Student casting wide loops

Walter & Group.......

Lewis Hinks on the student casting with wide loops :

Hi Gordy,

 

    I would need to see the reason for the open loop. If the student is applying too much wrist movement at the end the of the cast the loop will be wide. We can corect that by working on restricting the wrist movement (hooking butt of rod under the cuff of the sleeve for example.) If it is  the path of the rod tip, convex, then I would have the student make a number of false casts, probably without the line through the guides, tracing the edge of a distant building, power line or some othe straight horizontal line. If there were no such lines then we could make one on the ground with w fly line or lay  rod on the ground and have the student get used to the movements, by tracing that line with the rod horizontal.

 

All the best,

Lewis

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Lewis...   Good suggestions.   We'll assume that these wide loops are made by, "doming" ie. a convex path of the rod tip throughout the stroke.

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From Guy Manning:

Gordy,

 

To begin with, how do does the instructor know that the student can recognize a good loop from a bad loop from their own vantage point. They have viewed your loops most likely from the side, so things will be quite apparent from that perspective. Once they get the rod in their hands their point of view is considerably changed and it is difficult for many students to tell how big their loops are.

 

Here is a technique I leaned from Eric Sherar, MCCI out of Paso Robles, Ca.

 

Once I get people false casting I make a point of asking them if they can tell if their loops are narrow or big. Most say no. At that point I have them stand directly behind my casting shoulder, within 18-24 inches of me. I then make a series of slow casts going from small, to big, to small, to big. I show them both sizes at least twice, explaining which is which as I do them. I then ask them if they think they can now tell which is which. They usually say yes. I have found this to be effective for giving the students another tool for “self analysis which leads to self correction” which is something I stress throughout my classes. I want people to leave my classes with enough knowledge of hand and arm positions, before and after each stroke, so they can take that knowledge home and practice correctly through self analysis and self correction.

 

 Guy Manning

FFF Master Certified Casting Instructor

Moderator FFFCCI Yahoo Group

www.castflys.net

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Guy...   A point often overlooked.  We must start with some method of having the student understand how to recognize these loop sizes from HIS POSITION as a caster !

Gordy

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From Gary Kell :

Gordy,

In my bag of tricks I carry a bright yellow rope about 30

feet long. I will lay this on the lawn and have the

student cast horizonatal keeping the rod tip low tracing

the rope from start of the cast to stop at end of the

cast. First just with the rod and then with about 25 feet

of line making only a forward cast and then only a back

cast -- watching the loop shapes as they form. This is

usually a great teaching moment for invariably the stops

will vary and when the stops drop below the rope the loop

widens. When comfortable with forward and back cast alone

we combine to false casting horizontal then transition

into overhead cast. Somtimes having a roofline, electric

line or something to trace in the overhead postion helps

the student maintain the straight line tip path.

During this process I find some students intiating their

power snap too early in the casting stroke causing a

convex tip path creating wide loop shapes. With them I

work on pulling the fly line along the rope but not

"pulling the trigger" that shoots the line until the rod

passes perpendicular to the rope.

 

Gary

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From John Bilotta:

Here are a couple of thoughts:

 

·        Explain how Bruce Richards six step teaching method works and begin to re-examine the wide-loop problem with the student from “top to bottom” and “bottom to top.”

 

·        The instructor could also demonstrate how the length of the power snap and the crispness of the stop determine the size of the loop.

·        Try and have the student practice making horizontal casts with short lengths of line, 15 feet or so.

·         Make sure the palm is facing upward. Discuss and demonstrate making a tight loop with the turnover arc later in the loading move.

·        Continue to focus on getting the student to stop the rod abruptly.

·         Increase distance in short increments, and as the stroke improves, have the student move from a horizontal to a more vertical casting stroke.

 

John Bilotta

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COMMENTS:  Many of us have used the method of horizontal casting over a rope or any straight line on the ground.

I have found value in using two ropes on the ground.   I start by placing them about 8' apart and have the student make his wide loops within them.   Then I move them closer and closer together all the while training the student to try to keep the loops within the rope boundries.

The student usually gets the picture after several tries, that the more straight the path of the rod tip, the more likely the loops will be small enough to stay within the ropes.

Once mastered, I have him go, "airborne" just above the ropes .... then progressively higher until he can do it in an off vertical rod plane.

After plenty of alone time to practice this, we go to using different line lengths ..... same technique.

Gordy