Walter...
The trick is to go ahead and open up your stance as the first move. (With that open stance you don't have to twist your body as far, and you can watch your entire back cast.)
Make your backcast to a, "target" way behind you and in a straight line between it, you, and your forward target. This can be a cloud in the sky, a structure like the corner of a roof, or the branch on a tree behind you.
Next, WATCH your back cast as you literally aim the back cast loop at this, "target". This aiming of the back cast is one secret to prevent your getting, "out of plane". It prevents the sideways back loop depicted on p. 30 of Joan Wulff's book.
Start your forward stroke as the back cast loop has almost fully unfurled.
After practicing this to perfection....with perfect tracking despite needed body rotation, then:
Add a back drift (repositioning the rod tip in the direction of the unrolling back cast loop). This back drift should start right after your back cast stop. The rod tip should drift way back in the direction of the, "target" way behind you.
This back drift does 2 main things: 1.) It gets your rod tip way back to allow for a longer forward stroke. 2.) It provides what has been called, "hang time"....for during this time, while the back cast loop is unrolling, you can reposition your hand for the following forward cast.
The longer stroke thus produced will allow you to, "start slow and end fast" with plenty of room and time to well load your rod before that final power snap on the forward cast. Thus your rod load will be better, and your cast smoother so that you have better control for the final "speed-up-and-stop" with a nice positive stop at the end.
By using this method, you will increase the amount of line carried with good control to somewhere about 50' or more.
Before you do this, study pp. 40-43 on DRIFT in Joan Wulff's book.
That back drift can be magic if used properly !
Gordy
From: Walter Simbirski <simbirsw@xxxxxxx>
To: Gordon Hill <hillshead@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: STYLE - 2 of 2
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 00:39:14 -0700
Gordy - Sorry - misunderstood part of what you were saying.
In these videos I'm only carrying 40 ft of line and I'm running out of arm. I'm using a few
tricks to get more travel into my rod tip. The first is to use some body motion which
wouldn't be a bad thing but I'm beginning to rotate my upper body which is throwing
off my rod plane. The second - and a very bad thing - is the too wide arc for this amount
of line. The other thing you point out is the lack of a loading move - this doesn't give
me more tip travel but it gives me more line speed at the cost of control.
With my size and strength I shouldn't be having these sorts of problems with this
short amount of line but as my hand starts to reach the line of my shoulders the lack
of flexibility comes into play. Casting in the style you see here I get a mushy stop
as I approach the limit of my stroke or I can force a crisper stop but then I get some
rebound when I reach the end of my stroke. Both options make for bad casting.
If I open my stance I can get a very long stroke with a crisp stop but then my
track gets very bad.
I don't practice with this amount of line at this time because I don't want to be practicing
bad style. At the moment I can carry about 35 feet consistently with good form, i.e.
smooth acceleration.
As you can see from the videos we are into some colder weather so my practice sessions
are short. This makes for slow progress but I have managed to increase the amount of
line I can hold with good form significantly.
If it was easy everyone would be a master.
Feel free to comment. Your input is greatly valued.
Thanks
Walter
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2006 7:26 PM
Subject: Re: STYLE - 2 of 2
Walter...
Remember......I recommended a longer loading move. Another word picture for this is to consider that you are pulling the line smoothly and ever faster, bending your rod to the power snap.
Gordy
From: Walter Simbirski <simbirsw@xxxxxxx>
To: Gordon Hill <hillshead@xxxxxxx>
CC: jeff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: STYLE - 2 of 2
Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 18:16:44 -0700
Gordy - pretty much what I thought too. A bit longer stroke and a snappier power snap and
my other problems should go away very quickly. This is the first video I've taken of myself for a while
but it does tell me that I have a pretty clear picture in my mind of what I'm doing and how it looks in
reality.
The amount of line I'm holding in the air on these casts is currently just on the edge of what I can
handle with good form and without hauling. It is a significant improvement over where I was last summer.
Thanks
Walter
----- Original Message -----
Cc:
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2006 4:39 PM
Subject: Re: STYLE - 2 of 2
Walter....
As best I can tell from this angle, it looks to me as though a slightly longer stroke would help smooth out your cast, especially if you had a longer loading move and shorter, "power snap". Unloading a bit closer to the oncoming line would result in tightening up your loop, too.
Gordy
From: Walter Simbirski <simbirsw@xxxxxxx>
To: Jeff Wagner <jeff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
CC: Gordon Hill <hillshead@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: STYLE - 2 of 2
Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 15:35:36 -0700
Video 2 or 2
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