AWAY / Curves / "STOP"

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In regard to the discussion of overpowered curve casts, here are some observations I have had.

When I make a overpowered curve cast and do nothing more than good hard stop at the end of the stroke, I will essentially get a hook where the leader and maybe a couple of feet of the fly line hooks to the left (right handed cast). However, if I make the stop and keep a tight grip on the rod with an additional amount of pressure from the heal of my hand on the rod grip, I will get the curve much farther up the fly line. Keep in mind that I don't try to pull the rod tip back. I just try to reduce the amount of damping as much as possible (for a large curve). I had always thought that this move does two things: 1) makes turnover faster, therefore creating more kick to the fly. 2) increase rebound of the rod tip to have the rod throw a "mend" in the rod leg of the line. I also have found that by varying my "death grip" on the rod after the stop I can somewhat adjust the size and length of the curve.

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The greater the negative acceleration ("harder you stop") at the end of your overpowered curve cast, the greater the counterflex and rebound. The former helps place the fly in the direction you sent it as your rod tip came to RSP, and the latter assists by increasing the depth of the curve.

When I go one step further and make a move opposite the direction taken by the fly after the cast, I'm assisting rebound. By adding to it, I can increase the depth of the curve and / or sharpen it into a 90 degree hook, depending upon my timing of this move. In any event, when I use this method, I end up with one of two things:

This based on a useful definition of the term, MEND to mean repositioning the fly line after the cast.

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Gordy - In one of the classes I had with Jason Borger at a past conclave he pointed out that the stop can be difficult to actually see, especially when

beginners are watching an advanced caster. The problem is that an advanced caster will execute a stop and then continue smoothly into the drift such that

the beginner thinks they are seeing a casting arc of nearly 180 degrees. I believe this is one of the reasons Jason uses the terms ALE and ATE to describe

the basic stroke. Jason's terminology also fits well when watching Paul Arden's distance cast. As you know Paul's casting arc actually is about 170 degrees and many people describe this as a stopless cast because he makes no effort to rapidly decelerate the butt of the rod at any time during the

casting stroke. The rod butt naturally coasts to a stop after the rod has unloaded whic result in some people calling it a slow stop . If you watch Paul's casts

in slow motion you can see that there is a point in the cast where the rod goes from maximum load to rsp very quickly - there are a number of reasons that

come together to create this unloading point (even though the caster has done nothing to specifically cause the rod to unload, i.e. decelerating the rod

through the use of his muscles). One of the major contributing factors is that the rod tip is moving in an extremely flattened elliptical path. As the rod tip

nears the pointy end of the ellipse the application of force on the rod tip transitions from forward to downward very quickly. Other contributing factors are the

fact that, even though the rotation is continued, the caster has "run out of arm" and is unable to continue applying force in the forward direction; also the changing angle of the rod butt to the line plane reduces the amount of resistance from the line on the rod. All of these things are timed to occur together

resulting in the rod going from maximum bend to rsp very quickly and to ensure that energy is transferred from the rod to the line very effectively, i.e. in

Another confusing thing is watching a caster like Steve Rajeff who applies a thrusting motion at the end of his stroke that, again, makes it appear to a

When I'm working with beginners I like to introduce the idea of drift very soon after they have learned the basic casting stroke and explain that the stop

has to occur at the same place but then the rod is repositioned to allow for a longer stroke which can be used for a more relaxed casting stroke or

to allow additional application of power for a longer cast. I then make sure they understand that the rod still has to unload in the same place, and that

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Walter.... I think Jason is absolutely correct. I also think your analysis is right on target. (More fun to find something to challenge, but I can't.)