40 minute practise schedule

[Katrine Kirk]

I understand the idea of having hoop targets. It makes it very easy to determine præcision.

In quiet weather, I like to use a balloon blown perhaps 3/4 ths up and tied up as near to the voluminous body as possible. I pull the litter rubber snippet over the largest round stone that will fit, and thus end up with a standing target. When it takes a hit, there is a little "whump" and a clear visual reaction as the balloon wobbles. I just find that somehow... what's the right word? Gratifying? Kind of like the way older DSLR cameras click "just right". There is something tactile and sensorily satisfactory about it.

Katrine - flyfisher in spe

[Paul Arden]

Definitely! When I'm forced to practise casting accuracy over grass I don't use hooks but instead splash pans for the same reason. I actually find myself hitting the cast down harder for a more dramatic (and satisfying) hit

I bet your game would be more fun on a windy day!

Cheers, Paul

[Katrine Kirk]

Definitely! When I'm forced to practise casting accuracy over grass I don't use hooks but instead splash pans for the same reason. I actually find myself hitting the cast down harder for a more dramatic (and satisfying) hit

I bet your game would be more fun on a windy day!

Cheers, Paul

On a windy day an inflated balloon can play nasty tricks on you, dancing across the lawn with its little stone anchor in tow. I prefer the balloon in quiet weather, but you are, so to speak, ever so much more seasoned than I am. The whump gets lost in the wind, too.

Doesn't hitting the splash pan hard defeat one possible goal of casting practise: presenting with delicacy? How would you construct a target that rewards a gentle landing? Is that possible?

Katrine - flyfisher in spe

[Katrine Kirk]

P.S. Come to think of it, a skippity balloon might actually represent the difficulty of moving targets (swimming fish) and present an extra challenge in compensating for wind.

[Paul Arden]

I imagine I'm fishing a grasshopper pattern! But yes when I first started training accuracy I did have the problem of unexpectedly whacking the fly on top of the fish.

For me the training however, is not really about practising presentation, but instead it's about good form, tracking, loop control, trajectories and so on.

One of the more fun "accuracy shots" that I've made did in fact involve a gentle cast. For part of a movie we dosed a campfire with petrol. At the end of the leader I tied ten inches of wire with cloth dipped in kerosine. We set fire to this and I cast the flaming "fly" into the campfire. It had to be a gentle cast otherwise the fly would have gone out

Cheers, Paul

[Katrine Kirk]

I imagine I'm fishing a grasshopper pattern! But yes when I first started training accuracy I did have the problem of unexpectedly whacking the fly on top of the fish.

For me the training however, is not really about practising presentation, but instead it's about good form, tracking, loop control, trajectories and so on.

One of the more fun "accuracy shots" that I've made did in fact involve a gentle cast. For part of a movie we dosed a campfire with petrol. At the end of the leader I tied ten inches of wire with cloth dipped in kerosine. We set fire to this and I cast the flaming "fly" into the campfire. It had to be a gentle cast otherwise the fly would have gone out

Cheers, Paul

You playful wizard, you! I love that idea. I have just realised from reading this last comment of yours, that the main reason I am so drawn to casting practise is simply because it feels like playing and dancing at the same time. I have been wondering what it is about fly casting that invokes such a strong yearning in me. It has fairly little to do with fish, at least not while I am still a very immature beginner. And the feeling when I finally gain a measure of control over a cast clicks just so wonderful. I have felt decidedly high, almost euphoric, for hours afterwards. I have cracked enough of the casting code for it to be truly fun. But there is still so very far to travel on the learning curve, erh... loop. And a discussion like the one in this thread is a valuable source of inspiration on what to do when all I can do must be done in solitude on grass.

Katrine - flyfisher in spe

[Lasse Karlsson]

Doesn't hitting the splash pan hard defeat one possible goal of casting practise: presenting with delicacy? How would you construct a target that rewards a gentle landing? Is that possible?

Katrine - flyfisher in spe

Use a poorly tied accuracy fly, and make it float after it lands... Thats gentle

Otherwise I agree with Paul, which either makes us both wrong or this is just one of the rare occasions where he is right? Accuracy on targets is for alot other things than gentle presentations, the gentle touchdown comes afterwards
Also, one approach is to learn to throw mistakes to learn how to avoid them, learning to hit the splashpan hard gives you all the info to do it thistledown too.. But its so satisfying to hit that water with a big splash

Cheers
Lasse

[Paul Arden]

Yes I use it to relax sometimes. I suppose distance carry and shaping loops is some sort of meditation. I find the loop, particularly on a long carry, quite fascinating. I never get bored watching it.

But there is a connection too. The way the cast flows through the body, from the ground up, finishing at the hand. And it's extraordinary how every minute change can affect the loop. That's why I love distance. It's never really about the distance the fluff goes, it's the loop with its razor point slicing through the air. I've cast over cliffs, off the top of mountains, standing on roofs. When I built my house in Hungary the first thing I made (after the campfire circle) was a casting platform. 10m high perched on the very top of Latohegy (Hungarian for seeing mountain).

When I throw I feel that I am on top of the world. And I "own" all the space around me that I can touch with the line. It's an extraordinary feeling.

That's why I can never understand people who don't "practise". They are missing something amazing in their lives. (And I also like the single handed Spey funk )

Cheers, Paul