New Student / Casting “tune-up”

[Paul Arden]

This for me is a much more common lesson than a complete beginner. A new client, who is an experienced angler, but has probably never had a fly Casting lesson in his or her life - wants to “learn to do it properly” / learn the double haul / have a casting tune-up.

Bingo - he/she arrives. What do you do now?

Cheers, Paul

[Lee Cummings]

Kick the session off with a win and get them right onside, you should come across as a friend, not a doctor. Seasoned anglers are often sceptical and wish to retain a certain level of pride.

Play the game of trying to move the tip in a straight line, with the emphasis on (we are going to play a game)...

I have yet to meet someone who was able to do ALL the exercises associated with the triangle method, such as raising and lowering the plane whilst false cast or switching feet for an easy off shoulder cast.

Installing belief and retaining confidence from the get go is very important, which is why I think the worse thing anyone could do is put them on the spot and say (ok let’s see where you are)

Cheers

[Paul Arden]

Looks like it’s only you and me who get these students Lee - lucky us

[Paul Arden]

I start with casting at targets. As I lay them out they’ll be trying to hit them. Almost immediately I’ll have a very good idea what to do next. And it’s fun and informal casting “warming up” sort of deal. I will also have a few casts.

One of three likely outcomes.

1) loops a “bit wild” - Triangle Drill
2) loops ok but trying to hit a target at 20’ with open stance - closed stance accuracy style teaching
3) excellent caster - championship rules and skills

As far as I’m concerned Accuracy is one of the 4 key FC disciplines and throwing at targets is an excellent way of seeing a caster’s training level.

I do something very similar here on the lake but often instead of rings I use shoes or sticks. After all if their cast is wild or inconsistent when trying to hit a stick how the hell are they going to lead a Snakehead without warning and only a handful of opportunities in a day

So despite whatever else we plan to do and taking into account the reason for the student coming in the first place, I think informal target casting is a great place to start. And if we do it at the end as well then we should see significant improvements!

Cheers, Paul

[Lee Cummings]

Another wide open topic, more input needed.

I once played a good game with a lad on a football field, I laid out targets in each corner of one half of the marked out pitch and also placed targets in between at half way points.

With a predominant wind coming in I asked him where would be the best place to stand within this half pitch to give yourself the best chance of hitting all these. He chose a position up towards the top left corner (correctly IMO) and he worked his way round, having the wind help him make the distance accuracy shots and the off shoulder headwind shots were closest, It truly was a pleasure to meet him for a throw that day.

Just have fun, the rest takes care of itself

Cheers

[Paul Arden]

That’s a good exercise! So part of my fishing here involves being able to make backhand shots. By backhand I mean delivering on your backcast/ cross-shoulder. For me this is an absolutely essential cast, particularly on the Flats but also from the front of the boat.

Another good example of its necessity would be floating downstream, front of the boat, downstream wind (or just to avoid casting through the boat - and I don’t like clients casting over my head for the obvious reason!) and hitting the True Right Bank. In other words it’s an essential cast and you need to be accurate and often fast with it. You need line speed —you might be quartering the wind — and it’s something you need to be as good as as you are forward casting on-shoulder.

This for me is very much about using the comp distance backcast stroke with the rod butt tucked under the forearm, it’s a lot like throwing a frisbee on its side ie vertically, the position of the upcast needs to be spot on and the rod plane needs to be straight and vertical.

Consequently I was always initially very surprised that many/most of the seasoned SW anglers that I’ve taken Snakehead fishing could not make these shots. Your drill reminds me of this!

Cheers, Paul

[Carol]

I once played a good game with a lad on a football field, I laid out targets in each corner of one half of the marked out pitch and also placed targets in between at half way points.

With a predominant wind coming in I asked him where would be the best place to stand within this half pitch to give yourself the best chance of hitting all these. He chose a position up towards the top left corner (correctly IMO) and he worked his way round, having the wind help him make the distance accuracy shots and the off shoulder headwind shots were closest

Lee, forgive my ignorance, would you please explain this layout? I am not able to picture it with the definitions used. Also, when you say predominant wind, do you mean it was strong from a particular direction?

Thanks.

[Carol]

Never mind about "predominant." It's pretty self-explanatory, but I still can't picture the layout and what you're doing.

[Lee Cummings]

Carol

It was a game of pre planned strategy, where best to choose where to stand to give the best chances of hitting all the targets. Once your in position you cannot move position, only rotate to face the next target.

Rather than trying to describe the layout, here is a representative image. If you click on it it will take you to the full picture.

The blue marks were where the targets were, green arrow was wind direction, red was where caster stood as he worked round the targets clockwise.



Hope you get the idea

Cheers

[Lee Cummings]

That’s a good exercise! So part of my fishing here involves being able to make backhand shots. By backhand I mean delivering on your backcast/ cross-shoulder. For me this is an absolutely essential cast, particularly on the Flats but also from the front of the boat.

Another good example of its necessity would be floating downstream, front of the boat, downstream wind (or just to avoid casting through the boat - and I don’t like clients casting over my head for the obvious reason!) and hitting the True Right Bank. In other words it’s an essential cast and you need to be accurate and often fast with it. You need line speed —you might be quartering the wind — and it’s something you need to be as good as as you are forward casting on-shoulder.

This for me is very much about using the comp distance backcast stroke with the rod butt tucked under the forearm, it’s a lot like throwing a frisbee on its side ie vertically, the position of the upcast needs to be spot on and the rod plane needs to be straight and vertical.

Consequently I was always initially very surprised that many/most of the seasoned SW anglers that I’ve taken Snakehead fishing could not make these shots. Your drill reminds me of this!

Cheers, Paul

What was the biggest problem with SW lads making these shots? Release timing or something else mate?