CONGRATULATIONS / Teaching

Walter & Group.......

CONGRATULATIONS to Bill Toone (Editor of the FFF Flyfisher) :-

Gordy I re-tested for my Masters this past Sunday at the Bellevue Washington Fly Fishing Show and….passed!  Thank you so much for all the energy and time you put into the internet Master Study Group.  Being a part of it was a big help in my passing the exam.  Please keep me in the loop since I want to continue my learning and being exposed to tips and ideas from others.

Thanks again.

 

Regards,

Bill Toone

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Bill .....    We could not have received better news !!!!!!   Of course we'll keep you in.

Gordy

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From Paul Arden:-

Hi Gordy, I agree with Ally (for once, but that may mean I'm wrong): it's important to be negative. When the silver lining becomes glitter that you can't see then maybe you should point out the big black cloud that makes up the complete fuckup that the student was casting.

 

Some guys need to be told they are wrong. The best students and arguably the quickest learners are happy to be told so. Make that a positive: "Hey, you know what? I think you're good enough for me to say you're crap. Feel good about that: that doesn't happen very often. Now let me show you some stuff that will make you less crap in my eyes, by the way this will cost more."

 

I used to play backrow rugby. There you would play the game until you got penalised; in otherwords if the ref was happy with you late tackling the flyhalf you would find out if he was happy with you punching the scrumhalf for being offside. Take it to the ref. If he doesn't like being punched then keep tackling him late.

 

Cheers, Paul

 

PS I was right about the line tension.

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Paul....   That is what I meant when I said that once in a while you will get a student who needs a good swift kick in the ego.

Then there are, I see, styles of teaching just as there are styles of casting.  Should yours be unique, so be it.  In general, however, I do feel that negativism should be kept for those that need it.  Not for the average student or usual circumstance.

Agreed...... you were right about the tension.

Gordy

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From Michael Jones :-

Gordy:

Please share this regarding the wristing problem that Dennis describes.

I notice that many problems with wristing result from twisting the rod on it's axis away from the caster during the backcast, in a way that allows the wrist to open up the backcast in a sloppy open loop.  I discovered that I did this, years ago, on a trip to the Florida Keys, where we had a photographer along to take pictures.  Once I saw a 'still' photo of me, late in my backcast, I realized that I was opening up my loop by rotating the rod-reel-wrist outside of my body's medial plane.

Now, when I notice a student dropping the rod tip too low, I immediately focus on the wrist, and look for this pattern; inevitably, it occurs about 90% of the time.  

 

The remedy:

I take the rod out of their hand and stand directly in-front of them.  I offer a casual handshake, and suggest for them to relax their entire wrist.  At this point (while shaking a limp wrist), I rotate their wrist in every direction slowly, 180 degrees, side to side, then up and down.  I then release their hand and show them that the wrist has tremendous rotational range when opened up (think swatting a fly with only the  hand motion), then I grasp their hand again, and basically do 2 things very slowly and carefully:  I raise their hand until it stops, then I lower the handshake until I am gently pushing against their forearm bones with their thumb up in the classic 'handshake' position.  I point out how the body itself has two beautiful 'built-in' stop positions, and the auditory reference is: "now, keep the reel pointing at the target, on both the backcast and forward stroke."  This has eliminated a ton of big issues that I have encountered in with wristing, without pointing out that they are doing anything wrong.

I hope this helps someone; it helped me greatly!

Michael Jones
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Michael ....    Good thoughts.  

 

I, too, have noted that some casters improve immediately with the simple instruction to keep the reel pointed at the target.  I have, however, seen some very good casters to otherwise. 

 

I was fishing, yesterday, with Peter Minnick and Steve Rajeff.  Steve pointed out that the thumb on top position is his favorite for short casts and accuracy casts.  With distance casts, he uses the, "V" grip .... not so much because of its tendency to resist wristing, but because he feels that his tracking is more accurate when carrying great lengths of line.

 

(Steve hooked an 8' shark on a Clouser ...... we ended up breaking him off.)

 

Gordy

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