Cast/Mend

[Paul Arden]

Hi gents,

Why does the IFFF separate between a cast and a mend in the way that they do in exams i.e. Isolating one from the other for presentation casts - do they teach them to students separately and if so why?

It's just a bit weird. In fact it's a lot weird!

Cheers, Paul

[Graeme H]

I agree.

Maybe they are trying to simplify the process of teaching presentation casts by separating the constituents, but even that doesn't really make sense to me and in fact, seems to make teaching such casts even more problematic.

For example, after I had finished my recent test for CCI, I was chatting with Matty Howell when Haysie came over and introduced himself to me. As happens, we started playing with casts and Haysie started showing off with presentation casts, demonstrating how easy it is to make slack line casts by never actually stopping the rod. (E.G. a pile cast can be done by making a very wide arc with the rod in the same way we demonstrate a "non-loop" during the explanation of loop formation.)

The conversation centred around keeping tension in the line throughout the cast, which then triggered the question for me about why we separate casts and mends when one fluid motion can achieve the result we seek. Both Matty and Haysie demonstrated casts without any stop of the rod, so by IFFF definitions, they failed to make mends during the casts.

My eyes were opened to the possibilities though.

Cheers,
Graeme

(PS - there are a lot more things I take issue with in the testing, but they can form other threads.)

[Paul Arden]

It reminds me of a time when I once picked up some money via a Western Union transfer in Hungary. If it is less than 500USD you have the option to have a test question instead of giving ID. If it's more than 500USD then you must present ID.

The sender had sent more than 500 dollars but also included a test question. I had ID and knew the answer but the post office wouldn't release the funds until the sender went back to the Western Union office and resent the money without a test question so that I could collect with just my ID!!

Hungarian ex-USSR bureaucracy reminds me very much like the FFF mend/cast nonsense

Cheers, Paul

[Bernd Ziesche]

Hi mate,
obviously I am not the IFFF - not even a member anymore.
I think it's hard to set down a set of definitions working for such a large (world wide) group of fly casting instructors. But it's even harder to change it afterwards!

They may differ between a cast (pre stop) and a mend (post stop) now, but then in truth they should realize it (often) to be a cast-mend in the end anyway! So they now would differ between a cast, a mend (in addition aerial and water born if you like) and a cast-mend. A bit complicated for teaching, huh?

Let's take the Reach cast. Everyone knows it by exactly that name. It now is a cast, a mend and cast-mend. All that makes it just complicated for my teaching. No need to differenciate.
I teach it (old school, if you like) as the "Reach cast" and not as the Reach cast-mend.

Just my 2 cents...
Cheers
Bernd

[Paul Arden]

I don't think it's stop, but RSP, but if it's (butt?) stop then we enter an even greyer area! All "casts" are cast/mends when you look at it this way. I think the thinking is that any movement after RSP is a mend (damping/lay down?!) and that this therefore makes the cast a cast-mend and all that was asked for was a cast! Of course pull-back occurs - or certainly occurs when you and I do it to make a curve cast - pre-RSP and so is part of the Casting Stroke and not a Mend. But renaming Reach Cast into Reach Mend is ridiculous!

Cheers, Paul

[Lasse Karlsson]

Hi Graeme

How do you make a cast without ever stopping the rod?

Cheers
Lasse

[Lasse Karlsson]

Paul, the change was made, what, 6 years ago?
I don't disagree that it seems foolish to change what was known as a cast, into a mend, but I also think it does make some sense that you make a cast and then you reposition the rod to get a certain layout and call that a mend. Which is what's asked for in the test.

Cheers
Lasse

[Graeme H]

Hi Graeme

How do you make a cast without ever stopping the rod?

Cheers
Lasse

The rod tip hits the water/grass - that's the "stop", but the line has already passed the tip of the rod by then. Remember the idea was to make a pile cast with lots of slack line, and even a rank beginner can do it that way. (They often do it whether they want to or not.)

(Try it yourself: Go outside and make a non-loop "cast" and let the line land on the ground. How does the lay-out of the line differ from a pile cast?)

A bunch of other casts were demonstrated in this little session, including a reach cast/mend/whatever where line is given half the normal forward line speed and the tip never stops its movement. It just keeps moving from going forward to going sideways in a fluid motion and the end result was as expected for a reach mend. I could just imagine doing that during the examination and getting a perplexed look from the examiners.

Cheers,
Graeme

[Paul Arden]

Hi Lasse,

OK what we know as a the "puddle cast", a small upward angle on the loop delivery so that when it falls it falls with a small amounts of slack line, mostly in the leader. A great and very useful presentation cast. Now you can made a small "mend" by pulling back on the line with the line hand, which increases the amount of slack. Now it is a cast-mend and therefore not allowed in the exam! You can also cast a little bit faster and the line straightens with a little bit more force giving the same layout as [2] - is this a cast-mend mend because it hit the reel or a cast?

Cheers, Paul

[Paul Arden]

That's what I call a "Collapsed Cast", Graeme. Perhaps the most useful presentation cast or all, especially around here!

Cheers, Paul