|
Walter & Group...
[GH] Here we'll discuss using the sense of FEEL to help teach casting with the "other hand".
We'll follow by discussing the use of FEEL in teaching roll casting.
Gordy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>From Syd Smith:
Hi Gordy
Another use of teaching by "feel" (with the eyes shut) is in teaching the use of the non-dominant side. I ask the student to shut his eyes and cast normally with the dominant arm using an overlined rod focusing on the "feel" of the cast with eyes shut. I then ask the student to duplicate the "feel" casting with the non-dominant side, again eyes shut. It is best to have two identical rods so the student can rotate the dominant side and then the non-dominant side easily. The object is to duplicate the "feeling" on both sides eyes shut. I have been amazed at how easily this works for many students.
I then ask the student to remain focused on the "feel" of the cast and open the eyes. It sometimes can take a bit to sync the two, but only a bit. Worth a try with the student who has difficulty with conventional methods. It's almost as if the daunting part of non-dominant casting is the feeling of having to start all over. However, the "feel" is in my opinion deeply seated in the brain, possibly the cerebellum, and available immediately. Worth a try.
Best wishes
Syd Smith
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[GH] Syd,
By eliminating the visual stimuli and casting with both arms simultaneously, I can imagine that the transference of the "feel" of the dominant side to the "other" side might well be happening.
Gordy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David Edens comments on Tom White's advice about "skinny line" not being able to turn over "fat line" :
Gordy:
Tom actually said that to me when I was asking him what line he would recommend for testing for the CI. He recommended the Wulff Triangle Taper because of the need for long roll casts.
David
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[GH] David,
Let's relate all this to the feel of a roll cast.
A triangle taper line with a head of about 20' to 30, (depending on the model) is very good for making short and medium distance roll casts. Hard to beat, so long as the set-up maintains some of the head in the static D-loop behind. That is because the triangle taper is really a slightly convex compound taper, so as long as you are working with the head, you always have heavy line turning over lighter line in front of it as you cast. The first portion of the taper is steeper, so it is perfect for making well controlled short roll casts. Triangle tapers with a 40' head will allow longer roll casts. * **
For really long roll casts made with a delicious "feel" of good loading, one can start with a set-up which uses more heavy line by using a weight forward taper with a long belly head .... say 55' or more.
I recall Joan Wulff, at her Instructor's Course, saying: "The easiest line to roll cast is the triangle taper. For greatest distance the long belly weight forward taper is best." That was 15 years ago.
Tom was able to make 100' roll casts even on grass. His method included flipping a long narrow loop of line behind him on the grass, then making a forward cast starting with the rod tip way behind directly in line with that static back loop. His roll cast was smooth, with a deeply loaded rod resulting in those long presentations with egg shaped loops.
Caveats:
1. This method is NOT allowed on either the CCI or MCI casting exams.
2. It has very limited application in the real World of fly fishing.
3. Tom had a teaching application for it.
When Tom and I spent time together teaching, we would sometimes have a student who just couldn't get away from the concept of "rolling" the rod tip over in a convex path while making a roll cast. The student never got the feel of rod load, the loops were very wide and distance suffered. That name, "ROLL" may have provided a word picture which was hard for that student to get around.
Tom's "cure" went like this:
Tom: "Now I'll make the set-up and you just have to make your usual forward cast."
"Keep looking at your target. Don't turn around. WE ARE NOT GOING TO ROLL CAST ! "
Tom would have the student set up his rod as though for a standard roll cast. He would stretch out about 45' - 50' of line directly behind the caster on the grass.
On the GO, the student would make a good forward presentation.
Then he'd repeat this scenario with one of his long loops of line on the grass behind the caster, unseen by the student.
After making a couple of casts this way, Tom would say, "Congratulations. You have just made some beautiful roll casts. You did it by simply making good forward casts ... not by "rolling your rod".
This would be followed by roll casts made with a standard roll cast using a static back cast loop dragged slowly into position no more than a rod length behind. At this point, we would have the student do it on water. We didn't have a casting pond out on the grass at the park where we taught in Marathon, so we simply layed out a long sheet of plastic Visqueen and ran a hose on it. Served the purpose well.
The point is that by having the student get the FEEL of the roll cast rod load by this bit of trickery, he would quickly get over the idea of "rolling the rod tip".
* MODERN FLY LINES, by Bruce Richards, 1994, Lefty's Little Library Series, p.81.
**
Gordy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To be removed from this mailing list, please click here to unsubscribe
|