[SPAM] Teaching: A pile of line in front of student caster

Walter & Group.....

 

Here are some answers to the "pile of line in front" question which was originally from Floyd Franke and Jim Valle....... A good thoughtful teaching question, I think !

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From Jim Penrod:-

Hi Gordy,

What a wonderful teaching opportunity. This is a good time to note that

"slack" is your enemy. The student needs to lay the line out in preparation

for a cast. Now comes the rub. With the line in a pile it is very

difficult to load the rod for a student if not impossible. He/she could

walk the line out straight but that is time consuming and defeats the

purpose of having a rod and line. This is a good time to demonstrate a pick

up starting with the rod tip down and liftting to a steady acceleration and

stop. This of course could be done horizontally as many begin their

students with horizontal casting. Place the line back and have the student

try. If the student has just peeled the line off in a pile the instructor

could show him how it might tangle because of coming off of the bottom and

how to avoid this by replacing the line so the line is coming off the top

and then making a pickup. Many of the principles that one is about to teach

would be incorporated in this little exercise whwich would include avoiding

slack, stroke length, steady acceleration, appropriate power at the

appropriate time and a stop (or an almost stop as has been discussed). One

could now reiterate each of these essentials as you begin to learn to make

loops.

Jim

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From Steve Hollensed:-

Gordy,

 

Option A:

This is a grand teaching opportunity - a teaching moment!

I would begin by saying "ah ha" or, something like that, that means

absolutey nothing except that he has done something that got my

attention, in a positive way. If you have covered basic casting ask him

to make a cast. If you have not, then ask if you can borrow the rod and

you try to make a cast. Either way - no cast. You could also involve

the student at this time by asking him why he thought the cast was bad,

or very difficult to make.

Use his answer to lead right into why it is impossible to make a cast

with slack and explain that keeping slack to a minimum is a casting

esseential.

Extend the line out for him and get back to basic casting. He now knows

slack is bad and why. And he is learning how to avoid it.

If this were a group session, I would ask the class to watch the cast

but I would be very careful to soften it up for the guy who had the

slack. That is, I would be careful not to make him look bad. I would

just say that "this is a real common mistake", or "I have done this

too", "we all do this sooner or later", etc. And you could say that " I

am glad you did this, this will be a big help". Whatever works to help

him out in this regard.

 

Option B: Inform the student that slackers are not allowed in your

class. (bad jokes are better than no jokes at all-right?)

Steve

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From Robert Shigley:-

Hi Gordy;

 

Great question of a situation that occurs often. Obviously you must assume that he can't roll cast it out, so perhaps you have him pull it back through the guides and let it down on the ground from the reel , reminding him of the basic essential to eliminate slack in the line. I would probably have him back up a few yards so that at least 20-30 feet of line were laid out, then begin a pickup move with false casting to follow. If he or she is a beginning student they may not know how to shoot the excess line out on their false casting. But if they do, then if the excess line were not too long then I would have him false cast shooting line out. I believe that one of the first teaching techniques is shooting line, which coincides with false casting.

 

An experienced caster would obviously know how to cast the piled up slack out. This is a good point to teach some skills with the line hand. Pulling the line back to make a roll cast would straighten some of the slack out if the stroke were high, in order to form a "D" shape behind him to execute a roll cast. So, maybe this is a good place to teach the roll cast. I'm probably wrong but it was worth a try.

 

Robert

 

Hi Gordy - 2nd thought!

 

In rethinking my answer maybe before my first response, I would put the onous on the student. It may be a good idea to ask he or she to demonstrate what they intended to do next now that they had so much line out of the rod tip. I might not offer a suggestion at this point but let them continue on trying to get the line out "there". This would identify a number of mistakes or issues to address in teaching, especially the five basic essentials.

 

Robert

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From Tom White:-

 

Gordie;

The simple is;

First you should teach them that this is ONE of the uses for a roll cast – removing the slack from the line.

 

(providing they didn’t shake line out longer than the head)

 

Tom

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From Tom Cooper:-

A comment:

The examiner could, as an alternative, have the student back up until the line straightened before an attempt to cast.  This could be done after attempts at roll casting failed because the pile of line included running line.

Tom

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From Bill Kessler:-

Assuming the line is outside the rod tip, I would explain that there is no way to effectively begin casting too much line, keeping in mind key principles of no slack and a strait line path.  I would then suggest the strip the line in so that an appropriate amount of line is out for either a strait line cast or a roll cast and that they proceed from there.  I would explain that line management can be a key area when fishing and the fish are lost because of the line fowling during a fight.  I would also suggest as a habit that the caster keep out only the amount of line they intend to cast, since nothing positive is likely to happen with the rest of the line.

 WK

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 My comments:-

As Robert pointed out, excess line could also be stripped in through the guides until the student had an amount of line out of the rod tip that he/she could handle.

This, then, is an opportunity to teach several principles as chosen by the instructor.  These appeared in your collective answers :-

1. Problems with handling slack line with ways of coping with the problems.

2. The need for heavy line available to turn over lighter line if and as a roll cast is made.

3. The need for a line reasonably out straight in front before a standard, "pick-up-and-lay-down" is succesful.

4. The question didn't specify whether that line had been shaken out of the rod tip or pulled from the reel ! Makes a big difference, because the latter would put the slack between the reel and the 1st stripper guide. If taught to handle this properly, the student might well be able to make a decent overhead straight line cast.

Gordy