Teaching disabled students / Spey practice / Line carried

My daughter is an "Aspy" (short for Asperger's person). I have really enjoyed teaching her on many occasions and she does OK. Aspy's typically are challenged socially. They are considered on the Autism Spectrum, but, can appear to be very skilled in many ways. She does not pick up on social cues well at all. Usually in a conversation she may not know when it is her time to respond. I am very literal with Carmen since she does not understand slang or any expressions that are indirect or could have double meaning. She also learns one thing at a time. I try to give her one and only one tiny lesson at a time and let her experiment. I keep things simple and don't expect her to interact verbally. She loves it when she succeeds. The other day she was delighted to show me how she can form loops and she did very well. I always keep a rod strung up at all times (as Uncle Tom White always said) and it reminds her to practice. When her brother and sister are busy with their friends being social, Carmen enjoys practicing her casting by herself. I have a lot of fun with her and she is my favorite fishing partner. She will fish all day long, no matter if we are catching fish or not and still look forward to going again.

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My nephew has a bipolar disorder. This results in wide swings of excitement coupled with hyperactivity contrasted with periods of deep depression.

When he's depressed, it's hard for me to be able to teach him anything let alone fly casting. When on an up swing, it is as though he's, "on fire" to learn. My way of handling this situation is to avoid trying to push him in any way while on his, "down swings." By doing it that way, I succeeded in having him become a very proficient fly caster capable of good loops at 80' at ll years of age. More importantly, I note that he never seems to start his depressions while fly fishing. He's now 18.

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Spey casting practice like all forms of practice can be tiring but is especially so if muscles are tensioned by for example tightly gripping the rod or used outwith normal postures.

Spey casting breaks down into two basic forms; the Roll Cast in which the line is picked up in a “D” loop from the water until that remaining in contact with the water is minimised and the final part of the cast is made by completing the stroke tangentially to the loop (normally slightly upwards) (in this case the Roll Cast would have no “stop” behind the caster – unlike the Roll Casts required for the CI tests). It is a curved (some say circular or elliptical) motion (like all other forms of Spey casting) (hence Grant’s mention of the “Planet Cast”). (This is the basis for the Double Spey, and the two cast combinations of Snap T and Snap C etc.)

The other form is sometimes called the Jump Roll, Forward Spey (American term) or Switch Cast (although traditionally in Scotland the Switch Cast had a wider interpretation). In this form the line is smoothly lifted from the water and repositioned so that the leader and as little line as possible lands gently in a straight line ideally just in front of the casters shoulder and pointing towards the intended casting direction with a perfect “D” loop behind and the curving acceleration path continues to complete the cast as with the other basic form. This cast and its rotated relative the Single Spey are I think the most efficient and fastest casts of all when done correctly (with good ergonomics) and where it is practical to use them.

The second basic form translates into the Snake Roll, Circle casts etc.) Its my opinion after years of teaching fly fishing full time that developing the gentle, smooth and controlled motion required to make the second form mentioned (this I call the “Dropped Form” and the other I call the “Picked up Form” referring to how the “anchor” is achieved) seems to be the most difficult part of casting to master for many anglers and the biggest faults that occur are using too much effort and dropping the rod point behind them (something that is not good in any form of casting!). Timing of the rotation to the forward direction is also problematical but watching the leader alight the timing is “touch and go”, (touch the water with the leader and go to complete the cast) again without stopping. I hope that this is helpful.

Ally Gowans

New – DVD video “Spey Casting Made Easy” by Ally details http://www.letsflyfish.com/spey_casting_dvd.htm

See my web sites http://www.letsflyfish.com and http://www.flyfish-scotland.com

Spey School dates for 2008 are March 14/15/16 & April 11/12/13 see details on the web sites.

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Comment: I was amazed to watch Ally cast, especially to note how easily he does it ..... with the lightest grip imaginable on the rod cork except for the exact moments of greatest tension.

Gordy

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From Chuck Easterling:-

Hi Gordy,

You havew said:

"You are using the term to mean the length of line FROM THE LINE HAND TO THE FLY, INCLUDING THE LEADER."

That is not correct. When I refer to line carry I am referring to the amount of fly line--the leader is not included. 60' feet of line carry means 60 feet of fly line.

Chuck

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Chuck...

Thanks. I stand corrected.

Frankly, I had never heard or used the term, "line carry" before. Once defined, I think it will be a good one . When I use the term, "carried" I try to remember to qualify it by saying, "the amount of line carried out of the rod tip." I don't include the leader .... perhaps I should state that to make it clear to others . Just the way I've been looking at it.

No harm in saying, "the amount of line carried from the line hand" ...... Someday we'll all be on the same page.

When we talk about being able to shoot a certain percentage of the line, "carried", these differences become of great importance.

Gordy

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From Troy Miller:

Please understand that I had a smile on my face when I wrote that "Chuck had duped me" and "he'd pulled a fast one on me". I'm not complaining in any way about the exercise. We all learned a lot from that session, I believe, and Chuck's points were well taken.

The definition of precisely how we measure "carry" and "shoot" is apparently not clear. If you ask me if I can shoot a certain percentage of "the line I'm carrying", I would assume you mean just the flyline out of the rod tip (before vs. after the shoot).

Loop form and speed are definitely critical regarding shooting. But so is good SHOOTING FORM. Some casters launch beautiful loops initially, that should sail into the next county. But they introduce some other counfounding error which reduces the shoot. Having a super clean flyline is one of the most important things! Properly maintaining/controlling the line to be shot is another. Position of the rod during the shoot is another. The flyline taper will have an effect (imagine if you spooled your WF line backwards...).

Thank you VERY much for that lesson, and all the others you've given, Chuck. We're ALL better casters because of the fine details that you help us to hone.

Regards -- TAM

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