Haul for distance/ Dan McCrimmon

 

Walter & Group....

 

Message on teaching yourself to use the haul with maximum efficiency....by Dan McCrimmon. (So many casters  use the haul to take up slack they shouldn't have had in the first place) :-

 

 

 

 

I note with some interest your discussions on hauling. I would like to share a little experiment and drill.

 

When practicing for the European Masters I began to not only look carefully at how and when I was hauling, but at what affect it was REALLY having as far as distance and line speed. As a result of studying my own cast, I began to realize that in the initial stages of my preparations and practice, that my hauls were only adding marginally to my over all distance.

 

Then I began to watch others and noted that for all the effort being expended and all the huffing and chuffing, there usually was not much gain.

 

So... I began a series of drills where:

a) I began with a short line, held the line as if I were going to haul, and maximized my line speed and reduced my loop size

 

b) I kept adding line until I was able to pick up and control about 60 - 65 feet of line and do false casting with it.

 

c) Without hauling, I then would pick up and false cast as much line as I could absolutely control. Then let o

 

 

line on the back cast and eventually shoot the line. I would mark the distance. Eventually I was hitting my maximum distance consistently (this will vary with the caster)

 

d) Once I could shoot line without hauling to my best consistent distance, I added a single haul to the pick-up/ back cast to increase line speed

 

e) then a front haul

 

f) then double hauling and false casting while letting line slip

 

I noted that I had increased my overall distance substantially

 

CONCLUSION: I had, and probably had been for years, using my hauls as a crutch rather than as a means of augmenting or improving my distance cast. By forcing myself to maximize my non-haul casts and shooting line, I was able to ADD TO my cast by hauling.

 

Just me... but I am a slow learner anyway.

 

Dan McCrimmon

 

 

 

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I answered Dan by noting a demonstration on just this by Bill Gammel.  He threw an entire fly line using no haul whatever.  This demo was at a SE Conclave a few years ago.

 

Gordy