Walter & Group.........
Taking a page from 1930's fly casting history, Ally Gowans sends us this fascinating message:-
Hi Gordy,
I have copies of several letters
written between Alexander Grant and Donald Rudd (Jock Scott) and others. Some of
the content is fascinating and sometime I will produce an article about Grant. I
must have produced this excerpt for some reason a while ago and thought it
amusing finding that Grant had written about slack line in the cast and that I
happened to find it today. Grant corresponded with Einstein and in one of his
letters to Rudd he mentions his research into Relativity and the Fourth
Dimension. An amazing man indeed!
Part
of a letter to Mr Rudd 5 February 1934
Your
illustrations, giving the different positions when casting, are clearly shown
and easily to be understood, both for lifting and driving. You are also right
when casting overhead in turning nearly sideways to the line and lifting the
line right across the chest which enables one to use the power needed for sport
or long casting. I thoroughly believe, when you get when you get the length of
Vibration Line required and the correct rings adapting themselves to the balance
of the rod, without overloading it, you will not only beat my throw of 37 yards
(Planet system) but also beat it many yards overhead and I hope to live to see,
or at least to hear, of your doing 40 yards or more overhead with a 10 ft. rod.
But that is not yet and you must bear with patience the delay until these lines
and rings are made to satisfaction. Upright rings would not only take away power
but would not sustain a vibration line from reel to point of rod and, nearing
the return of the cast, the part of the line running through these d----d rings
would slacken back at the moment the drive forward is made, giving an uneven
result unequal to the power used. Here again it comes in the sustained swing of
a golf club or the throw of a stone from a firm foundation to show the fallacy
of such defective impediments in fly fishing.
Grant did not shoot line during his
casts so he was picking up and dropping 37 yards! There seems little reason to
doubt his achievements because his feats were recorded by the press and by
fellow competitors, how he did it I do not know. His lines were square plait
silk and very fine. His rods were greenheart spliced and tuned to the line. Hope
that you find this interesting.
Best
wishes,
Ally
Gowans
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Ally.....
As you know, I fished with bamboo fly rods and silk lines in the salt during the '30s. My grandfather had a greenheart rod with tubular brass guides. He used it for distance on an ocean beach...... Lay out the line way back to the dunes and heaved mightily to get the fly out beyond the first line of breakers. I daresay, he might have thrown as much as 30 yards..... with no shoot.
Gordy
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