Question on mends / reach mend ... reach cast

This last weekend Jay Clark and I were doing a CCI CON ED at the Gulf Coast conclave

The question of mends came up. When is it a mend? "After the stop of the rod."

1) Is to over cast the target to allow for the added length needed then drop the rod tip to the side.

2) Is to slip line as you drop the rod tip not stopping the rod until the tip is near the water to the side

If we say the mend is after the stop of the rod and we Stop the rod in the first choice, we are making a reach mend?

The #2 choice can be sending the loop out and in one motion without stopping the rod you keep moving it until it is lowered. This is rod stop at the side and water.. As the loop overtook the rod tip as is slowed and changed directions it continues to unroll in the planned direction. Now the choice #2 is a reach mend.... not a cast...

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We could say that the effort imparted by the caster has ceased when the butt section of the rod comes to a stop. We can also look at it by saying that the cast is complete at the time the stroke finishes at loop formation .... and we've seen that loop formation starts at RSP (or so close to it that we can't tell if it is a microsecond off even by high speed video).

The problem as to which to call it dissolves in a sea of practicality when we consider that the time interval between the stop of the rod butt and RSP is less than 1/10th of a second !

This means that we casters can't tell whether the cast really concludes at the stop or at RSP because they are so close together.

Now, let's apply that reasoning to the REACH MEND and the true REACH CAST.

If the caster makes the stop (for practical purposes almost the same as RSP and loop formation) and THEN sweeps the rod tip to the side (reach), he's made a REACH MEND.

If he makes the sweep to the side BEFORE the stop (and RSP / loop formation) he has made a REACH CAST.

One example of the latter, is to reach way out to the upstream side and make a horizontal rod plane cast.

Another, is to make the side sweep and the forward cast at the same time. (figure 15 - 15, p. 259 of Jason's book.)

Check out Jason Borger's way of describing these on p 259 of his, "THE NATURE OF FLY CASTING." I quote from this:

"ITA Reach Mends are often called Reach Casts, but the organizational semantics for this book demarcate between the two. As discussed in Chapter One, mends are not truly part of a cast - they serve to manipulate line after the cast. There really are Reach Casts, it is just that many anglers never think of them."

All this has nothing to do with whether the caster elects to slip line as the sweep is made to avoid the sweep pulling the fly back from the intended target or whether the caster purposely casts just beyond the intended target or feeding lane realizing full well that the sweep to the side will pull the fly back to the target.

Allowing the sweep to pull the fly back to the feeding lane or target is usually not the preferred way of doing it, because the fly and leader first cross the target or lane which may well spook a wary trout. For this reason, on the CCI exam, most examiners prefer to have the candidate do it by slipping line.

Unfortunately, most of the flycasting literature including the wording on the exams use the term, "reach cast" when what is really meant is, "reach mend".

When executing a pure reach mend, there is a straight line between the rod tip and the fly as the fly lands. This is what examiners look for on the CCI exam.

(In the real world of fishing, however, it is often best to have a combination reach mend / upstream in-the-air mend in which the layout is curved with apex of the curve upstream as this is likely to give a longer drag free drift, especially if the current being counteracted is greatest midway between the angler and the feeding lane.)