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Walter & Group...
>From Mark Surtees:
Hi Gordy
I hope Lyth will forgive me for being a bit indirect as I try to answer here.
I share Ally's point that our principal objective is to produce better, happier fishers and to inspire them to use what they have learned when they next go out on their own. This is very unlikely to happen if all we do is confuse them with jargon designed only to show how clever we are and, by contrast, how ill informed they are. I have seen it done and unforgivably I have, I believe, done it myself…the lesson was a disaster and I have been ashamed of myself ever since.
There are usually no casting jargon police around when we deliver a lesson, any instructor is free to use any _expression_ that they so choose and the only measure of success or failure is the light in the eyes of the person you are instructing when you have finished your work. Personally, I have tried to eliminate as much jargon as possible when I teach, no matching of arcs to bends, no mention of rotation or translation, because there is nothing about tip paths or loop shapes for example that cannot be memorably explained by the judicial employment of a couple of cucumbers and an aubergine.
Where we are discussing things amongst ourselves, however, I think that a Masters candidate, if they are going to use the 5Es for example, should be able to put these simple rules of thumb into context and examine exactly how we go about teaching them or even discuss whether they are a “rule” at all. For example, if I’m sitting in a boat, good breeze at my back and fishing a team of three wet flies loch style, is a SLP of the rod tip “essential”?, or even desirable?, is “matching the arc to the bend in the rod” essential in this context ? Is a SLP of the rod tip essential to make an underslung loop to pop your fly up and add slack in the leader ? That they are a fantastic guide as to how we produce a nice tight loop when we are casting in a flat plane there is no dispute, but whether they are essential or not changes with context and, sometimes, when we are asked, we have to teach how to control the tip path in non-straight lines by other means...I happen to use fruit.. J
Lastly, in the Masters examination, there definitely will be jargon police, they appear in the form of the examiners who will want to know, if you use a particular term, whether you understand what it actually means. I was advised by a very wise man before I took my test to stay squarely in the box when I answered questions on mechanics and so that’s what I did. It was good advice and worth repeating but it’s also worth poking your head up past the lid every now and again just to see if there’s anything interesting out there…there very often is.
Regards
Mark
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Hi Gordy,
Thanks for these excellent teaching tips and techniques on matching the arc to the bend. I should have mentioned in my note that my turning the students loose on their “self discovery” time would have followed a period of instruction with explanations and demonstrations of what the concepts are and what we are looking for in their casting. Good discussion on this subject.
Lyth
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[GH] Different "styles" of teaching oft arrive at the same results !
As Mark points out, the "tight loop" and the "straight line path of the rod tip" only represent one method of casting. In so many discussions it seems that a "tight loop" and SLP represent some sort of Holy Grail of fly casting. Doesn't work for throwing heavy flies or multiple flies in the real World of fishing. For that reason, I emphasize to my students that a "GOOD LOOP" isn't necessarily a small one, but one which meets the demands of the fishing objective.
We can customize our tip paths by altering these relationships.
For controlled wide loops, there is obviously a different relationship between rod bend and the portions of the casting arc at the start or the conclusion of the cast. Examples:
# A controlled wide loop used for "kiting" the line while taking advantage of a tail wind - I start the cast with a brief convex tip path, then go to a fairly straight line path ending with just enough dip of the rod tip below the oncoming line to prevent a collision. This yields a large loop the fly leg of which is high (to catch the wind) and the fly leg relatively straight.
# The controlled wide loop which I use to cast a large,weighted, crab fly to a permit - I match my rod bend to the casting arc throughout most of the cast. Then I end up with a brief convexity of my rod tip as I duck the rod tip down a sufficient distance from the oncoming line to avoid a collision with the fly leg which has been altered by the fly weight. The fly leg is fairly straight and the rod leg of the widened loop is low.
Works for me. I find it easy to teach this way for my more advanced students as we go from mechanics and theory to what actually works for fishing.
None of these theories, variables, or customizing for early students. Here I believe the "KISS PRINCIPLE" should apply. *
* "KISS" = Keep it Sweet and Simple.
Gordy
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>From Lyth Hartz
Hi Gordy,
Thanks for these excellent teaching tips and techniques on matching the arc to the bend. I should have mentioned in my note that my turning the students loose on their “self discovery” time would have followed a period of instruction with explanations and demonstrations of what the concepts are and what we are looking for in their casting. Good discussion on this subject.
Lyth
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