Mac Brown on elliptical casts / line control

After reading the Belgian posts again I think the critical thing is timing more than getting bogged down with stop (pause). This enables one to adapt more to where the smooth power curve is applied during the ellipse. A really great teaching tool is to have students start short and lengthen the line with a small horizontal ellipse. While doing this the power is varied throughout the stroke until it just kisses the waters surface. This technique also aids the student with line control in the long run for both casting and mends (also a myriad of spey casts anchors). It is the line control of how much and when that I always found lacking in guiding 22 years. Ask for a small mend and the whole line is flipped 20 feet upstream kind of thing. I believe these nuances are not mentioned and talked about enough in teaching platforms, clinics, or guiding days for those interested in the sport. Seems like most of the hoopla any more is distance, distance, and more distance . Not that the ability to do it is a bad thing, just that it does not begin to have the tools for layout or Presentation like Gary Borger has excellent descriptions of in his text (one of my favorite books by the way).

I agree on several points: 1. Much emphasis is placed on distance. Perhaps a lot too much. 2. Gary's book is superb ! It is definitely my favorite, too. I'm remiss in not including it with my brief list of references on the topic. PRESENTATION, Gary Borger, 1995, pp. 217-218. Also: THE ESSENCE OF FLY CASTING, Mel Krieger,1987, pp. 104 - 107 (Complete with excellent photographs.) 3. Emphasis needs to be place more on line control. At the very least as much as that devoted to distance.

Another question on all of this, we are familiar with the Belgian cast, but I find it hard to give all the credit for this style of casting to say that any circular, elliptical, etc... casting is due to Goddart. I think by reading Ritz and A.J. Mclanes descriptions that Albert was not a tall man. The original reason that he used the style of cast for him was that in the back cast, the line would travel low to the ground and mysteriously kick upward (I believe Mclane refered to it as defying gravity in appearance) . It was this upward kick that enabled him to defeat many (if not all, many times) of his comrades in competing. I think that for the time period it may have worked for that equipment. Technology changed and it would be hard to compete with that style for distance today. I am going off of memory on all of this but this seems to be what I remembered reading and in talking to some of the casters from the tourney scene. I am not by any means intending to take anything away from such a great man and caster, just that the thousands of combinations of various layouts surely do not all go to the Belgians for any casts that is a curve by choice.

Godart gets a tad, "taller" as you read Charles Ritz' description of his accomplishments in THE LIFE OF A FLY FISHER. It is true, however, that he didn't invent that method of casting ... he appears to have modified it in keeping with his style. Apparently he had the cast named for him because of the fact that he was the one who demonstrated it for a winning event at a prestigious international competition, despite the fact that we now know that type of casting had been used in Austria (Hans Gebetsroither) and elswhere in Europe with no particular name applied. They simply fished that way. Godart's, "magical" rising back cast, I think, was what Joan Wulff would have called, "An upward climbing power snap". Gunter Fuerstein and others have referred to the cast as the, "European continuous tension cast."

After reading Guy's post on pause time -I agree with him. It really depends on what we are attempting with the stroke. When I think of many specialty casts out of ellipses I think the very subtle pause in timing (even if it is dealing with delay of power or spike of power during the ellipses) makes the difference of either having the ability to make the cast or not. Think of the anchors in spey casting and that same pause time (as well as rod path) is the difference of making it look way easy or really blowing it. These nuances are all great for fishing. Thanks in advance for your comments and good chating with you the other day. Happy holidays to all!