Slide loading / Lesson learned !

[First_Name] & Group...

From Peter Lami:

Gordy,

Guy Manning's reply to my question on slide loading was very informative.

I love being a member of your community.

Peter Lami

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Peter....

And we love having you with us !

Guy is one of the best informed Masters !  He has a wealth of fly casting knowledge and teaching experience.  I have learned a great deal from him and I daresay most of the members of our Group have, too.  We are fortunate to have him on board.

Gordy

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From Craig Buckbee:

gordy,

i like bruce richard's take on late rotation: 'correct rotation'. very much related is slide loading.

here is a link, which i'm sure many here have looked at, of jerry siem casting at the denver

show. he is not casting distance like others video'd, but he is hauling. hauling along the

axis, and what others have commented on as creep, i see as a little dose of slide loading .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYxBoXQ7zyA&feature=related

happy new year all you fellow geeks,

craig

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Craig...

Expert casters like Jerry Siem can use what most of us teach as faults to advantage .... a fine line here, between slide loading and creep. Jerry was one of Al Kyte's "elite casters" which he wrote about in his classic article, GOING FOR DISTANCE.  His style is described in Al's article, ELBOW STYLES. (both are in the Master Study Guide.)

As you know, one of the major problems with creep is that it shortens the casting stroke and rod arc for the next cast.  This can result in insufficient stroke length and rod arc so that the cast collapses, or (more often) the student will sense that something is wrong and use a spike of power with acceleration which cannot be maintained.   The rod tip dips down, then up and finishes going in an upward direction,  Of course, that yields a concave rod tip path.  The caster didn't cast in a concave manner, but the rod tip achieved that path.  A tailing loop results.

Now, if you do the same thing (creep); moving the rod forward as the back cast is still unrolling, but you have gotten your rod tip way back for at least as much or more stroke length and rod arc than you need for the amount of line carried, and if you smooth out your stroke by any means including a slide load, you don't use an inappropriate power spike.  There is no concave path of the rod tip .....AND NO TAIL.

As you may know, Jerry is well known for two things:  1.) His use of explosive power as he makes his "speed-up-and-stop".  This is not a "spike" of power, since he is able to maintain rapid smooth constant acceleration all the way to the end of the stroke.

2.) His default casting style is elbow forward, vertical casting plane.  I don't know what he was trying to demo with the videoed cast, but I see that he departed from his usual style, used an open stance, and a distinctly off vertical casting plane.  That allowed him to get that rod tip back far enough so that he had plenty of stroke length and rod arc left even though he did creep.  I'm not sure he could have done that with his usual vertical casting plane style unless he used a lay-back (a la Gary and Jason Borger) or bent way back on the back cast the way Joan Wulff sometimes does it.

During his "creep", his line hand approached his forward moving rod hand, ie. slide loadiing.

Gordy

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From Jim Laing:

Gordy,

 

Happy New Year to the group!

 

I do see a major advantage to slide loading.  If you take another look at Guy's VID of Jay and Renee, you will notice that their line hand is in "striking position" at the beginning of the haul, just as the rod tip approaches its max speed.  Once the rod and line hands meet, the line hand and arm is in a coiled position, like a snake ready to strike.  Proper haul timing while striking long and fast as the rod is unloading looks to have a clear advantage for distance casting.  This is something Paul Arden showed me a few years back, though I understand it a little better in the context of this discussion.  Attaching a name to it seems to help.

 

Jim

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After I had typed and edited most of the material, above, I went out and caught a tarpon.  I was bent over the gunwale of my skiff taking the fly out of the tarpon's mouth when a blacktip shark attacked the fish by the head.  I got my hand out of the way just in time to avoid losing it, but not before I got a nasty bite.

Those tarpon were unusually spooky .... had to cast from a sitting position.  Should have thought that they sensed a shark in the area.  It's a wonder I even got the strike or that the shark didn't get him sooner.

Lesson to be learned, here !

My hand is OK.... cleaned and dressed.  But I have to type with one hand.

Gordy