Walter & Group........
(Please note my attachment of a 2005 message on improving your back cast.)
For you MCCI candidates who are getting ready to test in the very near future or at the Conclave in Livingston, Mt., July/Aug :-
Some thoughts to share.
The MCCI Testing Committee under Dusty Sprague has submitted its recommendations for changes / additions / deletions with regard to the casting / explain & demo part of the exam.
They will be discussed at the CBOG meeting before being voted upon. This means, as I understand it, that the actual testing at the Conclave will be according to the format with which you are already familiar. The date of implementing the new format will probably be announced at the Conclave or shortly thereafter.
Joe Libeu and I had discussions this morning on our own thinking that a major thrust in testing should be in the direction of TEACHING which, as you know, is one of the five main topic groups. I suspect many of the examiners may also take this position.
In past years, we have found that the prime reason for failures has been that the candidate has been woefully unprepared. This has resulted from several things including the following:
1.) Lack of understanding of the depth and scope of the exam.
2.) Poor or meager experience with actual teaching of fly casting both with respect to teaching groups and individuals at various levels. (This becomes obvious to the examiners after the first few minutes of the exam.)
3.) Failure to have gained an in depth understanding of basic casting mechanics. Along with this is sometimes failure to be able to effectively communicate this information, especially in a manner which would be readily understood by students. This sometimes includes lack of deep understanding of the essentials of casting. (Not nearly enough to simply know what they are.)
4.) Having only one or two ways of correcting common casting faults. (Lack of a number of teaching methods in the, "bag of tricks")
5.) Not having done the recommended reading from the books and other materials on the MCI Recommended Reading List.
6.) Failure to have studied the Master Instuctor Study Guide.
7.) Lack of understanding of the basic different styles of well known fly casting educators such as Joan Wulff, Bruce Richards, Lefty Kreh, etc.
8.) Poor understanding and use of various commonly used fly casting terms.
9.) Lack of ability to make good use of a method to diagnose, analyze and correct casting faults. PROBLEM - REASON - CORRECTION. (One excellent method being Bruce Richards' Six Step Method.)
10.) Lack of ability to recognize more than one or two casting faults made during the same cast as well as lack of a method of handling this situation.
11. ) Not having spent time working with Masters and CBOG's or having had a mentor. Some were at a disadvantage in not having studied and done casts with a, "study-buddy".
12.) Trying to take the exam without having spent enough time doing both teaching and studying after becoming a CCI. (Some of the most successful candidates have taken anywhere from one full year to several years to prepare after gaining certification.)
13.) Not having taken the important step of seeking out an MCCI or CBOG to take a practice exam.
14.) Failure to perform the casting tasks in a manner which would be suitable as demonstration to a student. Examples:
a. Loops not made, tight, medium, or large, slow enough to be easy for a student to see. Fast, when required, without losing control.
b. Accuracy casts which don't actually demonstrate the teaching principles of change of trajectory, rod loading and loop speed between targets of different distances. (Goes way beyond simply hitting the targets) ..... so that your, "explain and demonstrate" task would actually teach a student to do it properly.
c. Distance casts not made with good form, excellent control, and done easily with tight loops on both back cast and forward casts. (Simply making the distance or beyond is not sufficient to pass.)
d. Failure to make small and large mends with sufficient differences that the layouts would be immediately apparent to a student.
e. Curve casts must have clear curved layouts .... (not, "wimpy", "almost" curves) using different methods which you can explain and demonstrate so a student would understand what you did to make them.
d. Roll casts without sufficient loop control to provide demo's of wide, medium and tight (egg shaped") loops. This should include ability to place the loop either high or so low as to be below the outstretched arm of your examiner .
Roll casts must be done well on grass as well as on water.
e. Ability to make at least six different change of direction casts needed.
f. Ability to demonstrate many methods of handling wind from your casting side, a must.
g. Knowledge as to what fishing circumstance to make best use of specialty casts and mends such as the Reach mends, Wiggle mends and casts, S-casts, etc. ( Putting it another way, it is not enough to be able to do them, you must know when best to use them.
h. Tailing loop demonstrations which do not match the way a student is likely to make them or the way they commonly occur when fishing. (One unacceptable method is to shove the rod tip right up in the path of the oncoming line.)
Hint: Good idea to learn to make tailing loops in several ways, all with the basic common denominator of a concave rod tip path.
# Creeping, then casting with a shortened stroke length and rod arc.
# Not creeping, but casting with too short a stroke length and rod arc for the amount of line carried.
# Neither creeping nor carrying too much line for the stroke length and rod arc, but inappropriate application of power resulting in a tailing loop. (Unsustainable acceleration early in the stroke)
# Placing the concavity between strokes as when making a high trajectory back cast followed by a high or horizontal trajectory forward cast without changing rod planes.
# Consistantly able to make tailing loops on the back cast upon command.
Another hint: Your examiners cannot flunk you on a task or cast not included on the exam format. HOWEVER, they can flunk you if their overall impression , not based upon any one thing or task, is that you are simply not Master Instructor quality. Performing tasks not actually on the exam and doing them well, can help give the impression that your instructional ability is good and just might help balance some prior slight imperfections in your performance.
One last hint:
Know what to do when you are right handed and have a left handed student including at least one "hands-on" method.
Not a bad idea to practice casting with your, "other" (non- dominant) hand. This may or may not appear as a requirement on future exams. Whether or not it ever appears, there are two reasons for doing this: First, it helps place you back in the position of your student .... teaches empathy. Second, it really does help when teaching a student whose, "handedness" is opposite yours.
This was something taught by Tom White. He recommended one method of doing it by taking one outfit in each hand and practicing casting them simultaneously. Works fine until you come to the point of using your line hand, especially for hauls. For most, that is the hardest thing to learn. Opposite hand casting /teaching is also taught by Joe Libeu in his MCCI prep courses.
.................Hope this helps.
Gordy
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Back Cast Tips by Gordy Hill.doc
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