Walter & Group...........
Bob Tabbert asks many questions in a single line. Answers will be good teaching material :-
Gordy, what is the word/term for 'grip' in Scotland? Observation
on what happens to the rod and fly legs before and after RSP": Before RSP
: curve, After RSP: mend. Bob
Robert L. Tabbert
Conservation, Fly
Fishing, Exploration
Winter: 211 Ursuline St,
Lafayette, LA 70506
Summer: N14925,W Turner Lk Rd
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Bob:
Good questions. Here are my answers:
1. I don't know if the Scots have a different word for what we call, "GRIP". The fact that Ally Gowans of Scotland challanged the use of the term suggests to me that he knows of a different word. Let's ask him.
2. What happens to the legs of the loop before and after RSP ?
a. The movement (path) of the rod tip prior to RSP largely determines what happens to the fly leg of the loop.
b. The movement (path) of the rod tip after RSP largely determines what happens to the rod leg of the loop.
This is true of almost all casts.
3.) With curve casts, it is the same.
If we make a curve cast by twisting (torqueing) the rod so that the tip is going in the direction you wish the fly to go.... right or left, then the path of the rod tip prior to RSP is in that direction. Since the fly will go in that direction, we have directed the fly leg and the fly to go in the chosen direction.
AFTER the stop, immediately followed by RSP, counterflex will assist the rod leg to go in the same direction. Rebound then occurs in the opposite direction sending a belly of line to the opposite direction, thus yielding the curved layout of the line.
When this rebound is assisted by movement of the rod tip by the caster in the direction opposite that taken by the fly, we have a purposeful movement made by the caster, and so we'd have to consider that as a mend (since it is done after the stop and RSP). Thusly repositioning the belly of the curve to accentuate the layout.
I'd label that a CURVE - CAST/MEND.
This is what I do to make a very long right angle hook layout. Some would call this a, "hook cast" ..... but, since I have accentuated the layout with a move made after the stop and RSP, I see it as a compendium of moves, hence the label, CAST/MEND.
RSP (rod straight position) and the STOP are obviously not the same thing. The hand comes to a rapid deceleration of variable rate for the STOP. ( Some can stop more suddenly than others.)
RSP comes somewhere about 1/10 th of a second later ...... but it is important to note that this rod straight position is a momentary point on the path of a moving rod tip which is going into counterflex. (The rod tip does not stop moving at RSP.)
There must be a short stop between counterflex and rebound...... but that has nothing to do with the caster's input except that the caster can make a movement during counterflex to delay this point by aiding counterflex so that it takes more time to completion. That happens when the caster makes a, "soft" stop. His hand is still moving the rod tip in the direction of counterflex despite the fact that the, "slowdown" has allowed the fly line to overtake the rod tip allowing the loop to form.
That is what Bruce Richards meant when he called attention to the way the caster makes the stop as having an effect on loop size and shape since it results in a change in the path of the rod tip after the start of the rapid deceleration which we call the, "stop".
The mend is made in the opposite direction starting somewhere during the brief period that all this is happening after loop formation..... this results in assisting rebound and THAT helps send the belly or curve portion of the line in the direction opposite that of the fly yielding a larger curved layout.
If you take more time to do this, the belly of the curve is longer.
A simpler way of looking at this :
I can make a good curved layout by flipping the rod tip to the left prior to my stop, and then flipping it to the right after the stop and RSP.
Since that is a compound set of moves involving a cast to the left and a distinct mend to the right, it may not pass on your MCCI exam as a curve cast if a strict interpretation of the definitions is held.
A lot to digest, here.
Gordy