Teaching / Pearls from Ally

Walter & Group.............

I WILL BE AWAY NEXT WEEK FOR 6 DAYS            GORDY

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From Al Crise:

Howdy Gordy and MCI Study Group   

 

I have to agree with Both Gordy and Guy. When I think back a few years to my First try at the Masters level. I met Dr Gordon Hill.  Wow now that man was what I would call a Master and he was testing the same day. Well Gordy Passed I did not. BUT I did make a Friend and a Mentor that I can say is the reason I passed my Test the next year. A Year of swapping E mails Hours of trying and teaching and CASTING,, then the Discussion of the subject matter for that week. I made leaps and bounds. I can not thank this Group enough for all that has been brought up, Tried, Tested, and some just tossed out. Yea a lot of my ideas of what casting was all about. The Teaching tools that I learned I have tried to share. From kids to master candidates it is a journey that I have enjoyed. The Friends I have made in this Study Group are special to me.

 

Thanks Gordy,

 

ol Al

Allen R. Crise

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Comment:  ol Al is one of the most effective and energetic teachers I have ever known.  PERIOD.     Gordy

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From Mack Martin (Atlanta Fly Fishing School)   In answer to Rene Hesse's question on education and teaching techniques :-

This is an interesting question and merits thoughts from any of us that teach on regular basis. Outside the routine instruction in the classroom, every student that comes for private lessons generally has a different problem or desire to address their quest for improved fly casting. My advice is to be a good and careful  listener and tailor your instruction to fix or improve their particular problem. History tells us that to do this, you must have a broad range of techniques, teaching aids and sometimes equipment to address their casting problems. The students must leave their lesson with a sound understanding of the casting mechanics that must be employed to fix their problem and be able to practice correctly to improve their casting. 

 

So after listening carefully to their problems, be patient with their progress and follow up with assurance that if they will take the time to practice, they will soon become a much better fly caster.

 

Mack Martin

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Question from Lou Bruno :-

 

Gordy - another question on teaching.

 

I am glad to see a question on teaching; teaching is going to be my biggest hurdle.

 

I have to prepare a presentation on “casting types” for our local FFF club. I will be doing this indoors in the middle of winter. So I won’t be able to demonstrate any casting techniques outside or indoors. I will have about one hour for the presentation.

 

I would like to hear your and the groups suggestions on how to prepare or what to present. Did anyone else have the similar experience?

 

Lou

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Lou....

Let's see if we get some ideas from members of the Group.  I'll start the ball rolling:

This title can lead to a wide range of presentations.

For entertainment without much real teaching, you might come up with a slide show or power point presentation of comical errors resulting in embarrassing situations ..... these could be staged for picture purposes or taken from pictures in the field of real funny situations.

For a true teaching experience, you might consider carefully studying the techniques and styles of well known casters such as Joan Wulff, Lefty Kreh, Gary and Jason Borger, Steve Rajeff, etc.  This can range all the way from a comparison of their arm/elbow styles to their default rod planes all the way to their use of, "hang time", "lay back", Back thrust, or Drift .....

You could relate these styles of casting to the various ways of performing the essentials of casting.  Perhaps even ending up with a discussion of how all good fly fishermen use variations of these styles to solve the casting problems of the real fishing world..... the concept that the, "Compleate caster" is an accomplished individual who used a "Lefty" style when he's fishing the salt water flats, a "joan Wulff" style when fishing a stream for trout, a, "Borger" style for many other venues, and a, "Rajeff" style when he's casting in a distance competition event.

You could even use a "yarn rod" indoors to make these casts and have your audience guess which expert you are mimicking.  You'd be using actual audience participation as a good teaching tool.

With that one, you'll teach yourself a great deal, too !

Just some ideas...............

Gordy

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Ally Gowans was, "out of the loop" for part of Nov., and then received our messages.  Here are a few of his replies ... Pearls of wisdom !

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 wonder if this gets people thinking?

 

At what point is a fly rod overloaded?

 

Best wishes,

Ally Gowans

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Ally ..... I look at it this way.   Overloading the rod is very different from overlining it, although overlining can result in overload.  I see overload as casting with more inertia inherent in the fly line carried than the rod can handle yielding a poor cast despite the best efforts of a good caster.

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On the concept of tailing loop caused by too much power for the amount of rod arc :

Hi Gordy,

 

This is possibly the most common tailing loop fault that I see! Saying something like "take longer to make the cast and ensure that the speed is at the end of the stroke" usually fixes it because it is often related to anxiety in beginners and testosterone in young males!

 

Best wishes,

Ally Gowans

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Kirk's observations re the relationship between overhang, loop tightness and distance are obvious and I have thought about the overhand vs loop shape phenomena often over the years and have come to the conclusion (which may be wrong!) that rods do bend quite differently depending on where the line mass is distrubuted. With shooting heads and light running line the rod is loaded from only the tip ring whereas when some of the heavier line is within the rings the rod loads and unloads much more smoothly and with a deeper bend. It is therefore often an advantage when Spey casting to take the rear taper into the stripping guide (depending on rod length - not with a Windcutter because it is too short).

 

Best wishes,

Ally Gowans

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Comment: Check out p. 57 of Don Phillips', THE TECHNOLOGY OF FLY RODS for a discussion of the distribution of forces in the fly rod guides.          Gordy

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Second thoughts about those tight loops with overhang, I wonder if it because the running line has insufficient body to keep the loop open?

 

Best wishes,

Ally Gowans

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Perhaps so as there is less mass per length.        G.

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Gordy,

 

I don't believe that torque will cause anything more than damage to wrists and curved casts if due to loading the tip top follows the curve and broken rods. Some torque is generated with Spey casts and that's what makes the joints more prone to slackening and torque is also useful for releasing stuck rod joints! Off-setting guides will introduce a small amount of torque but the main benefit is to reduce line slap and not to induce torque. Ignore torque far as teaching fly casting is concerned unless you have a student who has a problem that concerns torque that needs to gotten rid of! Al Buhr demonstrated what he called a "Torque Cast" to me at Conclave, I didn't think that the wrist twist contributed anything to the cast and produced and equally effective result with my hands open to avoid any chance of torque (two-handed rod) and it was less complicated.

 

Best wishes,

Ally Gowans

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Drift - this relaxation and movement in concert with the travelling line in the direction of the cast is also a good time to encourage students to relax their grip so that when they start the next cast they are unlikely to jerk. Lots of students tend to jerk the forward cast and put too much effort into it. Drift however can also apply to forward casts (anything that can be done on a front cast or back cast can be done on a back cast or front cast!). Introducing drift is often a good way to prevent beginners throwing tailing loops because it lengthens the stroke and encourages the correct acceleration profile.

 

Best wishes,

Ally Gowans

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Comment:  The unrelaxed constant, "death grip" is a real problem with some casting students.  I feel that the ONLY time a tight grip is needed during the cast is when the rod is deeply loaded.       Gordy

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Re Walter's comments on stopping rods for me there is just one answer, the one that you would expect of course, ergonomics! Basically the more near your limbs and muscles are to around half movement or natural positions the better you will be able to control them. Athletes such as competition casters can develop their bodies to achieve control in positions that are difficult for the untrained person AKA usual student. Sometimes competition casters make huge casts at the expense of their bodies e.g many of the "Spey Casters" who have developed serious arm and shoulder conditions to extent that we are now considering have "Cortisone Casting Competitions" . (Only kidding!)

Best wishes,

Ally Gowans

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Comment :  I highlighted in red, a very important concept.  How many times to we see a fisherman casting with his casting arm way up and out !  Yields early fatigue and tends to produce back casts which have slack by virtue of horizontally directed wide loops.  (see p. 30 of Joan Wulff's book, Joan Wulff's FLY CASTING TECHNIQUES.)

When Ally and Dennis Grant taught me a more ergonomic way of holding my casting arms down with bent elbows for Spey casting, it changed my whole outlook as it made my casts much easier.

It is why we teach a person with a leg problem to walk with a cane the length of which is dictated by the height of the hand with the elbow bent.  It's most ergonomically efficient and gives him the best support.

Gordy

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