Walter & Group.....
Liam Duffy replies to Ally Gowans :
Hi
Gordy,
In reply to Ally Gowans, I have always been told to never believe a man who
comes from a country where the MEN wear SKIRTS!!!!!!!!!!!!.
It warms the cockles of my heart to hear Ally agree with me and most unfortunately I also have to agree with him about the best location to teach DOUBLE HANDED casting (I refuse to call it spey casting to a Scotsman seeing as how they invented it!)
Ally seems to forget the night in Livingston when I plied him with "concoctions" (old coppers trick for getting information!). However, I will repeat the deal at the Conclave and all and sundry can join in.
On teaching spey casting, I allow the student to develope their own style as long as the fundamentals (principles) are followed. As no two people are exactly the same, no two people can possibly have the exact same style. Get the fundamentals correct and individual style will develope in time while still complying with the principles.
Best Regards,
Liam Duffy
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Liam... I took note of your refusal to capitalize the word SPEY.
Most of agree that double handed or single handed, the caster's style should not violate good principles or sound fundamentals of casting. These styles should develop in order to make the best and most efficient use of the casters own anatomy and strength. As Ally would say, " ERGONOMICS " !
It may have been Al Kyte who used the term, "SELF OPTIMIZATION".
As Dennis Grant has taught us, it isn't as simple as that ..... because there are so many "grey areas". (We all remember his head scratching quiz on that subject.)
Style will also be dictated by the casting circumstances and the tasks to be accomplished. One example is Lefty's style of casting .... it fits his anatomy perfectly. It also fits with the salt water fishing he so often does. Joan Wulff's style works fine for her.... she's lithe and strong (used to be a dancing instructor) and can bend in ways I can't think of doing. Yet when she has fished on my skiff, she used an (almost) Lefty style on the flat with the wind blowing. Why ? BECAUSE IT WORKS.
Some of the fly fishing guides I've fished with in Australia used a style I'd never seen before ..... even lower elbow than Lefty uses.... horizontal casting plane ... bringing the rod tip way back with no back drift. They did it easily and efficiently and were accurate as well as capable of achieving surprising distance even in howling winds. (Rod Harrison told me he'd learned it from Lefty, years ago and then tweaked it for his own comfort.)
Gordy
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