Essentails Revisited

[Mike Heritage]

I had to move a lot of clutter off the top of the freezer when it broke down and had to be replaced and in all that clutter was a booklet from the IFFF 'The Essentials of Fly Casting' I don't recall ever reading it because, as a Sexylooper, I already knew the Five Essentials. This all co-insided with a conversation with someone who told me that the stop is one of the Essentials or at least was implied. I commented that the stop wasn't mentioned in the Essentals. It turns out we were both wrong. In the introduction, 'Terms to know', the stop is mentioned;

Follow-through- It is a second separate motion of the rod and casting arm (without power) which follows the complete stop at the end of the forward casting stroke.
And again later;

Turnover point- The point at which the rod stops, reversing its bend from one direction to another, and converts the energy of the bend to the line.

Then we come to the Essentials;

There must be a pause at the end of each stroke, which varies in duration with the amount of line beyond the rod tip.
Then an explanation but no mention of a stop.

Slack line should be kept to an absolute minimum.

Explanation and no mention of a stop.

In order to form the most efficient, least air resistant loops, and to direct the energy of a fly cast to a specific target, the caster must move the rod tip in a straight line.

Explanation and no mention of a stop.

The size of the casting arc must vary with the length of line past the rod tip.

Explanation and no mention of a stop.

Power must be applied in the proper amount at the proper place in the stroke.

Explanation and the only mention of a stop ' there should be a crisp stop at the end of the casting stroke forcing the fly rod to come out of its bend'.

I can see why the stop isn't mentioned in the slack line Essential but am surprised its not mentioned in the straight line Essential. In fact, to be honest, I'm surprised that the stop isn't an Essential considering the time and effort we, as instructors, put in to getting the client to stop and how essential the stop is in transferring energy in the right direction.

I am sure Bill has addressed this at some point because I can't believe he hasn't been asked before why a stop isn't an Essential but I would quite like to know why.

Mike

[Marc Fauvet]

nice observation, Mike.
my guess is he left it out on purpose and i'm glad he did.
the concept of a 'stop' has most thinking the whole rod actually stops when even though the rod hand might stop moving, the rod tip is far from inert.
in a sense, the 'stop' is butt-centric ( ) when imo, casters would benefit more from by having a tip-centric approach and i translate Bill's 5 as just that: tip-centric.
i do not teach it, much preferring "bring the rod tip from here to there" as in Lee's Triangle method.

cheers,
marc

[Paul Arden]

I don't teach people to stop the rod (anymore); I teach them to move the rod. However the stop must be an integral part of proper sized casting arc and can easily be fed into proper application of force, ie smooth acceleration to a crisp stop. But I'm sure Bill will come through with something thought-provoking as usual

Cheers Paul

[Flybye]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESxrRngGGkU and thats my two penny worth
TK

[Lasse Karlsson]

Like Paul, I've stopped (haha) teaching to stop. Basicly it was after seeing Lee teach in Wales and learning the flop/170/hartmann shuffle and figuring out how that actually works.

I'm pretty sure I heard Bill's explanation, but can't for the life of me remember, so I'm really looking forward to see it in writing

TK-> Yup, 26 years ago stopping was state of the art teaching

Cheers
Lasse

[Flybye]

Lassie,
That's me mate grainy with a cheesy sound track and 26yrs behind the front runners. I also think the loop starts when the line is traveling faster than the rod tip or I've run out of arm/arc. If I could use emoti coms I would find a Fred Flintstone one
Tk

[Snake Pliskin]

Me too. Don't really talk about stopping. No doubt after seeing Lee teach too. Along with all the other stuff that I've robbed off the man!

[Paul Arden]

I guess it makes us all dinosaurs but the teaching of the "stop" has been questioned on the SL Board/s for well over ten years. Since around and no doubt before the time we first met Lasse. Rudi was questioning it, Whiplash Carl was questioning it. I know I changed my teaching in 2003 because I wrote about it on SL. I went from emphasising the stop to emphasising the squeeze.

It's never been about stopping, it's only ever been about accelerating. Teaching-wise, teaching the stop can work. It's a string to your bow. But it's not an Essential and the physics that is often used to support it is more often than not just plain wrong!

Cheers, Paul

[Bernd Ziesche]

I don't teach people to stop the rod (anymore); I teach them to move the rod. However the stop must be an integral part of proper sized casting arc and can easily be fed into proper application of force, ie smooth acceleration to a crisp stop. But I'm sure Bill will come through with something thought-provoking as usual

Cheers Paul

Hi Paul,
let's assume your student shows up with little too open loops.
I think to remember one of your choices might be to teach a power snap.
Would you still describe that as not teaching how to stop the rod?

So, if you guys don't teach HOW to stop the rod, you don't teach about squeezing or opening the rod hand during the process of the stop?
I think we all still teach a lot of aspects being important during the process of stopping the rod. Yes, in the 170 style, too.
Greets
Bernd

[Paul Arden]

I certainly wouldn't call a power-snap teaching stopping; it's a rapid acceleration over a narrow arc, ie an application of force.

Cheers Paul