Lefty's response / Comments

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One way I teach Lefty's low-elbow-on-the-shelf style is to reverse the thinking process to help prove his point.

I have the student pick the target in front and then pick one behind as close to 180 degrees as possible from the forward target.

Then I have him use that style complete with an off horizontal rod plane to try and place the back cast loop directly to the target behind ..... could be a cloud in the sky, a tree, etc.

Once he's is able to do that accurately several times in a row, I have him do it again and take note of his wrist motion and the position of the thumb.

IN ALMOST EVERY CASE THE STUDENT NOTES NO WRIST TWIST AND THE THUMB NAIL FACING DIRECTLY BEHIND THE FORWARD TARGET AND FACING THE BACK TARGET.

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I know what Lefty is trying to say to Dan about the haul; I have seen him explain it in person, and it can help 'most/some' people with Dan's issue with distance cast=worse loop. I know that Dan threw his question into the shark pool, but it seems glaring to me that Dan should try to smooth out this increase in power by simply making a longer SLP. I agree with Lefty in his point to Dan, but a 'baby aspirin' might solve Dan's issue.

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Comment: Lefty makes a good point, here. By using the haul rather than overpowering with the rod arm, it is bound to make cast smoother..... unless the haul is ill-timed !

One of Lefty's teaching tricks is the use of simple terms combined with easily understood simplification of the involved physics. Works well !

Of course, when he teaches that the caster should use no more power for the presentation cast than was used for the prior false cast ...... then let the haul be the accelerator he's trimming it down to make a clear point.

He improved my casting with that one comment many years ago when we were fishing from a skiff on the flats of the outer Bahamas. In that brief moment he cleaned out all the fancy physics from my brain and got the job done with plain words. Instantlly, Comments I improved my cast and learned a lesson about teaching !!!!

This method works well because it gets into peoples brains. It won't work for Steve Rajeff as he attempts to make a world championship distance cast, because there max force is needed which must be combined with needle sharp perfect timing.

Other methods of smoothing out the cast and cleaning up the loop work well, too .... such as using more translation to delay rotation on distance casts.

A longer stroke and greater rod arc will only work well if it matches the amount of line out of the rod tip and the bend of the rod. Then it helps because of the match as well as the fact that this allows a better spread of the expended energy to accomplish a smooth CONSTANT acceleration.