How often do your students practise/train?

[Paul Arden]

Hi folks,

As we know one of the best ways, and actually the only way, to improve flycasting is to train. I actually think my job is to structure this training and keep tabs on it. I ask them to video themselves while training regularly and to send me *some* of these videos (and not all of them!). This is an excellent way of keeping track of what is happening and I can help steer things along between lessons.

Undoubtedly the key to all of this is to train and the key to that I believe is that it is fun, interesting and that improvements can be seen and measured by the student caster.

I’m sure that every teacher here was inspired at some point to cast every day or virtually every day, and most of us probably still do. Being able to pick up a rod and cast for 10 minutes at some point during the day goes a very long way. That’s not possible for every one but very easy for many people, especially if they have a garden or field close by. In which case they can keep a rod fully assembled and ready to cast.

I ask for 8-10 hrs training between lessons. But as we progress that may be 20 hrs. There is no point in continuing where the lesson left off without training and making movements autonomic.

My average student casts around 5 days/week. Some I know are 3 but others are 7. Typical session will be about an hour. Some are casting two hours or more (that’s serious), but if it’s ten-twenty minutes I’m happy. And I suspect, like for me, it becomes quite therapeutic. Instead of a beer at the end of the day: have a cast, or have a beer and a cast! Go out, have a throw and relax.

Sometimes it’s not possible of course, life gets in the way. Or weather. But that regular picking up the rod to hit some targets or make some Speys, or loop control drills – whatever it is that we are working on - is what is required to go from an average caster to a smooth and excellent caster. Then it becomes about the structure that opens up ever new skill levels.

Without training I think there is little point in getting lessons in the first place. The more they train, with structure, the better they become. How is it with your students?

Cheers, Paul

[VGB]

In my experience, none of them train and it’s very obvious when you see them again. There’s a bit of a stigma with going out and standing in a field, I remember being that way as well when I started.

Regards

Vince

[Paul Arden]

That’s odd. I’m surprised anyone cares about that.

Sure people come up and ask if you’ve caught anything, but it is genuinely funny. Sometimes the old jokes are the best ones

Cheers, Paul

[Stoatstail50]

Very few practice if it’s single or maybe two widely spaces sessions.

However, since the discussions on only booking a series of lessons I’ve taken to accepting blocks of three…no one would commit to more…now there’s some evidence of practice. No one is practicing in public though. I haven’t had many of these yet this year so it’s not very reliable.

If it’s CI candidates it’s different.

[Boisker]

The secret is to live in a small village, where people get to know you well and standing in a field casting is the least strange thing about you

[VGB]

And you doubled the size of the gene pool

[Paul Arden]

That’s good to hear Mark

[Mangrove Cuckoo]

I only have one student these days... me.

I would guess me practices maybe 4 or 5 times a week, if you call that beer and a cast thing after work practicing. I usually add two more days in the week if the weather is shitty and I don't fish on the weekend.

I'm doing it partially just for exercise. I've found that distance casting, when emphasizing all parts of the body and both hands, seems to exercise a lot of muscles - if my aches and pains are an indication.

I used to go to the gym a few times each week, which supplied an excuse for the aches and pains. But COVID drove me out of the gym and I have not gone back. So now casting gets the blame.

Funny thing: I recently took one of those odd improvement steps and now my distance casts are averaging about 10 feet longer. It is not due to any particular change in technique that I can think of! I did step back to an older and slower rod for a while, and that's when I noticed it, but that rod has been replaced with a recent build of very different character but my improvement has remained. Go figure?

[Paul Arden]

If I was to hazard a guess, it would be because the slower rod requires a slower beginning to the stroke and that this transferred over to the faster rod. I find a similar thing when teaching Spey Casting.

That’s quite interesting actually. I shall try that out on students. Thanks!

We definitely need to have the rod in hand as often as possible.

Cheers, Paul

[Lasse Karlsson]

If I was to hazard a guess, it would be because the slower rod requires a slower beginning to the stroke

Hi Paul

I would really like to hear why you want a slower beginning with a little softer rod than a stiffer, really!

Cheers
Lasse