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Walter & Group....
[GH] Jim Chestnut uses a ploy to pick and refine the position of the "target" behind the caster:
Thank you, Gordy.
When practicing in the field, I pick out an intended target then hold my
rod horizontally with two hands just under my chin while standing sideways
to the intended rod/line path to that target. My right hand will be 2 1/2
feet or so up from the handle. Then I point the tip at the target and
swivel my head to see what the handle is pointing at behind me.
I have been doing this religiously for about 3 years when practicing to
insure I am not practicing bad tracking, and it takes only seconds.
Cheers,
Jim
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[GH] Jim,
Good suggestion. That trick of picking a "target" behind the caster in line with him and the forward target is a great way to improve tracking, especially on a distance cast. It does 2 things. 1. Reminds the caster to WATCH HIS BACK CAST. 2. Helps enforce alignment between the back cast and the forward cast.
With respect to 1. : Sometimes I have a student who is doing everything well with his distance cast except for that mal-alignment. He doesn't quite make the distance and the layout is pretty good but not perfect. If I simply say, "Next time watch your back cast !" it may solve the problem without doing anything else. Works particularly well with MCI candidates who have been preparing for quite a while. When I do that, I notice the back cast loop almost always improves as well.
Gordy
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[GH] From Mike Heritage :
That's a good list you have there Gordy but I would add one more thing. I would check for arm and body tension. I have had amazing results just from getting the student to relax.
Oh, and I'm not sure the MED* would be my choice for any cast where I am not expecting to carry 75'+.
Mike
* Mastery series Expert Distance Line, by Scientific Anglers.
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[GH] Mike,
Glad you brought that up. As with many candidates, under observation or when testing, the more he tried to make the distance, the tighter he got. That was part of the "out of control" scenario. Surely, this would have been even worse had he been performing the task on an actual exam.
Reminds me of a statement we've seen before: "Don't take the test when you think you are ready. Take it when you KNOW you are ready"
Each task should be practiced and honed until it can be done easily almost every time with as little "psyche" tension as possible. Of course, we are not all made from the same mold, so when being tested, some good candidates will be tense. That is an even better reason to defuse some of that up-tight condition during practice and with the confidence of knowing that a practice test went well.
Gordy
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[GH] Steve Kemp also asks about using a line with a shorter head length :
Would using a line with a shorter head length have been an option? I know a master candidate should be able to teach comfortable line carry to a student so obviously it's an important skill, but several times I've watched people prepping for these sort of certifications struggling to carry a longer line fully tensioned and under control. Hand them an outfit with an easily carried head length (for them) that will respond better to shooting more and holding up less and they nail it immediately.
Although I prefer long belly lines for a lot of applications myself, for the test itself I'd use whatever made me look good i.e. whatever outfit I moved around the best/made to look the easiest.
Steve
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[GH] Mike & Steve,
That might well solve the distance problem. Taking it to the extreme, we could even go with a shooting head.
HOWEVER: We must remember that on the MCI exam, many other tasks have to be done well without changing fly lines. If we shorten the head too much, then the candidate may have more difficulty with the distance roll casts, Spey casts, etc.
ALSO: I'd really expect a Master to be able to make that 85' cast with the long belly (long head) line smoothly, with moderate effort, and enviable loops which would make it a good demo cast for teaching purposes.
Gordy
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[GH] From Don Pendleton on pick-up distance for the distance casts :
Gordy,
Great stuff in this lesson. I've had good instructors do similar to me in distance lessons.
I'm unclear on a couple points of your procedure.
I understand that you establish a pick-up distance that you increase with the student's improved cast.
1). Is this a pick-up laydown or are you making several false casts?
2). How many false casts would you allow him?
3).Are you working with the student to slip line on a false cast or is the distance gain of the cast simply a final shoot?
Don Pendleton
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Don,
1. You bring back memories of the MCI test, years ago which contained a task in which the candidate had to pick up 40' of line and cast to a minimum of 60' with no false casting.
Remember, this was a Master candidate who had gone beyond the PULD level, in my opinion. Nothing wrong with going back to that, but I didn't think it was needed.
2. The way we did it was to have him start each cast with about 30'-35' of line out of the rod tip, then slipping increments of line to work up to casting with a designated (and marked) amount of line to carry.
Once established, we first did it slowly striving for perfect loops and tracking. Then, without changing the line carry, (no more slipping line) doing it with ever greater line and haul speed. If the loops deteriorated when doing that, we went back to doing it over with shorter carry. Once capable of doing it with a given length of line and high line speed with good loops, we added a foot or two and did the whole thing again.
3. No set number. Enough with each new line carry to be sure he could do it well.
This was followed with step wise increase in the line carry each time going for good loops, good tracking, good timing, and high line speed.
Once he was capable of repeatedly making the distance, we took a page from Ed Jaworowski's teachings and concentrated on doing the same thing with less effort.
Of course, this is where we part company with the techniques competition distance casters use and their objectives in that we are primarily interested in "making good distance casts look easy" for teaching purposes.
While we've learned a great deal from these super ACA and other fabulous casters, we don't expect our candidates to do as they do in adding tremendous force to already perfected casts and perfect timing with distance as the sole objective.
Occasionally, I see a Master candidate who feels that he has to impress his examiners with the longest cast he can possibly muster. It may not be "pretty", and it may have the opposite effect.
I recall, years ago, when Tom Jindra and Bill Gammel were my MCI examiners. When we got to the distance cast task, Bill said to me, " Gordy, I don't care if you can cast a hundred and twenty feet. I'd rather see a perfect 86' cast."
Gordy
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