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Tips for crisping up the back cast

Neil Owens
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Tips for crisping up the back cast

#1

Post by Neil Owens »

With my pickup and lift, or even just straight triangles, my back cast is noticeably less crisp and tight, with a much wider loop, than the forward cast.

I don't know what to do about this - currently, it's just what i do. Sometimes I get it right and the forward cast just zings in perfection.

I start the back cast with the rod tip on the grass and try and accelerate to a stop, but the majority of the time I get a big bellowing loop and no 'feel' that the line's fully extended. Subsequent back casts are much tighter once the line is in the air.

I just can't figure what I'm doing wrong.

Is it a muscle thing? I had a big motorcycle accident a while back and my arms/hands are weak - would a hand exerciser (ffnarr ffnarr) or time in the gym help? Or is it just getting the muscles to all fire at the same time and get the stop 'snappier' on the back cast?

Any hints/tips appreciated.
Boisker
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Tips for crisping up the back cast

#2

Post by Boisker »

Hey Neil
Someone far more knowledgeable will be along shortly, but my two penneth worth...
I went to a casting day that Vince invited me along to a couple of weekends ago, the main thing one of the instructors (Rob) mentioned was to slow down my backcast.... my pickup and acceleration was just a bit too strong, it wasn't massively overpowered, but it was causing a bit of a kick in the line and opening up the end of the loop a bit....
Rob pointed this out immediately after seeing me make a few casts... and low and behold it made an immediate difference, tighter and easier loop with less effort.

He also suggested my line was a bit heavy, after about three casts!! I tried Vince's GT125 on my rod and guess what... he was right, I've now put a gt90 on the reel and it's a far better balance.

Shortly someone will be along to point out the above has nothing to do with it and give you some useful advice :D
Neil Owens
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Tips for crisping up the back cast

#3

Post by Neil Owens »

Good, and valid point! I shall try that toot sweet. Well, first thing in the morning. I tried night time casting once and while Sea Trout fishing was an unforgettable experience it's not one I'll be repeating any time soon.
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Paul Arden
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Tips for crisping up the back cast

#4

Post by Paul Arden »

Hi Neil,

Try to shock the rod into a tailing loop on your first back cast.

Cheers,
Paul
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Michal Duzynski
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Tips for crisping up the back cast

#5

Post by Michal Duzynski »

Hi Niel
If we talking to tighten your loop on PUALD only, please use the TRIANGLE METHOD introduced by Lee Cummings.
With your tip down, your tip is at one angle of the triangle, you are the other angle, and after the pick up your rod should stop at the third angle of the triangle.
What Im saying here you shouldnt stop your rod after 12 o'cloct as it will open you casting arc to wide and with this if you immagine a triangle it would be open angle triangle.
Once you have your line in the air try to tillt your arc to more vertical position, like you would do with tilting the triangle. Then you are the bottom corner and move your rod along the base of upsidedown triangle from one corner to the other. Then obviously while you have more line out of the tip you make your triangle wider( wider arc to fit the bend).
Also Ive been told once to tell myself " pop the loop of the tip" on the end of each stroke, its like kind of shakeing the loop of the tip.
Let us know how you go.
Cheers
Mike
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Graeme H
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Tips for crisping up the back cast

#6

Post by Graeme H »

Hi Neil,

I'm surprised Paul didn't advise attempting to cast straight up on that first back cast. He suggested it to me and I pass it on to people who are having the trouble you describe. It normally fixes their problem immediately.

I think Mike's suggestion of "popping the loop off the tip" is also a good one. It's what I do when I'm trying for very tight loops on the back cast (normally for showing off ... ;) )

Cheers,
Graeme
FFi CCI
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Paul Arden
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Tips for crisping up the back cast

#7

Post by Paul Arden »

Yes both those methods work. Many backcast problems originate from the caster incorporating the lift into the backcast so that in effect the backcast has a massive arc, and with a short length of line the result is a wide loop.

One way to fix this is to slowly pick the line up (the line should be relatively straight and free of slack), if this is over water then carefully watch how the line lifts off the water, and when the line end moves, make a short crisp casting stroke. Over grass I slowly lift and then shock the rod, trying to throw tailing loop (it's almost impossible by the way). The loop must go high, there are lots of ways to accomplish this from raising the elbow to simply stopping earlier. Remember that this is often quite a short pick up and so the casting arc must be narrow.

If your loop is wide then the rod tip followed a dome during the line acceleration and not a straightish path. Generally this is because there was no lift. Of course it can also be your wrist, a floppy wrist will also dome the path. The solution to both - or at least one solution - is the exercise given at the beginning. That's the quick fix. If the quick fix fails then Lee's Triangle Method is the next one to try!

Cheers, Paul
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Neil Owens
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Tips for crisping up the back cast

#8

Post by Neil Owens »

Much better recently - thanks chaps. I'm getting to the stage where I can see/feel the slight differences in a cast and how to change rod/arm/hand movements to either remove them or make them happen 'more'

Slowing down/less power the back cast definitely helped. I think I'm better at the acceleration to a stop on the back cast now. Looking at the loop it's much tighter and unrolls well, without hitting the ground 10' behind me like it used to.

Going back to a horizontal triangle and then rotating up to the verticle definitely 'resets' me

Oh - and I'm picking up and laying down 30' of line - as I understand it, 30' of line will load the rod correctly. So I assumed you'd want a properly loaded rod to practice on?
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Paul Arden
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Tips for crisping up the back cast

#9

Post by Paul Arden »

Sorry, Neil, I've just noticed we have two threads going on here. The first is the backcast and the second, drift. Let's deal with this one first! Complete forget Drift for now until you have this one nailed.

My advice is to start with 10 feet of flyline, narrow the arc, use the Triangle method. In fact maybe just learn to throw 10 feet of flyline around using the narrowest of loops.If you can do that then the rest should follow.

Cheers, Paul
It's an exploration; bring a flyrod.

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Neil Owens
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Tips for crisping up the back cast

#10

Post by Neil Owens »

I'm still not 'there' yet.

I've a terrible habit of just moving my arm back with no real acceleration and a big wide arc.

So for now I'm concentrating on getting 15' or so of line out and doing horizontal triangles until the forward cast(which is much better than the back) and back cast are mirrors of each other. Then I'll let thenline out a bit more.

I seemed to have hit a 'plateau' as I'm not really progressing as quickly as I did a month ago. But apparently that's common - not that I can ever remember doing anything similar since I left school.
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