Welcome Jason Borger

[Paul Arden]

Hi Jason,

Thanks for coming in and being our first victim! Hopefully I've fixed the board permissions now. This week has turned out mad. I was supposed to guide Sat and Sun but it's been extended now to Friday and then I'm working next weekend too. And the resort wifi doesn't work and the phone kicks in and out... Anyway

So let me start off by asking you a few questions.

What's your favourite type of fly fishing?
How much time do you dedicate to flycasting?
What was it like to be bum double for Brad Pitt?

Cheers!
Paul

[Merlin]

Hi Jason

What is the minimum casting ability pack you recommend before a beginner should go fishing?
I started with none, hence the question.

Merlin

[Jason Borger]

So let me start off by asking you a few questions.

What's your favourite type of fly fishing?
How much time do you dedicate to flycasting?
What was it like to be bum double for Brad Pitt?

Cheers!
Paul

A few answers...

Sight-fishing with floating flies. Could be anything from trout in shallow lake margins or spring creeks (both offer certain technical and gear challenges) to baby tarpon in the mangroves (tossing gurgles and such at them). A close second would be sight-fishing with non-floating flies. I have been crazy-fortunate to have spent serious hours doing both.

I spend time almost every single day, whether physically and/or mentally. That includes practice, as well as thinking about teaching processes and the geeky stuff. Looking through the dozens of short videos that I shot recently, my mind has been in overdrive on casting, really.

My bum still re-lives its starring role every single day. 25 years on and I can't even sit down without it telling me about its moment of glory. Annoying.

[Walter]

By the way - your dad says to quit wasting time on online forums and get your book finished.

[Jason Borger]

Hi Jason

What is the minimum casting ability pack you recommend before a beginner should go fishing?
I started with none, hence the question.

Merlin

I've gotta say that it depends on where one is going fishing and what's going on with the fish. Or put another way, the skills needed to handle the basic situation at hand.

I did a cast/fish clinic for a resort one time where I asked when the clients were going to expect to start fishing. "Now," was the answer. Some had never fly fished before. Well, okay then... Our venue was a brush and tree-lined smaller stream that frankly can be a challenge for a good caster. I just showed the newest casters how to manage a crossing tension cast and a flicking half-roll/mend in both directions, coupled with a bit of line management, and we went fishing. They stood facing across current and managed to get the fly up and down as needed, shifting body and arm position to adjust aim better. It was mostly "sling, drift, and swing," but it worked. People caught fish.

Had a client another time tell me he was getting ready for a bonefishing trip and needed to learn how to cast longer, in the wind, with heavier gear, etc. "When are you going?" I asked. "Heading to the Bahamas this weekend." Right... Tuned up his hauling, worked on going from fly-in-hand to 60 feet, and did some elliptical/side-arm work. Enough to get the fly in the right spot, more-or-less.

Those examples aside, I find that the greater challenge many flowing-water casters face isn't necessarily the casting in-and-of-itself, but line management in response to current (especially while trying to catch a fish). Once the line and fly start to move, things can go from "good grass caster" to "ohfrickwhatdoIdonow?!" That's why I teach what I call the circle of line control (which couples with basic shooting) and a few other line management skills to newer casters. If the caster(s) are up for it I may also teach a pick-up like the C pick-up to remove slack and get casting again quickly. If you add those to the ability make an overhead and/or elliptical cast, and perhaps a roll and a flopping mend (if in flowing waters), most people can at least go fishing.

[Jason Borger]

By the way - your dad says to quit wasting time on online forums and get your book finished.

I'm not the only one who has book projects to finish...

[Merlin]

Thanks Jason

So fishing panorama comes first, I am comfortable with that and being some kind of a rebel, I would say that this a stone in the garden of competition casters. For sure master casters can adapt to any fishing situation, but no one needs to be a competition caster to catch some fish.

Merlin

[Walter]

Given the current exchange rate it isn't going to matter much to me.

A buck fifty in Americanese is about $400 in Canabucks. I think Canadian Tire money has a better exchange rate than the loonie. The price of one book is going to take up half of my retirement savings.

Maybe you should use a Canadian publisher... They could probably print up an entire first edition for the equivalent of a trip to a Washington area Starbucks for you and Kelly and then capitalize on the huge margins. Assuming, of course, that you are prepared to translate the book into French before publishing...

So enough of my ramblings. I'll actually throw in a legitimate question.

Where is your favourite place to go fishing? (Paying attention to the fact that this is the Internet you may not want to be too specific).

[Jason Borger]

Thanks Jason

So fishing panorama comes first, I am comfortable with that and being some kind of a rebel, I would say that this a stone in the garden of competition casters. For sure master casters can adapt to any fishing situation, but no one needs to be a competition caster to catch some fish.

Merlin

Fishing panorama. I like that description. I'm all for being the best caster (reasonably) that one can be, but if someone wants the skill set to fish a tiny spring creek with dry flies, I'm sure not going to show them tarpon skills, or 5wt comp skills, first! Aerial mends, elliptical casts, and line management are where we would look initially, and we can get the rest later...

BTW--I use your name a coupe of times in the new book (talking about your work on rod dynamics and so forth). Hope you don't mind. Mostly just send people here to read your articles.

[Jason Borger]

Given the current exchange rate it isn't going to matter much to me.

A buck fifty in Americanese is about $400 in Canabucks. I think Canadian Tire money has a better exchange rate than the loonie. The price of one book is going to take up half of my retirement savings.

Maybe you should use a Canadian publisher... They could probably print up an entire first edition for the equivalent of a trip to a Washington area Starbucks for you and Kelly and then capitalize on the huge margins. Assuming, of course, that you are prepared to translate the book into French before publishing...

So enough of my ramblings. I'll actually throw in a legitimate question.

Where is your favourite place to go fishing? (Paying attention to the fact that this is the Internet you may not want to be too specific).

So my book will be like 14,667 loonies, plus shipping. Sucks for you, Walter. May have to drive one to you across the border.

My favorite place to go fishing? There is ALWAYS somebody who asks me that! Where there is water with fish. Get a map, look for the squiggly blue lines or the big, roundish blue spots, and go there. If I really, really had to choose, I'd have to go with certain shallow lakes that offer the "trout bonefishing" experience. Tough, big fish, in vodka water, with weeds, and sticks, and rocks, and thick, compound hatches. Requires significant technical chops and is all up-close-and-personal. Toss in the fish on the outside of the weedbeds and you can have a fine day of distance casting. That's what I'd take.