Styles and techniques

[Lasse Karlsson]

I agree with Vince here!

Also, yeah I know tension varies along the line, I'm just saying there's tension in all casts, which makes a mockery out of continous tension advocates, that say only casts with differing loop planes between fc and bc have it. I'm a bit tired of BS.....

Cheers
Lasse

[Paul Arden]

I have a theory. The “constant tension” idea has come about because with such a cast the weighted fly swings around as we change plane.

My theory is that people are attracted by techy bollox which adds another layer of mystery to performing and learning. Continuous movement would have made more sense but that would be too easy for people to understand.

Regards

Vince

[FishNoGeek]

I've stood behind and in front of enough "expert" casters by now, to know it doesn't happen. A good oval caster has as good a tracking as any good OH caster. And more OH casters would really fit in the oval box, if they had someone take a closer look

So true. Recently I setup a camera over a distant target and pointed it back at me, and it was absolutely humiliating to see how bad my tracking really is. Even when I concentrated on trying to tighten it up for pure OH, short and simple and clean and crisp....better, but still a looong way from straight lines.

PUALD vertical casts, fly straight into the back of the mangroves. That’s when I abandoned the Belgian cast idea for heavy flies.

I'm currently prepping for an Amazon trip, been training something very similar: a casual flip forward with most of the head to water load an intermediate sink brick-on-string line, PUALD with very tight loops to punch a big fly deep into the gaps. I think it's going to change how I rig for and approach the mangroves for snook and tarpon as well.

[Paul Arden]

Yep I wouldn’t call it water loading, but the advantage of this is that a) everything is stabilised and b) because the line starts low, the backcast can be high and the forward delivery low again. I was taught to really extend with both hands just as the leader is unrolling too, which gives extra distance into the mangroves. Obviously it’s about trajectories but this forward extension, well-timed, really makes a difference.

I was very impressed with Graeme’s skill at doing this. Decades of practise at work. I really had to shift my thinking at the time because what I had learned and had been teaching (Oval/Belgian) simply wasn’t good enough.

Sounds like you have a fun trip planned! What a life!!

Cheers, Paul