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Walter & Group.....
[GH] On Jan. 10th, Marc Fauvet asked this question :
Hi Gordy and Group !
I've been rolling this question around in my head for a while and was wondering if i could get a few replies on this:
We all know they ideally work as a group but among the Five Essentials which one (if any) would you consider the most important and why ?
Cheers,
Marc Fauvet
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[GH] Tim Lawson suggested that Marc first come in with his own answer to his question ( Not a bad teaching ploy ! ).
Hi Gordy,
Maybe I have acquired the “Master’s Disease” of always answering a question with a question, but I’d like to hear Marc Fauvet’s idea of which Essential is most important and why before any other opinions are provided. J
Tim
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[GH] Marc answers :
Hi Gordy and Group !
Before starting i want to take a second to thank Tim for his suggestion of starting the replies myself.
I also wanted to point out that this topic and my views about it is not intended for basic level teaching but as a way to think about this subject among us that are on an advanced level, both in casting form and its conception.
Short Answer- Slack and more precisely its control.
Long Answer-The more time goes by the more I'm convinced that we never truly eliminate slack. There's always some squiggle, wave, dip, you name it, going on. We can observe this with the naked eye and slo-mo video confirms it. The idea here is not to negate its existence but to put it to good use.
I can and will deviate from any and all the other Elements when performing fishing casts but nothing ever works successfully and consistently until the line is under control, even with slack ! To me, this element is the one that is the most difficult (for lack of a better word) to 'master' and is therefore the one i focus on the most in my personal research.
Since slack is there, let's use it, control it , design it and turn this enemy into a friend.
Marc Fauvet
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[GH] Mike Heritage's answer :
If I was pushed I might consider applying the proper power at the proper time, although..... removal of slack might..... Go fishing Marc, Oh you can't it's still dark in Sweden and all the water has gone hard.
Mike
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[GH] From Rick Brown :
Hello Gordy,
I would like to take on Marc Fauvet's question.
I have been fly casting for many years. I was 100% self taught and I could do a pretty fair job of it. Until recently, I never heard of SLP, arc power, pause or slack. It was only when I decided to get better that I found that no amount of practice made a difference. Thanks to Al Crise,Keith Richard, Tom Jindra and others, I have acquired respectable skills.
So during any given cast I would be violating more than one essential. However, I could still make a cast good enough to get my fly in he water and to take some nice fish. But there is one essential which to me is inviolable. That is slack, which I prefer to think of as "lack of tension between the rod and line.'' If you start with too much slack you can't even pick up your line, if you loose tension during the cast your rod unloads prematurely.
The point is, you can virtually ignore some or any of the essentials and still make a cast, even though it will be a a poor one, but until you can acquire and maintain tension between the tip and line you can't even begin a cast much less make one.
Rick Brown
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[GH] Rene Hesse weighs in with his "short answer"
Hello Gordy,
To Mark Fauvet's question of which of the essentials is most important-
I feel all of the essentials are trying to support the most important one which is SLP of the rod tip.
Rene
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Hi Gordy.
In answer to Mark Fauvet's question.
Clearly there are lots of ways to get the fly out there but if the 5 essentials are about throwing a tight loop in a straight line then to achieve that goal my number 1 will be SLP. In any cast to purposefully apply a force to the line we need tension. Bad timing will result in a loss of tension so let's avoid that! And finally casting arc can be varied depending on what we want the line to do. But if we want straight lines and tight loops then all 4 of these help the rod tip move in an approximately straight line. That's the way I see it anyway!
Steve.
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[GH] From Ckling Ling :
Hi Gordy,
Answer to Marc's question on which of the 5 essentials is most important. It was a toss up between smooth power application and straight line path of the rod tip(SLP).
I have to choose SLP as this essential is both the effect and cause of a good cast. Effect due to one executing all the other 4 essentials well. Cause because if you consciously cast the tip following a straight line path you would have to comply with the other 4 essentials especially power application and appropriate arc. It is possible to teach good loops by just asking someone to cast with SLP without knowing the other essentials.
Ling
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[GH] From Jim Bass :
Gordy As you know I had a discussion on OL AL's Group on this subject and will tell you that the SLP is affected by the other four yet it (SLP) does not affect any of these. This is all about rod bend (a loaded Rod) and what affects it has on the path of the line. You can cause the bend to fluctuate by having slack in the line, improper acceleration of the stroke, improper stroke length and improper pause timing. The SLP does not cause any of these but one by itself or all together will cause no SLP and thus create a fault.
Jim
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[GH] Here is how I look at it :
I agree that all 5 essentials are important, especially if we are straight line casting with tight loops.
Let's look at each essential :
1. I can make many credible casts without a straight line path of my rod tip. One example is the controlled wide loop cast that I elect as I fish with a weighted fly.
I cannot make an efficient long distance cast with a tight (small) loop if I don't have an almost straight line path of my rod tip, especially near the end of my stroke.
2. If I have only a small amount of slack, I can make adjustments to my casting stroke and casting arc and still make a short to medium distance cast.
If the amount of slack increases, this becomes more difficult. With too much slack, I can't even make the cast.
3. I can get away with minor imperfections in the amount of power applied and the timing of its application for short and medium casts.
I can't make an efficient distance cast with those imperfections. If the application of power its timing is significantly at fault, even my short casts will be poor. Control, distance and accuracy will suffer. I'll have to work too hard.
4. I can make a very short and reasonably accurate cast even if I have precious little or no pause between strokes.
With no or too little pause between strokes, i can't make medium or distance casts. I may even snap off my fly on the delivery cast due to the "bull whip effect"
5. I can make short and medium casts even if my stroke length and casting arc don't match the length of the line carried & the distance of the cast exactly.
If there is a gross mis-match between my stroke length & and casting arc the layout will be a mess. I won't make my distance. I may get tailing loops or a very wide inefficient loop depending on whether my casting arc is too great or not sufficient for the amount of line carried and the casting distance.
Conclusions :
The relative importance of each essential is dependent upon :
a. The degree to which the essential is violated.
b. The casting distance.
c. The objectives of the cast.
(When the main objective of the cast is the achievement of distance and efficient use of energy, I'd lean toward SLP.)
As Dennis Grant once said, " IT DEPENDS......."
Gordy
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