Walter & Group........
Before I take off for the week, there is one thing I'd like to add to our Loop discussions:
I like the concept of teaching loop CONTROL as a primary objective.
To me, this means having a bit less emphasis on the tight loop as the, "Holy Grail" of casting, and concentrate on the student learning to make various loops of different size and shape to solve a variety of casting and fishing problems.
That is the tack I take early in the game.
I can even help teach the formation of a tight loop by having the student understand how to make whatever his loop is even bigger. Sometimes I encourage that ..... have him make it ever bigger, then back off to where he started. As he does that, you see, his loop gets smaller.
After doing that repeatedly, he gets the feel of what makes the loop get smaller ...... we, then, have him keep doing, "whatever made your loop go back to being smaller", and KEEP DOING IT ..... until a tight loop is formed.
This teaching of loop, CONTROL embodies the one word which may be used to describe all efficient casting:
control
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One more suggestion: If you have only 1 or 2 minutes to teach a student to go from an out of control wide loop to a tighter one, as a, "bandaid fix", Lefty's method often works:
Simply have the student try to hit the tip of the rod with the line as he casts.
Problem with that method is that it give him no understanding of casting mechanics which is why I look at it as a momentary, "quickfix".
Gordy
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