With respect to fly casting substance is the mechanical elements required
to make an effective cast.
Long answer:
Substance is the individual things that have to be done in order to deliver
the fly to the target with the desired presentation.
The 5 essentials (path, timing, slack, power, arc) are generally considered
to be substance elements or the mechanics of casting.
Additional Information:
There may be many ways of delivering the fly in
a given situation (see J Borger's modular approach) and some ways will be
more
efficient than others. When speaking of efficiency or choosing between
substance elements we are referring to style. Depending
on the cast to be made substance and style may refer to the same elements.
Examples of this include grip and rod plane.
If asked to provide a definition of style I would define this as a
collection of substance (thanks Paul!) elements that
make for an efficient cast.
Context related:
As an instructor I could also define substance as the important elements I
want to impart to my students during a class.
This includes casting substance and style but also equipment knowledge,
selecting flies, playing and releasing fish, and fishing etiquette
to name a few.
Walter
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Walter: I had to stretch my imagination a bit to
agree with Paul, and at first, I thought of disagreeing with with your related
concept.
Then I thought about your idea that one form of style could be the chosing
of various elements of substance. While that is not the way most advanced
instructors might look at it, I do see your point.
One example might be Joe Humphries' choice of a short stroke and rod arc
for a long cast.
Another might be the "Maloney" cast where the angler uses a concave rod tip
path to purposely tail as he flips the leader tail beneath an overhanging
branch.
Yet another: The family of elliptical casts where there is no defined
stop and pause as the backcast D-loop morphs smoothly into the forward
stroke .
It introduces, however, many variables which might muddy the water as an
instructor tries to teach the basic concepts of substance and style to students
with a minimum of confusion.
For teaching students, I like to keep it "crisp". One of the ways I
try to do that is to "distill" the myriad variables into basic blocks of
information. We can go all the way from the mnemonic method of brute
memorization through basic understanding and on (for those who can handle it) to
in-depth appreciation.
I'll tackle that in a new message.
Gordy
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From Craig Buckbee:
gordy,
i recommend these terms to the definitions committee:
1) substance abuse
2) pizzazz
craig
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Craig ...
Got to keep some humor in all this !
..... So here goes:-
1.) Substance abuse = Torturing
one or more of the essentials.
2.) Pizzazz = The dude with
the coolest casting style at the Conclave.
Gordy
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