Curve casts in the MCI exam

[Paul Arden]

Hi Vince, sorry there are two. Indeed some possibly many train to become better casters themselves. While some associations appear happy to cater for this income stream and expansion surely this is not their aim. Certainly it was never mine either! Anyway that’s a whole other discussion.

Cheers, Paul

[VGB]

I agree Paul, I don’t think that there’s a single right answer because fly fishing is a broad church, it’s why I favour a modular approach.

Getting back on topic, I use the curve cast technique described by Walter to pop flies under bushes in small streams with a roll cast. Kudos to Brian McG for putting me onto that one at the London Fly Fair. It’s given me a lot of fish that I wouldn’t have otherwise caught.

Regards

Vince

[James9118]

Being as it's been mentioned above, the svirgolato cast can be used for both right and left curves from a low (horizontal) rod plane - would these casts be suitable to pass the task in question?

The Svirgoleto cast involves creating a tailing loop so it would not be allowed in the exam.

Seems an odd logic on behalf of the FFF to me, I think control of the svirgolato, both ways, shows more control and skill than over or under powered casts.

James

[Lasse Karlsson]

However, anyone, please do not assume that my opinions have any substance for what is allowed or required. I obviously have no clue as to what is going on these days. Just yesterday I spent quite a bit of time with a CI candidate who is, to my eye, an excellent caster (read: they can kick my ass in comp distance and accuracy events - a passion of theirs), and they spent time as a college professor - so they have more experience than many in "teaching". We went through the exam, step by step, and I thought they passed every one easily.

And they were failed on their fist attempt on the CI!

Hi Gary

I've seen people who had no problem throwing 100 feet, fail the distance of 75 when on the spot.

Tests are weird, our heads mess us up sometimes.

Which tasks did he fail and why?

Cheers
Lasse

[Lasse Karlsson]

The Svirgoleto cast involves creating a tailing loop so it would not be allowed in the exam.

I guess that’s because it’s assumed that a tail is always a fault which is out of kilter with real world fishing.

Regards

Vince

To be honest, for 99,99% of all flyfishers, it still is a fault

Cheers
Lasse

[James9118]

The Svirgoleto cast involves creating a tailing loop so it would not be allowed in the exam.

I guess that’s because it’s assumed that a tail is always a fault which is out of kilter with real world fishing.

Regards

Vince

To be honest, for 99,99% of all flyfishers, it still is a fault

Cheers
Lasse

Hi Lasse - would you fail someone who performed a svirgolato cast for this task?

Cheers.

[Paul Arden]

Hi Vince, this curve has an interesting history. It appeared here first on the Board via Jeff Barefoot and Frank who were trying to cast through a doorway. Following the description I too first learned it using a Roll Cast. Then much later after the Svirgolato was explained here I realised this was the same cast.

I don’t know if the Svirgolato should be on an instructors test. I assume it’s on SIM. Whether or not it’s on the test, I also think CIs should be able to teach and demonstrate this cast. It certainly comes up in my lessons from time to time.

Cheers, Paul

[Mangrove Cuckoo]

Hi Gary

I've seen people who had no problem throwing 100 feet, fail the distance of 75 when on the spot.

Tests are weird, our heads mess us up sometimes.

Which tasks did he fail and why?

Cheers
Lasse

Lasse,

Funny that you should ask. I asked the same question, more than once, in a round about way, and never got a straight answer. So, I concur with your suspicion that nerves may have (embarrassingly) played a part. But I doubt it was on the distance tasks.

Its also funny that you assume that "they" are a "he". (Thank you!)

However, I think they had other obstacles to overcome: they are a bit younger than the FFi crowd; they are really into comp; they are primarily salt; they have certified in "other than FFi" schools; they have not taught (flycasting) a lot; and they have not used (paid) a FFi mentor.

[Paul Arden]

I would like to see two things. One that I really pushed for back in the day was comprehensive test notes from all examiners which could be collected and passed to both central office as well as to the candidate. This would tell the candidate where he was successful and where he wasn’t. I always used to make comprehensive notes that could be longer written and passed on to students. It can be photographed nowadays which makes this job very much easier. It also has the advantage in that it can be checked internally to see that examiners are all seeing the same thing. I think passing these notes to the candidate is very important because typically the unsuccessful candidate will forget everything in the debrief after the result is told. And those notes make for the very important task of preparing for next time (assuming they still are interested).

The other thing that could happen is for all tests to be recorded by video. This can be done on Zoom so you have an automatic cloud recording. Whether or not this is passed on to the student is a subject for debate. However it would certainly be very handy to have a copy for when there are problems.

The notes was a no-brainer. Some examiners I worked with were excellent at this and IMO they were the most professional.

Cheers, Paul

[Lasse Karlsson]

Hi Gary

I've seen people who had no problem throwing 100 feet, fail the distance of 75 when on the spot.

Tests are weird, our heads mess us up sometimes.

Which tasks did he fail and why?

Cheers
Lasse

Lasse,

Funny that you should ask. I asked the same question, more than once, in a round about way, and never got a straight answer. So, I concur with your suspicion that nerves may have (embarrassingly) played a part. But I doubt it was on the distance tasks.

Its also funny that you assume that "they" are a "he". (Thank you!)

However, I think they had other obstacles to overcome: they are a bit younger than the FFi crowd; they are really into comp; they are primarily salt; they have certified in "other than FFi" schools; they have not taught (flycasting) a lot; and they have not used (paid) a FFi mentor.

Hi Gary

First of, sorry for the assumption! I should read more carefully

Secondly, those shouldn't be obstacles, I was younger than the FFI crowd when I took mine, I had certified in another organisation, I am/was pretty into competition, my kind of flyfishing isn't in any certification bodys certifications around the world. And I was the first certified instructor within the FFI in my country. I did however have extensieve teaching of flycasting and fishing under my skin when I went for the certificate

And lastly, one can fail two of the casting parts and still pass, none of the teaching parts. It would help them, if they told where the problem was, even if it hurts the ego, it helps the second time around. Not working on the specifics, might just hurt the same way, the second, third, fourth and so on time around, experienced it

Cheers
Lasse