Teaching the double haul ( Attachment ...Kyte-Moran study)
Subject: Teaching the double haul ( Attachment ...Kyte-Moran study)
Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2007 17:51:46 -0400
Walter & Group.......
Check item # 15 on the double haul in my outline of the Kyte-Moran
study: Going For Distance, Good vs. Elite Casters.
(ATTACHMENT)
Followup on my note on teaching the double haul:
After going through the horizontal, "ground casting" sequence and going
airborne with ever increasing verticality of rod plane, we go to hauling with
different lengths (wts) of line out of the rod tip. It is at this point
where I start to teach the concept of shorter hauls for short casts and longer
hauls for long casts. (The, "mirror image" idea).
Sometimes, for these exercises, I have the student use a medium flex rod
which has been overlined by one or even two line designation.
Tom White had a teaching setup for this with a softer rod and a length of
heavy soft nylon monofilament. The whole idea of this is to have the
student be able to feel the loading of the rod.
It also helped, to have the student close the eyes to help this sense of feel
and timing gel into, "muscle memory".
In my hands, this method has worked a lot better than the rodless, "down-up"
pantomime. When we used that method, we ended up correcting the students
who would learn it well and then end up pushing line up into the guides on the,
"up".
I've been teaching the students to stop the haul at the stop of the rod hand
and to release it at the same point for the delivery cast. I do this realizing
that this is not strictly correct, but that it seems to work well at this early
level of discovery.
For more advanced students I do go into theory as I teach the numerous things
which the haul can accomplish . ( 1. Directly increasing line speed, 2.
Increasing rod load (bend) 3. Sharing the work of the rod hand & 4.
taking up slack.) Also, the bad things which happen with poor timing and
bad application of power as the haul is made.
I HOPE SOME OF YOU WILL SHARE YOUR OWN METHODS OF TEACHING THE DOUBLE
HAUL. THIS SHOULD GIVE US ALL MORE METHODS TO STUFF INTO OUR BAG OF
TEACHING TRICKS !
(For example: Al Crise, years ago, showed me a method of doing
this with a limber rod only 18 inches long. With this outfit, one
MUST haul to gain any appreciable loop speed.)
(Floyd Franke gave a Conclave workshop 4 or 5 years ago on teaching
the double haul. He demo'd a novel approach I'd not seen before. To
take the rod arm action out of the equation when first teaching the haul, he'd
have the student place the rod beneath the casting arm elbow, against the
body. The student was taught to rotate the body to the right and left as a
pull was made with the line hand. This could be done down on the grass or
at waist level.)
From Al Crise (His message to Chrise Dore on teaching the double
haul)
Howdy Chris
The problems you are having
teaching the double haul is some what normal for many people. Add your friends
problems you will have to make or give some 'Word pictures' or something that
can be seen along with hearing.
I liken the haul to " Pulling the
rod straight" in a side arm cast you can see the loaded rod bent. Pull it
straight. As you would one of the little puppets we had as kids. You pulled the
string and he would raise his hands and legs to a straight position. then STOP
hauling when straight.
Try to ensure that 'the
haul is away from the rod, not the rod away from the line hand'. This is one of
the big problems that new haulers have. Making the rod move away from the line
hand just slides the rod up the line. Not the rod leg faster.
Work from the side arm cast
very slowly. Just 6 inches of tip raise at a time so that the rod can be
seen.
Some of you have this outline, as I sent it a couple of
years ago.. Many of you have read the original paper.
SUMMARY OF PAPER BY AL KYTE AND GARY MORAN ENTITLED, "
GOING FOR DISTANCE...GOOD VS. ELITE CASTERS". : Fly Fisherman,
May, 1993.
The authors made a detailed study of the differences in the
casts made by the, "good" casters compared to those made by
the, "elite" casters using videography and other
techniques.
1.) The elite casters straightened the back cast line more
completely...and did so with noticeably smaller loops.
2.) They STOPPED THE ROD more abruptly on
the back cast.
3.) They bent the rod tip back farther on the back
cast.
4.) They moved the rod tip through a more straight path
during the loading phase.
5.) They achieved maximum rod bend just before the
STOP on the forward cast.
6.) Their rod hands moved in a slightlly more downward
path.
7.) Their most common error was to apply power too soon. (
ie. they applied their maximum force a bit too early in the
stroke.) (Good casters)
8.) Elite casters, "imparted more bend in the rod, and did
so with better timing."
9.) They had a low release angle averaging only 6 degrees
to the horizontal.
10.) They moved the rod though a wider angle.
`11.) They did this by allowing the rod to drift back and
down, ".....an additional 10 to 15 degrees after
the STOP of the back cast.
12.) Their stroke length was greater. (Stroke length
defined as the distance the caster's hand moves the rod butt
toward the target.)
13.) They used the longer casting strokes and wider casting
arcs IN THE SAME AMOUNT OF TIME and so achieved greater line
speed.....and the same level of force and rod tip speed over a
greater distance, yielding a total application of force which
was greater.
14.) Elite casters made greater use of their body mass and
musculature than did the good casters.
15.) "The most effective haulers pulled the line back a
greater distance primarily during the final, accelerated
stages of loading. Thus they stopped the haul and
released the line farther back, as well."
16.) They combined styles: "They moved the elbow out to the
side of the body during the back cast which opened the way for
inward rotation of the shoulder. Then they moved the
elbow ahead of the shoulder during the forward cast which
enabled them to use a strong elbow extension as well."
17.) They used an, "educated wrist" motion during the final
acceleration of the stroke, "averaging 45 degrees; 10 degrees
more for the elite group.
18.) In most cases, the final 20 to 30 degrees of wrist
action quickly tilted the butt of the rod forward, just prior
to the STOP.
19.) With the best casts, the rod butt STOPPED
ABRUPTLY so the butt of the rod moved hardly 1 degree
! The less successful casters couldn't hold the rod as
steady.
This is not a substitute for reading the whole article, but
it gets some important points across. I might point out,
that although no names were used, among the elite casters were
2 world champions.