Terms forTeaching / "Zummies", "click"," Pssst", "Zic" & "Up-cast"

Gordy in regards to a couple of email threads ago in which power, torque, etc. were discussed. I have found when teaching men particularly, using the word power often makes the student think in terms of muscle which then leads to over powering the cast and exerting way too much energy. When I see this I explain thinking of power in the context of line speed (and of course the casting mechanics relating to this). I have found this to have a dramatic impact on the students who are grossly over powering their casts and/or over exerting themselves. While it doesn’t make the problem go away, changing their mind set from applying more muscle to applying more line speed does improve the situation fairly significantly, at least in my experience.

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When I get a student who simply can't seem to back off from using too much power, I shift gears. We have a little "fun" session seeing how far we can unroll a loop without bending the rod. That little game often does the trick.

I used to think of fly casting as "propelling" or "throwing" the line followed by the fly .... and taught that way. I guess that came from my years of surf casting with conventional equipement on Long Island where brute force was often needed to belt a heavy tin squid or plug out beyond the first line of breakers.

When fly fishing, my father and grandfather had to keep reminding me that muscling the fly rod was not the way to go. Being a kid, I didn't listen.

Years ago, when practicing distance casting from a skiff with Tom White I kept falling into the trap of using too much moxie for my casting as I tried to carry ever increasing amounts of line. I was wearing a bandana over my neck because of the tropical sun. Tom stopped me and had me blindfold myself with it. He then had me false cast with less and less power until I could no longer hear the line sliding through the guides. His call, " Gordy.... if you can hear it you're casting too hard."

I began to look at fly casting very differently years ago, when Lefty came up with his "definition" of fly casting as "unrolling a loop to a target".

Later, when going for distance, Lefty taught us to use no more power on the delivery cast than you used for the prior false cast .... but to haul faster. (He didn't say "harder".) He'd say, "let your line hand be your accelerator". While this was a bit of simplification, IT WORKED.

Another method shown to me by Jeff Barefoot (of our Group), was to have the student who insists upon using too much power for the task at hand, use the light Roman Moser rod grip. Having this student spend time casting this way is always an eye opener, because he (never a she ) astounds himself at how well and how far he can cast with this method which simply doesn't allow the use of excessive force. *

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Amen ! to comments from Lefty. Terms for teaching are so important......while it's fun and enlightening to discuss the physics of casting and know the correct terms, if we use them unwisely we really hinder a students progress and can turn them off to entering our sport. I am not surprised that some walk away from fly fishing as they encounter all the barriers we place on entry....the terminology....the difficulty of fly casting....the cost.

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As instructors and those among us who teach instructors, we must understand as much as we can of the physics behind fly casting. That demands the use of terms which are as correct as possible when we do that. THEN WE HAVE TO SHIFT INTO LOWER GEAR as we turn about and teach students.

It is incumbant on the physicist to use terms we can understand to explain those which we need to learn as he teaches us the science behind fly casting. Some are very good at that. Others are not as they confuse rather than enlighten.

We are all aware, that we must tailor the level of our teaching by the words we choose to the level of understanding of our students. That works OK as we teach on a one-on-one basis, but doesn't work so well as we teach classes with students of mixed backgrounds and casting levels of expertise. When we do that, we really tread the fine line of using words which will make sense to everybody and yet will not insult the hightly educated scientist or engineer who may be among them.

Years ago, as formal and hightly educated as he was, Charles Ritz taught by using "undictionaryfied" terms to teach his famed HS/HL method of fly casting ...... His, "Squeeze-Zic-Block" is an example. *

I'll sometimes use an onomatopoeiac whistle to demonstrate with sound, the acceleration of a fly rod.

Al Crise has never ceased to amaze me as he uses some "way out" language to teach kids to fly cast..... Some of his terms aren't in any dictionary ........... Some are real head scratchers. They would short circuit the brain of a PhD physicist ! He gets into the youngster's brains well, however, and they end up being good casters. His comments:-

I have A Few To Add. I enjoy learning these teaching tips.

"START a fly cast" TIP at the water or ground to start.

UP CAST BEHIND YOU not a back cast as this brings the fly back forward back-high.

I do give the STOPS names Stop 1 and Stop 2 as in "You missed Stop #2"

Forward cast is OUT IN FRONT Making the Forward stroke felt.

"Can you hear your rod?" too much rod rotation too soon. "pst" not "PSSSSSSSST"

REST is the following the loop down, Back to START.

When teaching hands-on I find myself saying "Click" as I guide the students' hand to a rotational move followed by a stop.

This seems to get the tip of the rod in action as a faster move at the end of the stroke, Blending of the two will happen by it's self. Just getting a Stop is often it. "Rotation follows Stroke". "Get it tight then make the cast"

Shooting line: I show my fingers as a guide and switch. Thumb and Index finger-pad trapping the line as a Closed Switch, Sliding my thumb to the tip of the finger Opens the switch, Never open the switch until after the stop. To start; after Stop #2

Present the Back Cast. Not just throwing the line behind you. Add a little PAZZAS" to the cast AIM it at Something UP BEHIND YOU. Cloud or Tree tops.

Visual learners will do better with an offside cast or sidearm as they can watch it unroll behind them.

My term for force/power is "Zummies" an unknown amount that comes from teaching yourself the "Extremes", too much vs. too little. Too fast vs. too slow. The learned amount of zummies makes it work right. The wrong can be seen in the fly line.

These Are TEACHING TERMS That Draw pictures in the mind. Might not be engineering correct just a way to help the student learn.

Allen R. Crise
FFF-Master Casting Instructor
FFF-SOC VP Education http://forums.southerncouncilfff.org/
Hawk Ridge Flycasting School

* A FLY FISHER'S LIFE The ?Art and Mechanics of Fly Fishing, by Charles Ritz, p. 42., ISBN: 1-56731-264-0

(As an aside, his photo of a young Lefty with a tarpon caught on a 12 lb. tippet on p. 63 is worth seeing.)

** FLYCASTING FAULTS & FIXES with MEL KRIEGER, by Mel Krieger, ISBN: 0-944169-10-4

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