"Hartman Hop" / Style to suit circumstances

Walter & Group...

Paul Arden and I referred to the, "Hartman Hop".  Several of you wrote to ask what this is.

Here is Paul's statement:

"I'll give you an example of foot substance: When making the Hartman Hop I find it critical to place my leading foot at an almost right angle to the casting direction, with my body weight balanced on the outside of the foot."

This refers to the forward hop .... almost a jump which champion distance caster Steve Hartman makes at the end of his forward stroke on a max. distance cast.

The forward body motion which this yields increases tip travel.

One of the things for which Steve is noted, is the great amount of rod translation prior to rotation as he makes these casts.

Gordy

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From Tony Loader on change of style for different fishing challenges :-

 

Hi Gordy,

 

Welcome back.

 

Some situations which might cause me to change styles are:

 

Any of - Wind, Limited back cast room, Heavy flies or Sink tip lines - might encourage Belgian, Roll or Spey casting as being safer and more effective than an overhead style.

 

Adverse wind or casting from the less favourable end of a boat, might encourage me to cast off the opposite shoulder, present a back cast or cast with my non-dominant hand.

 

Obstacles might cause me to cast with my non-dominant (left) hand where advantageous, e.g. upstream from an obstructed true left bank.

 

I might use a bow & arrow cast from heavy vegetation.

 

A different species might encourage a different presentation style, e.g. bass vs trout - splashy vs stealthy.

 

Heavier equipment, e.g. 9 wt+ in saltwater, might cause me to use a low elbow style rather than elbow forward so as to utilise bigger stronger muscles.

 

Deep wading or float tubing might encourage an elbow out style to keep the loop higher above the surface.

 

Stealth requirement or obstacles above might encourage casting in the horizontal rather than the vertical plane.

 

Accuracy at short range might require a vertical tip casting style.

 

Requirement for distance, e.g. in the surf, might encourage me to use a shooting head or switch to a two handed rod and use an underhand casting style.

 

Soreness or injury might necessitate a change of style to reduce discomfort.

 

A change of equipment, e.g. to a slower rod, might encourage a different style to maintain good loops.

 

Regards,

Tony.

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Tony ...   Even though I fish in a different hemisphere most of the time, I do the same thing.

 

Gordy

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From Jim Valle:

 

Gordy and group

The old acronym was

So Simple So Please Practice . I learned this from Gordy and Tom White at the first Marathon Prep I attended

Slack, Stroke, SLP, Power, Pause& Stop

I think that is what Rene is looking for .. Peter Lami  was also in that class and that is probably where Rene first heard it.

Just a good way to remember the essentials.

 

Jim V

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From Gary Davison:

Gordy,

 

I like to look at the words that define a key word.  Words give visualization.  You can weigh the importance on the words below.  Is it Substance or Style that motivates your casting.

 

Substance:

Material,

Matter;

Essence,

Meaning,

Content;

Reality;

Body,

Consistency;

Wealth

 

Style

Plan,

Design;

Name,

Call
Manner

Way

Fashion

Chic

Vogue

 

Both are critical components that have to complement each other for good casting!

 

All the best

 

    

Gary Davison

Gulf Coast Spey

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Hi Gordy,

 

You have hit on my interest and I will take the bait.

 

"GIVE ME EXAMPLES OF FISHING /CASTING SITUATIONS WHERE YOU WOULD GAIN ADVANTAGE BY DEVIATING FROM EACH ESSENTIAL”  (I love that one, because it really tests deep understanding !)

 

Deviate from each essential……  I am stumped.

 

I can understand deviating from the SLP to open up the loop when casting weighted flies or sink tips.  I can also understand using a conclave tip path to cause a cast to die early as in a negative curve cast.  I also can see going out of plane on the vertical rod path to get curve casts.  The power application can be applied differently to achieve different results. For example, delayed rotation will generally provide a deeper load in the rod and thus higher line speed in the cast.

 

But, I don’t understand deviating from the essentials of Slack (slack line casting?), Pause, and Casting Arc change with length of line; and the resulting benefits in fishing/casting situations.

 

I like to teach the five essentials as the substance of the cast.  Everything beyond the five essentials and the stop, I would consider style.  On casting styles, I like to introduce other styles or elements of styles to students looking to overcome challenges, achieve different outcomes or as part of dealing with different elements such as wind.  I believe students will ultimately optimize their casting with a particular style and as instructors we can expand the students understanding with the introduction of other casting styles.

 

This past summer, I worked with a couple of students on increasing distance.  Both the students were struggling with achieving distance with a vertical casting style and a closed stance.  I introduced them to an open stance with an off vertical casting style and they were well on their way to increased stroke length and increased distance.

 

Talk with you soon.

 

Mark Huber

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Mark...  Right after your word, "stumped" you went on to cite some good examples .

Now, let us look at PAUSE:  There must be a pause at the end of each stroke.  Many follow this with a statement that the length (time) of the pause must be related to the length of the line carried; short cast = short pause.   Long cast = long  pause.

When might we gain advantage by deviating from this one ?

1. When performing a snap cast. 

2. We'd do better to decrease the length (duration) of the pause even on a long cast if we increase the speed of the cast.

 

SLACK :  Most will agree that a wide loop on the back cast represents a form of slack which must be taken up as we make the following forward cast.  I might elect to make a wide loop back cast, however, when casting with a very strong head wind, since this wind will assist by back cast more if it's large.

(You already mentioned the slack line casts.)

STRAIGHT LINE PATH OF THE ROD TIP : (You also cited some examples of when we's purposely deviate from the essential of straight line path of the rod tip.)

SIZE OF THE CASTING ARC must vary with the amount of line out of the rod tip.  Hard to come up with any advantage to breaking away from this essential.  One rare exception is to purposely make a tail to flip a fly beneath an overhanging branch using the method of too short a casting arc for the amount of line carried. (This has been called the "Maloney Cast".)  A few very skilled casters such as Joe Humphries and Steve Rajeff appear to deviate from this essential as they make long casts with a short rod arc.

POWER:  If we look at this as, "power must be applied at the correct time and in the correct amount".  I don't see a way in which we can gain advantage in deviating from this. (Because of the word, "correct")

STOP : Some add this as an essential.  Many casts can be made with slow negative acceleration rather than a defined stop.  One example is the decelerating curve cast.  (If we want to get really technical here, a true "brick-wall-stop" would actually be detrimental to the cast and layout because it produces unwanted waves in the line as the rod vibrates in response.)

Gordy

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