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Gordy
Good questions on the back cast and good responses from all involved.
As you say Gordy after sleeping and pondering on a subject you come up with some input, so I am sending the following to you and Jim.
I told Jim I was working on this and was not going to send, but I changed my mind.
When I am making a back cast especially horizontally in the visual teaching mode with my student, I usually tell him to begin the forward cast after they see the candy cane shape of the line. This was provided to me some time ago by Al Crise which I am sure was coined by someone within our community. Gordy you probably know who this person is who provided this word picture. I must say that this word picture has always worked for me when explaining the timing to a student. By the time they see this shape and implement the forward cast, that micro second of reaction time, has allowed the loop of the fly line to fully straighten.
So I will say for reaction to the forward cast is slightly before the the fly line is straight, with the actual implementation of the forward cast very, very close or right at line straight position.
This precise timing in my opinion for any student or caster is a learned task especially as line outlay changes. I go by the philosophy of Troy Miller and Al Crise who have provided me the importance of extreme casting to learn these events in my teaching methods.
I have a lot of respect for line tension when it involves fly casting. Spey casting has driven this home for me. Tension in the line to me is critical at all times even on the slack line presentations, being as you are still in control of the line tension, for you are making the slack happen.
After all we are trying to minimize slack everywhere possible in our cast.
I find that most inexperienced casters implement forward motion too soon inducing slack or the lack of good tension into the cast to the point of collapse sometimes.
I find most experience caster may have a tendency to wait too long. They are trying to obtain, what some coin as the longest Hang Time possible with the lay out of the line, to obtain the best trajectory for the distance cast. A time issue to obtain the best 180 degrees possible for the cast being made. This late implementation will cause the line to drop too low behind the caster and strike the water or ground when the forward cast is implemented.
Both tendencies can happen in both levels, I just sighted the most common that I see in teaching. Along with what I have experienced in my extreme casting.
Being very limber and exhibiting good body weight transfer with your stance of choice is a great advantages when casting. Balance being so important not only with good footing on the field of teaching, but especially when you may be faced with poor footing on the river or steam.
Those that have poor balance or limited mobility need to work with in their window of application. For some of us that is hard to make ourselves do. As a teacher, I feel these limitation can be overcome by the correct implementation of the essentials. Giving you the control over the casts being implemented. This will allow you to meet the challenges facing you everyday on the water or in the field of learning.
Expert distance casters must have perfect body movements during the casting. If you watch video's of expert distance casters you will notice they all watch the back cast on every cast they make in competition. Their success depends on that back cast Loop and the timing of the forward cast. Body weight transfer is part of the power application. The correct amount at the correct time for the optimum results. They know their limitations and what they can and can not do to make the cast successful.
Many of us can not watch the back cast and many of us may add problems to our casting by turning and moving around to watch. As Jim Bass stated knowing the rhythm of the cast is important. I feel that all fly casts have a rhythm, Spey & Single hand casting.
The student can learn the rhythm's of the casts by extreme casting. Many Variables come into play, the outlay of line, the speed of the line, the type of line being cast just to touch the surface. These differences have to be experienced in order to learn. I call it "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
Good casting is usually a product of many Bad casts, and some of the Bad casts will be down right Ugly casts. Those Ugly, Bad, and Good cast's build your character as a Fly Fisherman, a Caster & a Teacher. The important thing is to learn from each cast you make and strive to make the correct adjustments to improve on each and every next cast made. The essentials and the six steps are there for us.
The Benefits
For some of us a great cast is one that results in having a fish at the end of the line, after presenting a self tied fly to our quarry. Using all the casting essentials, which were needed for the conditions you were facing for that given day.
For some of us a great cast can be as simple as a rod held stationary while the body moves from side to side to teach a student how to implement the double haul by using the line hand only. The smiles once they have it tells the story. I consider this a great cast in that it has opened up an horizon to a whole new dimension of casting for that person.
As a teacher I am happy to say I have experienced both.
Essential # 1 in the Book: The Essentials of Fly Casting: Page 4: Federation of Fly Fishers.
"There must be a pause at the end of each stroke, which varies in duration with the length of line beyond the rod tip".
A very short and to the point statement, but as we can see by the postings on the subject. It has a lot of meaning behind it.
As do all the essentials.
All the best,
Gary Davison
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[GH] Gary,
Glad you changed your mind and sent it.
I believe it was Lefty Kreh who used the term, "candy cane" to describe the shape of the loop. Can't find the exact reference. Al Crise got it from him.
The method of using "extreme casting" is really valuable not only as a tool for teaching others, but as one I use to teach myself. It involves gross exaggeration of a fault or casting method. A topic in and of itself.
To be an effective instructor we must become good at making all sorts of casting faults. Exaggerating these faults by "extreme casting" makes it easier to learn how faulty casts are made. Lefty has written, "Learn to Make Bad Casts. If you can't make bad casts, you don't know what causes them". *
Your statement on CONTROL is right on target. That, I feel is the true essence of efficient fly casting.
You call attention to the, "pause at the end of the stroke". This begs the question:
Why have that pause ?
Ans. : To allow time for the fly line loop to unroll before the next cast.
Of course, pause time will vary directly with the length of line carried and the casting distance and inversely with the speed of casting cadence (Rhythm).
So if I try some extreme casting ..... and increase the line carried while, at the same time cast faster and faster, theoretically, I might well not change my pause time at all !!!!!!
Great food for thought .
* CASTING with LEFTY KREH, by Lefty Kreh, 2008, p. 439.
Gordy
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