinter groups such as the Salt Water Fly Rodders and various Bass and Big Game fly fishing orgainizations. Now we look at the broad picture and embrace all kinds of fly fishing.

Tom White will sometimes question an MCI candidate on what fly, leader, line, rod and reel he'll recommend for a fish he knows the candidate has never seen or sought. As when a Master is asked by his student what to bring for a fish he's going to try for, he asks his student many questions about that fish and the waters in which it's found and from this comes up with some good general advice.

When I'm the lead examiner on an MCI exam it's my exam style to find out what kind of fishing the candidate has done most. I have a broad enough background to be able to ask a whole line of pertinent questions on that type of fly fishing......whatever it is. You'll be expected as a Master, to be able to do the same thing. That's why, as we test, we say to ourselves, "Does this candidate demonstrate enough general knowledge to be a good examiner if we pass him/her ?"

So we expect a real Master to be able to at least answer his students' basic questions on any kind of fly fishing based upon his or her great depth of understanding gained from years of reading, study, and communication with others who have been successful at doing what is not necessarily available to the candidate in his own waters or sphere of influence.