Guiding/Casting instruction

Walter & Group.........

From Dan McCrimmon (CBOG) :-

If you have been hired as a guide. Guide. If you have been hired as an instructor, instruct. If you feel compelled to "teach" someone who does not want to listen, then all you are doing is detracting from their experience.

 

So the bottom line is, if they ask, show them. If they don't, suggest there might be a better way. If they don't take the hint, let them fish. Some people could not care less about being good casters, they are just out there enjoying themselves.

They don't need you to remind them they can't cast.

 

Bottom line in my opinion is, tell them there is a better way, and let them decide. If you do that, you were not the one responsible for them NOT catching fish.

 

Dan

 

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Comment:   Good point, Dan.  As guides who wear both hats ... that of the guide and that of the instructor, it's hard for them to NOT teach when they see the need for instruction.  At the same time, you are correct, I feel, in that it we should not be presumptuous in assuming that a fishing client (or anybody else, for that matter) is thirsty for instruction.

 

I learned that as a poignant lesson when my own dear brother told a friend that he didn't want to fish with me because, "every trip becomes a lesson in fly casting.... I just want to fish."

 

Sometimes a fishing client choses a guide partly because he knows the guide is also a certified fly casting instructor.  That is particularly true in this neck of the woods with Tom White and Bruce Chard.  When that happens, there is usually a tacit understanding that a certain amount of teaching may go on.  Often when inclement weather ruins a fishing day, the client will opt for casting lessons.  That's a, "win-win" for obvious reasons.  It's also the reason that many Keys guides have decided to become FFF certified in contrast to the situation in former years.

 

Gordy

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From Jerry Puckett:-

 

Gentlemen:

 

Excellent string of messages now in my e-mail note book!  Just one thought based on Floyd Frank's statement, "getting into ones brain," would an additional option be asking this question:  "I notice we are having a little difficulty in getting you to grasp what I am teaching--could you tell me what is going on in your mind?"  Great idea of getting all distraction out of the way and having the person relaxed and facing you.  Another question I use is, "can you tell me how you best learn?"  Not everyone can answer this question because they have never been ask to explain how they best learn. However, I have found the question gets one to thinking about how they learn and has helped me on occasion to shift my teaching focus more effectively.

 

Maybe getting the person to talk may open some avenues for effective teaching and communication.  That is the only point I am trying to make.

 

As a Flight Instructor for forty years I found one of the best teaching techniques is to get the person verbalizing a particular flight maneuver to detect missing procedural elements.  That way we both know where we need to go and do so.  After this, for greater reinforcement, I encourage the person to teach me the maneuver to accelerate the learning process,  via reinforcement i.e. if the person is comfortable with doing so.

 

I do use this technique successfully in my teaching!  I must admit that I do feel out place suggesting things to the likes of you teaching and casting Giants so this comes with my apologies as well.   Again, thanks for listening and for your help.

 

Jerry Puckett

 

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Jerry...  No giants around here.... just folks who love teaching, casting and fishing !!

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From Troy Miller :-

I don’t (officially) guide very often, so what I am about to say applies to most of my teaching interaction with other flyfishers (excepting scheduled casting classes, of course).  But even when I have been officially guiding, I’ve also taught casting in almost every instance.

 

The first thing I do is, point blank, ask them if they’d like to work a little bit on casting today, or just fish.  90% of the time, they say they’d like to get a few pointers if I don’t mind.  What, ME MIND??  J  This is where enthusiasm comes in on the part of the instructor.  If the potential student feels your genuine desire to share right from the outset, they’ll often be more open to learning.  I have to make my excitement contagious.  It’s easy, really – cuz I actually AM excited…  So I ask how they’d like to do it, fish first and sprinkle some pointers in throughout the day, or have a 10 minute “just the facts” type of lesson right now.  That way, they’ll be more accepting of WHATEVER I suggest when the time comes.  It was their call to do it this way…

 

The sprinkled pointers method is easier, of course, but it’s contingent on your student/sport already having a pretty good grasp on the basics before you head out.  The quick lesson method has forced me to create my own abbreviated physics lesson.  Start with what they already know (casting a concentrated weight , i.e. spinning), and then tell them what’s different about flycasting.  That might sound obvious, but explain that everything we do in flycasting hinges on the understanding that we’re casting a distributed mass.  I don’t use those technical words if they can’t handle it, but I do quickly explain the concept.  Then talk about the line following the rod tip, yadda yadda.  I can have someone understanding flycasting within 10 minutes.  From that point, it’s just a matter of building the skill.  Yes, I know, engineers have to understand everything.  But I really feel like any person can advance more quickly if she/he has just that fundamental understanding at the git-go.  I can’t just tell someone what to do without telling them why.  Even if they’re expecting me just to take them FISHING.

 

If a person still won’t listen, then I ask if I can go for a ride (hand on hand).  Depending on the situation, I may ask the individual to go for a ride with me (their hand on mine).  Of course, I’m careful to maintain a professional distance so neither of us feels uncomfortable about invading the other’s space.  It’s helpful that I have arms as long as an orangutan…  I have more than once, beached the boat and gone up on land for “lunch and a potty break”, which amazingly wound up in a casting lesson without distractions.  It’s still the “why” before the “how”, though…

 

Regards -- TAM

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Comment:  Boils down to reading your client , your relationship with him/her, and the circumstance.  A judgement call.

I recall Paul Dixon, former Orvis casting instructor (well known salt water fly fishing guide from Montauk, N.Y.) telling me about the day a client showed up at the dock for a day of striped bass fishing in the ocean with a 4 wt combo fly outfit still in it's plastic wrapping from K-mart with the hope that his guide would show him how to make the first cast of his life !!!  The day was so windy that it was an accomplishment just to keep from being washed overboard.  No hope of success.  Paul, being a seasoned guide with many years under his belt knew just what to do.  He had the client use one of his guide rods, flop the fly in the water and wait while the skiff drifted with the wind.  Then all he had to do was to have the angler strip line.   He caught several bass and had a wonderful day !

Gordy

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