Straightening the bottom leg of the loop

[bartdezwaan]

I am not sure in which category to put this question, so it goes here
Today I was practicing my distance casting in, what seemed to me, very difficult conditions. Nobody was achieving very good distances.
The grass we were casting on was a bit high. I was ticking a lot and that ruined every cast.
Someone mentioned I was waiting to long. I do have a tendency to wait till the line is fully stretched. The hanging of the bottom leg promoted ticking.

I fixed some things and came to the following conclusion:
Moving your rod in the opposite direction while the line is still unrolling (some people will call this creep), will remove the sack from the bottom leg of the loop. This because the top leg is still unrolling and pulling the bottom leg, and I am also pulling the bottom leg with the rod. Pulling from two sides will straighten it.

No doubt this topic has already been discussed somewhere, but I have not seen it yet.

What do you think. Should you pull the bottom leg to keep it straight?

Cheers, Bart

[Paul Arden]

Hang on - are you pulling the line (Drag) or making Slide? One would be pulling on the line, the other would be repositioning the rod in prep for the forward (or back) cast. I'm definitely making Slide so as not to compromise the haul. If you are making Slide and not Drag the conclusions are different.

(Unless you've changed your haul you are making Slide, incidentally)

Cheers, Paul

http://www.sexyloops.com/flycasting/definitions2.shtml

[bartdezwaan]

That’s the thing Paul.
Normally I use slide. Today I experienced with drag and the line stayed at least one meter higher from the ground.

Cheers, Bart

[Graeme H]

Matty Howell in Australia is the best exponent of that style of cast that I've seen. I know there are many others who promote keeping tension in the rod leg as a goal in casting. I've been trying to copy Matty's technique myself:



I've had success, too, by keeping the tip up and moving it a little sideways as the loop unrolls, before setting it back in line with the cast prior to initiating the next phase of the cast. So rather than "drag" it's more like a subtle mend.

Cheers,
Graeme

[Paul Arden]

It’s difficult to see how it’s possible to Drag until the hauling hand has returned. I suppose you could Drag without returning the hauling hand first by stepping forward. Simply moving the rod hand toward the hauling hand is Slide. I guess I need to see some video

Cheers, Paul

[bartdezwaan]

I think we can slide and drag at the same time.
Will have a look if I can shoot something. It will be important to get the line on the video so you can see the difference.

Cheers, Bart

[bartdezwaan]

I think I am already doing something like this when I have a lot of tail wind.
There is no time to let the line fully stretch and take it easy, because it will blow back into me.
Here is a video of my winning (43m+) cast in a dutch competition.
http://www.hudl.com/technique/video/vie ... e=18211359

I immediately come forward after the stop, which I found strange when I first saw the video. The fly was not ticking.
Maybe it is drag?

Will still try to shoot some clear video's of this.

Cheers, Bart

[bartdezwaan]

@Graeme Thanks for the video. Do you maybe know how much line he is carrying?

Cheers, Bart

[Paul Arden]

Drag is where the rod is pulling the line, Slide is where the rod is running along the line. If the rod and hauling hands are closing together it is Slide, if they are stationary or moving apart it is Drag. It should be possible to move the line with a rod angle change during the Slide, but that’s not Drag, because Drag is predominately rod translation. I couldn’t load your video on Hudl but will try again later.

Thanks, Paul

[Graeme H]

@Graeme Thanks for the video. Do you maybe know how much line he is carrying?

Cheers, Bart

I can't remember off the top of my head, but it would be around 70' due to space constraints on the back cast. I had asked Matty to just make a few false casts so I could video how he's making the loop shapes. The aim for me was to teach myself the same casting style. (I like to have lots of tools in my bag of tricks. )

Cheers,
Graeme