|
Walter & Group...
[GH] While awaiting answers to the latest quiz, let's view some comments on the FFF International Conclave at West Yellowstone in August.
First a request: Jim Valle has asked to be contacted if any of you who were there have any pictures of the "bear" which came up to me during our workshop on salt water fly casting. He can be contacted at :
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[GH] From Barbara Wuebber, FFF Office on the CCI and MCI testing tally at West Yellowstone :
Hi Gordy,
Sorry for delay on this. I had to get the list of signups from the office as this is the only event that I don't actually do the sign up lists for each year.
Here is what I have as of today from Conclave.
16 signed up for the full test for CI - all passed the written and only 5 of them passed the performance test also.
There were 2 signed up in addition for a re-test on performance - both failed.
For MCI I found that we had 11 people signed up to test and only 2 passed as Masters ..... that I know of.
Hope this is helpful!
Barbara Wuebber
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>From Bruce Richards :
I've queried examiners I know who were involved and heard several horror stories of dismal preparation. I've heard some say we need to audit tests as those numbers can't be right, we're being too tough. What I've heard so far indicates very poor preparation on the part of most candidates. Those reports are from very experienced examiners I trust. Very glad to hear Walter passed though, he'll be a great addition!
I agree about the Master Prep course, enjoyed working with you too!
Bruce
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[GH] My experience in administering one MCI exam and two CCI exams and in discussing the outcomes with some of the other examiners was the same as Bruce's.
The most glaring reasons for failure, as I see it - (No names included.)
1.) Very poor preparation, especially for the MCI exam. In one case, the candidate had read only fly fishing magazines and admitted he had done no teaching. He came with the idea he'd simply take the test to see, "what it was like" !
2.) Lack of actual teaching experience. (That becomes obvious to most examiners early during the oral part of the test.)
3.) Poor appreciation of the casting requirements and expectations.
(One MCI candidate from our Study Group came very close to passing)
Gordy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>From Server Sadik :
2010 FFF Conclave in West Yellowstone
I attended the 2010 FFF Conclave on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I had some very interesting experiences related to fly casting and would like to share these highlights with the Group.
The most personally gratifying was that I connected with about 8 individuals that had looked at my recent fly casting article in some depth and this allowed for some in-depth discussions. I had positive feedback from all the individuals with which these conversations were held. As this information is promulgated through this group and around the world I predict that the detailed general understanding of fly casting will become more and more sorted-out. Who knows it may even impact how some instructors perform instruction in the future – only the passage of time will tell.
The other items chronicled are related to casting techniques I was able to personally witness. First, is a casting technique that Soon Lee was demonstrating and teaching (he is also one of the people with which I had detailed conversation concerning the article – very astute (intuitively) in the engineering mechanics of fly casting). I watched him perform these casts – thrust type casts - very carefully and could observe absolutely no counterflex. Of course the ease with which he did this made me feel it would be easy to reproduce whenever I wanted. The fact that his students made great progress on this cast feed into the overconfidence I left with. On trying this casting stroke at home I know I am not performing it comparable to Soon so I look forward to being able to watch him again sometime in the future. If you ever have the opportunity to watch Soon cast and observe the lack of counterflex be sure and ignore everything (like loop shape and narrowness) and focus entirely on the rod and what his limbs are doing. That way you will most clearly see the level of counterflex. I also watched other casters at conclave and minimal counterflex was a trait demonstrated by other talented casters. For all three of the casters I mention here it would be super to have videos of the their specialty available to the group.
Brian Henderson was another person with an interesting cast (I hope I am remembering this cast accurately - it seems so impossible I wonder if I tricked myself). Brian is an MCI from Australia and was at the Conclave with countryman and MCI Simon Zarifeh. I talked with Brian and Simon about what I had written including about “rod kickback” on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday I observed someone casting from a distance who exhibited tails in about 1 of 4 false casts resulting from kickback. The caster resembled Brian so I approached closer and found that it really was Brian and we just exchanged greetings and he said he was working//testing on something related to casting. From seeing Brian cast later I misunderstood what he was saying – what I decided later was that he was practicing producing kickback. At the time I saw him he was producing kickback intermittently – I have the same difficulty being unable to produce it consistently because I don’t practice it. I felt gratified that he was evaluating the relationship between tailing loops and kickback as I had written about. However, the most interesting casting feat I observed by Brian were roll casts on grass. I hope that I am remembering these casts accurately (I’m not absolutely sure I am and I hope Brian will reply with remarks). As I remember, Brian has the fly line mainly out in front of himself and makes a roll cast seemingly like the normal person would on water. I can make roll casts on grass but not this way (I have the fly situated near my feet and the fly line puddles in the same area and then use a roll cast type motion). Brian uses a special partial roll cast as his basis for teaching students about the what, how, why, and feel (feedback to caster) of forming loops in casting. If he hasn’t done this already, I feel he should have someone take a video of his teaching approach and the roll casts he is able to perform and make it available on this board.
Chase Jablonski was also at the Conclave and volunteered a lot of personal time to run the various competitive casting games at the casting pond. He must be the youngest MCI out there and I think I heard that when he was awarded his MCI he was the youngest to have achieved that. I got the chance to talk with Chase at length and also to observe his trademark switch of handle grip when going from forward cast to back cast (or vice versa). I had tried this in the past but for me it takes so much mental energy that I use a different approach to longer casts – I remind myself to change from a thumb grip to a V-Grip (get away from thumb on top). But you should see Chase’s back cast – it looks even better than his forward cast which obviously is no slouch. Right with the very nicest looking back casts I have seen. So I am back to reevaluating my back casts for long distance casts – I haven’t concerned myself about this for a long time. The advantage of the index finger on the side (versus the thumb on top of handle) is that you can draw the hand backward to the side of your face and still have the rod about 20 degrees from horizontal. On the other hand with the thumb on top you will be around 50 degrees from horizontal and have lost that much potential rotation. Chase has some other nuances because his loop is very tight: when I personally use this beneficial approach I generate good power but larger loops. Here again it would be beneficial to have video records of Chase so it becomes clearer how he achieves his results. (Since writing these comments I have talked with Chase on the phone and you can find videos of Chase on the web.)
I also enjoyed discussions with Bernd Ziesche (Germany) and Floyd Dean who were demonstrating specialty casts at conclave. I talked with Bernd at some length about the casting article. Walter Simbirski, Bob Tabbert, Gordy, and Mark Milkovich were other parties with whom I had interesting//productive discussions (along with the folks mentioned separately above). Simon was the sole person I encountered who started with a great deal of skepticism. I don’t know what his current feelings are but it is possible the conversation I had with him and Brian may have caused him to reconsider some things in more detail. I talked with Walter at these sorts of occasions as well as on the phone from time to time because Walter has the background to deal with the more technical descriptions of fly casting. By accident I had the pleasure of sitting next to Bob Tabbert at the Honors Banquet and after introducing myself he told me he had read my article. He had a number of insightful questions and it was just amazing he remembered so much of what was in the article. Talking with Mark Milkovich was also very interesting. Mark’s feedback was that he was able to follow the article without difficulty and did not have suggestions on how the information was laid-out. He was critical on one item which was the rather forceful statement that kickback is root cause of tailing loops – that no evidence was given that other factors could not cause tailing loops. I probably responded a little defensively and on reflection I concur with Mark. The statements should have been written differently – with significant qualifiers. In situations where I personally have been able to observe tailing loops I have also seen rod loadings that produce kickback but there are lots of variations in casting that I haven’t seen. I was gratified in talking with people who had read the article and hope that the word will spread and those who have been reluctant to do so will take a stab at it now. I have the feeling that in the next year more of the what, why, and how of fly casting will be sorted-out.
Best regards – Server Sadik
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[GH] From Jim Bass. Most of you know that Jim is now working hard hosting the CCI Study Group formerly held by the late Al Crise :
Gordy, the Yellowstone experience was the best. I learned a lot from all my classes and learned so much by teaching with Carl. I will add a single hand spey section to our North Texas fly Fishers School clinic this spring. I have been working on your quiz and hope to send in the completed quiz by tomorrow. I will continue to ask my questions and help those who want to become a CCI learn how to be the best they can be.
The best to you for your encouragement.
Jim
|