Whole line out!

[easterncaster]

I’d be interested to know what you listen to Craig. I often do the same.

Cheers, Paul

Oy... The list is long and can be quite varied. Most of the time I am listening as way to metronome my distance casts - to get in a building phase of false casting. Slow, smooth with an underlying feeling of power. So, songs that have a great long intro are key - oft repeated - as well songs with a good number of motivating choruses. And then all the classics and dirges... .

The War of Drugs has an overall tone that fits the bill, keeping me in a buzz like state with their Lost in the Dream album of a few years ago. The Cure and The Psychedelic Furs can do same. Clash at times keeps the drive on and single songs from others: Warren Zevon: 'Frank And Jesse James', Son Volt: 'Jet Pilot', Loretta Lynn & Jack White: 'Portland Oregon', Zepp: 'Over the Hills an Far Away', John Parish & Polly Jean Harvey: 'Civil War Correspondent'.


Phil: It is a source of entertainment, wondering how annoying those wireless ear pod thingies are or are not - and how many have fallen to their death off subway platforms... . My tiny lil' old i-pod (knock on wood) is still my music gadget of choice out on the practice field.

[Lasse Karlsson]

Hi Craig!

Unfortunately I let a sales guy talk me into these AirPod things, which fly out of my ears when casting and are impossible to find in the snow, so I’ve given up on music for the time being. I need to buy proper headphones with wires.

The Pixies ‘Debaser’ always leads to tailing loops.

Get some in ear sports versions, I use them for work, and I have to pull them out and Bluetooth!

Cheers
Lasse

[Paul Arden]

Quite a list Craig!! I was a big fan of The Clash. In fact we remade What’s My Name into What’s My Fly in the Enlightenment DVD “I’m ‘round the back of your backwater, peeking through the bushes wearing camouflage, I laugh at your loss with my wonky zonker, and you can’t even see me...” or something like that!

What I found hilarious was I played Stiff Little Fingers to Ronan and he loved it. “Green wogs, green wogs...” Good times!

I kind of like wide sweeping music for long carries eg “Shine on you crazy diamond.” A lot of my aerielised Speys has come from just dicking around with the lumiline to music, while slightly illuminated myself. I honestly wouldn’t be half the caster I am today if it wasn’t for that.

“Play” is so very important. I would love to see some sort of “freestyle” casting event choreographed to music. Maybe if we ever get another Sexyloops meet we can try this!

Cheers, Paul

[barrysthlm]

How is your double haul? The speed has to feel like it’s coming from the haul, not wellying it back with the rod arm

It isn’t that great, obviously it works to some degree but once I added it I never seen the increase in distance others have talked about - for me the haul felt like a tool to tighten loops and get control. I’ve started hauling faster and longer, after watching the videos here, and it does seem to speed the line up a bit, I still have to work it in though. My haul stop is very soft.

After a week with MED I’ve added about 8ft in still conditions, about 93ft is my best cast with it. I’m hoping for a bit of wind to break 100 soon. I’m learning a lot from this.

Weezer’s Blue Album is one of my favourites for casting.

[Paul Arden]

Hi Barry,

So I would spend some time working on that. https://www.sexyloops.com/flycast/the-double-haul/

It should feel like the haul is controlling the timing and is not a bolt-on to the cast. Good tips are to feel for the weight of the line with the hauling hand fingers. Accelerate to a fully straightened arm, using the elbow (and not by swinging with the shoulder), directly away from the rod hand in both directions.

Try taking all the power out with the rod and try making it “feel like” the haul is doing all the work. And then work on putting more speed in with the line hand. If the loop tails then start the haul later - I look for the rod butt passing the perpendicular as a cue (you can do the same thing with the Triangle Method).

Post a video and we can have a look. I’m sure that we will want to tighten up your stroke first before we work on the haul, maybe even get you throwing at hoops as well (undoubtedly in fact). But anyway those are some of the key things for the haul for me and I’m sure they will improve your haul too.

Cheers, Paul

[barrysthlm]

Thanks Paul! I really appreciate the advice.

I’ll work on the haul, I can feel that weight in my left hand on my better casts.

I find accuracy (up to 50ft) pretty easy, but perhaps I’m neglecting that? I feel like I’ve never really had to practice and got this for free from my fishing.

My stroke is weird right now, I’m experimenting with a lot of different styles, and haven’t really settled on anything. With my sea trout lines I don’t think as much, and feel the cast. I’ll make a video next week.

/Barry

[Paul Arden]

Hi Barry,

So I actually made the same mistake and didn’t practise accuracy and only distance for a very long time. That all changed 10-15 years ago. Now I understand it’s very important to practise accuracy as well. It will actually improve distance technique!

I think there are four cornerstones in flycasting; Accuracy, Distance, Speys and Presentation casts. Within the overhead casts there are 3 key styles/Techniques for me; Accuracy Closed Stance, Open Stance distance with blocking techniques and 170 Stopless. (You can argue that there are some other important styles as well but for me these three are the ones that matter most).

It’s not just about learning one style/technique but also the contrast between them that’s important. The rules (not the tackle restrictions) but the court layout etc found here https://www.icsf-castingsport.com/uploa ... nrules.pdf makes for an excellent practise regime (and is fun!).

Where Accuracy and Distance fully connect is that Tracking must be perfectly straight. Many years ago I was talking to a chap Ian Walker on the Board. Ian is a great caster and was one of the early 5WT competition guys. He said something to me that I found very interesting. He said that when time was short for a practise session, he would just work on accuracy because all the important elements are there. I didn’t really understand it at the time because I thought it was for the girls, but I see what he means now.

Cheers, Paul

[barrysthlm]

Try taking all the power out with the rod and try making it “feel like” the haul is doing all the work. And then work on putting more speed in with the line hand.

I don’t think any piece of advice I’ve ever received about casting has had that much impact.

My average MED cast has gone from 78 to 90, my best from 84 to 96 since starting about 10 days ago. It’s not just the distance though, the feel is better and the line shoots faster, loops are getting tighter at longer distances. Most importantly for me is that it is becoming more consistent.

Using the haul without power has allowed me to slow down enough to see a bunch of beginner faults in my stroke that turn up at a certain amount of carry. That’s my project for this week.

I’ve reserved more time for accuracy in my training. I’ll be thinking about distance the whole time though.

[John Waters]

Great advice, well done.

John

[Boisker]

It’s that time of year, where I’m moving back into fishing mode.... nearly all my practicing is under 40’ and at 15cm discs, normally at 15’, 25-30’ and 40’... with a couple out on the angle...
The overhead accuracy / closed stance style is fine for comps / developing tracking and nice open rivers, but unfortunately that doesn’t describe most SW England rivers.. I reckon at least 50% of my casts when fishing will be underhand/loop under the rod tip (never sure what’s the best / accepted way to describe that loop style)... just spent an hour practicing fly landing first then lowering the rod for slack on an underhand loop... without a doubt one of my most used casts