Walter & Group...........
Just a quick thought on the third lesson as you mention. The use of rhythm,
tempo, pause, timing, etc... (called so many things is it not?) would be my vote
for the third lesson. An exercise I find helpful in teaching is to have the
student manipulate various size circles all around their body. One loop rolling
will require a certain frequency of force followed by a pause. Continue to
increase this to 2 circles all the way up to 8 when skill progresses. After a
while the student will think 4 loops and be able to demonstrate 4 looped circle
traveling all around the body. This exercise has many benefits to the caster in
that they have perfected mastering line manipulation. This is valuable for
anchors, switches, snap T's, jelly rolls, etc... but also for dealing with tight
places for setting up roll casts. More importantly it is a must for delicate
repositioning of fly line after the cast is made for dealing with currents. This
finesses business is the main thing missing in my opinion after guiding for 24
years. I guess I would label this 3rd lesson as a tempo exercise.
This tempo exercise comes back around again in linear type casting as well.
The ability to demonstrate in and out of time is critical for progressing in all
types of casts. The circle exercise listed above cuts through all of this the
quickest in my opinion. How many times have we watched newbies cast out of time
(failure to wait long enough, maybe due to a change in line length, hauling
tempo, or too much coffee?) Being a musician it is easy to get frustrated
watching a group of folks clapping out of time. If we fail to pause in such an
example then we never get back in time-ah, the same in casting so to speak. Spey
requires much more gifted timing overall in my opinion (like a jazz impromptu
player) so a little exercise in tempo surely could not hurt matters much.
Cheers, Mac Brown
Place me in the beginner category in Spey Casting. There is a
DVD that I am learning from that may be worth looking into entitled, "Spey to
Z--Understanding Traditional, Scandinavian, & Skagit Style Spey Casting with
a Single and Double-Handed rod." by Topher Brown, Way Yin and Greg
Pearson.
I know Greg and he is the best in illustrating and teaching Spey.
Topher is Masters Certified and his communication it this DVD is
outstanding. Wan Yin is also Certified and an M.D. Those
Medical Doctors are pretty good teachers.
This DVD is very well done and comes with recommendations for the
best. It may be worth James exploring this for his purposes.
Jerry: That is one I have not seen. Can you let us know where
it can be obtained ?
Hi Gordy
Since I teach mostly two methods, Skagit and Traditional.
I will explain the traditional as I believe this is what he's asking.
1, After checking (the students) and explaining the
importance of a balanced outfit, I demonstrate what a two hand and
single hand have in common (straight tip path for tight loops, stopping the rod,
slack and the importance of not having any, ect. then I talk about grips,
stance, and explain the principals, 180, anchor and "D" loop, I switch back and
forth between the single and a two hand rod, and this is done on grass. All
Spey cast can be done with a single hand rod, quite often I supply the rod-reels
etc. assuring that the students have balanced outfits to work
with.
2, we now go to the water, and do a roll cast , off both
sides, the forward loop is rolled over the water not on the water. This is an
important cast, it will straighten the line (on the dangle) also bring a sink
tip up to the surface, prior to the next cast.
3, Next a Switch cast, this is and accelerated roll
cast, where the line jumps from the dangle into an anchor point. I teach both
sides, Spend as much time as needed to understand the anchor and D loop
and timing, This becomes critical, you must watch every Spey movement
!!
4, Single Spey, this is nothing more then a switch cast
with a slight (30 degrees) change of direction, both sides. The mistake here, is
to make to big of a change of direction, keep at 30 till you master
it.
5 Now comes the Double, again anchor, and timing are so
important, and teach both sides
6 Snap T, or Circle C, after this the student can fish
both banks and both side of his/her body.
In most cases this is taught over two days, at the end of
the class I do a show and tell, where each student explains and demonstrates a
few cast, this assures me they got it ! If you did a single day class modify the
course (roll-switch double, and snap T is what I would teach)
I spent 18 months preparing for my two-hand test,
three days a week on water, on average 8 hours a day. "this is not exaggerated"
We as students are always in a big hurry to cast as far as we can, and try
something new, try to avoid this, learn each cast to the best of your
ability before moving on to the next. My courses teach and explain what to do,
it's up to the student to master it. One last thing, Spey Casting should be
effortless. I it hurts your doing it wrong.
Good night, hope this help answer some
questions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Troy Miller on the Roll Cast:
Hi Gordy
–
Good to be back in
touch. I said those EXACT words to Tom White when he
tested me in
Alaska in 1995 (fat line only
turning over skinnier line as the loop unrolls)…
I agree with and have
used (more or less) all the
methods you talk about below at some time or another, as the
needs dictate.
Truthfully, I don’t teach much roll casting in TX. Most of our casts are
for saltwater or LM bass, and roll casts are not often
indicated (at least not for a
presentation cast, but occasionally for setting up future false casts with
sinking lines, etc). I’m one of the first people I know that did NOT teach
the roll cast to students as their first cast. For 25 years, I’ve gotten
my students false casting first. Many other instructors
criticized me for this, but it
worked for me (the madness to
my method…). Now, there are not very many instructors that start out
teaching their students the roll cast first. I’m happy about that, but
know that it has nothing to do with my preference. It’s just been a
natural evolution of flycasting instruction method.
One point that I’d like
to make. I think that it’s important for the student to understand the
relationship between the setup, the rod tip path during the roll cast stroke,
and the shape of the loop. In other words, I want them to be able to make
slower, fatter rolls if desired. When fishing a
brace of wets, I PURPOSELY make a 4 or 5 foot diameter loop to “roll” across the
water (not completely breaking free from the water as you would when making a
shooting roll cast). This absolutely prevents tangling, and keeps the wet
flies wet so they fish immediately when
landing. So, a sharp, fast, pointed loop is NOT always the
objective when roll casting. Sometimes, we need to take a page from
the old books…
Take care, and hope
your new year is a great one!
Regards
--
TAM
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Troy...
Does seem that the,
"Holy Graile" of all casting is the TIGHT
LOOP. At least one would think so from so
much of our FFF teaching and testing. So much of the time in real fly
fishing circumstances we need loops of various sizes and shapes. For some
kinds of fishing, a tight loop is an anathema ... not an
advantage.
I don't look
at the tight loop that way at all. My view is that whether the
caster is roll casting, Spey casting, or straight line overhead casting, I want
him/her to have mastered loop CONTROL . To me, that means
being able to make any loop.... large or small to suit a particular fishing or
casting circumstance.
On an MCCI exam, I'll
ask to have the candidate make three distinct types of wide loops, tell me what
they are used for in fishing, and then tell me how to teach them, including the
casting mechanics behind each different wide loop. THAT tells me
right away if the candidate has an in depth understanding.
As I see it,
CONTROL IS THE NAME OF THE GAME
!
In our salt
water casting classes and individual instruction, we do teach the roll cast and
it's many applications for fishing the mangroves, roll pickups, and the roll for
getting sinking lines to the surface as well as the "roll" portion of the salt
water "quick cast".-
Gordy