"HINGING" with long casts

My understanding is that if you try to turn over the head of a line with the running line as in longer cast and carrying more line in the air; The effect of the lighter running line being too light to make a loop in the larger line we call "hinging". I know that on the 'last cast' most can make the loop travel out to the end of the line. I know that the Experts can loft a lot of line. What is the secrete to repeatly transferring that energy.

Allen R. Crise
FFF-Master Casting Instructor
Hawk Ridge Flycasting School
2508 A County Rd, 1011
Glen Rose, TX 76043
254-897-2045 h
254-396-1574 c
www.geocities.com/rrdoctor
oldflysoup@xxxxxxxxx

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Al, to me "hinging" happens when you have things of different stiffness
that bend differently when connected together. With fly lines, usually the
stiffness is the same, but a dramatic mass change due to either diameter or
density change can cause casting trouble. This change in the mass profile
can cause the line to "kick".
It is very easy to carry a line much longer than the lines head, assuming a
skilled caster who throws a good loop (resulting in a very straight line).
Envision this... Lay 80 ft. of your line out on the grass, perfectly
straight. Now pull on the running line, what happens to the head? It moves,
of course, indicating good transmission of energy from the running line to
the head, no "hinging". If the line is not reasonably straight the head
won't move until it is, that is why less skilled casters can't carry long,
they don't throw the good loops necessary to get the line straight. When
casting a WF-5-F GPX for distance I carry about 83 ft., 38 ft. of head, 45
ft. of running line, some casters carry even more. It is obvious this is
true since good casters are easily able to carry much more than head
length.

It is easier to carry long with a line with a longer head, if the head is
long due to a long rear taper. Long tapers minimize the mass change in the
back end of the line which reduces the "kick" caused by a rapid mass change
and makes it easier to keep the line straight, without slack.
Bruce

Scientific Anglers/3M
4100 James Savage Rd.
Midland, MI 48642 USA
Tel: 989-496-1113
Fax: 989-496-3374

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My LONG ANSWER :-

We'd have the caster lay out 80' of line on the ground straight back from the rod tip ... no waves in the line, the tip of the rod low and pointed at the fly. The fly line would have a head length of about 50' which means that there were 30' of small diameter AND LOW MASS running line out of the rod tip.

Tom would then use this as his stationary "back cast". He'd easily make an 80' cast (all the line out of the rod tip) with no, "hinge".

Lefty has repeatedly demonstrated the same thing, throwing an entire fly line from a stationary setup like that, with a 6 wt. outfit.

THE PROBLEM ARISES WHEN THE CASTER IS FALSE CASTING AND MAKING LESS THAN PERFECT LOOPS AS HE CARRIES MORE LINE OUT OF THE ROD TIP THAN HE CAN HANDLE.

THE REASON FOR THIS IS THAT HE CANNOT MAINTAIN A NEAR PERFECT STRAIGHT LINE PATH OF HIS ROD TIP, SO THE LOOPS DETERIORATE.

THAT IS WHEN THE DISPARITY BETWEEN THE MASS OF THE HEAD AND THAT OF THE RUNNING LINE MAKES WAVES IN THE LINE RESULTING IN A POOR CAST.

(the relationship between diameter and the mass of the various portions of the fly line is called, "mass profile".)

THOSE, "WAVES" ARE REALLY VOIDS IN THE OTHERWISE SMOOTH TRANSFER OF ENERGY IN THE SYSTEM AS THE CAST IS MADE.

This problem is much more likely to happen when casting very heavy heads backed by very thin/light running lines as overhang increases. Here, there is the additional problem of chaotic energy transfer due to the joining of materials of greatly different flexibility. This is what happens when the leader and fly kick over due to the use of a short leader with a butt section which is a lot more flexible than the end of the fly line. That butt section also has a mass profile different than that of the fly line.

Really expert distance casters can carry lots more line and much more overhang than I can. They do it by maintaining as straight a line path of the rod tip as possible, thus keeping the loops tight.

Maintaining a straight line path of the rod tip and tight loops becomes much more difficult for the caster as the length of overhang increases. That is why it is harder to avoid "hinging" with short head lines. Much easier with the "long belly" lines which have longer heads.

Bill Gammel is especially good at teaching this principle as he has the student caster practice starting with 30' of line out of the rod tip with perfect loops. Then add one foot of line carried at a time UNTIL HIS LOOPS START TO DETERIORATE. (They do so because the caster no longer has a good SLP of the rod tip.)

Bill, then, has the caster go back to casting with a foot or two less line carried. If the loops remain tight, he has the student try the same thing with just another foot at a time, etc., etc.

He has the student work with increasing line speed (application of well controlled increased power) with each length of line carried.

By gradually, with practice, having the student be able to carry ever increasing amounts of line (well into overhang) WITH SLP AND TIGHT LOOPS AS WELL AS HIGH LINE SPEED, he ends up with a student who has increased his distance capability.....

2.) Great difference in the STIFFNESS & MASS PROFILE of the fly line head and that of the running line.