push or pull

[Paul Arden]

[Paul Arden]

I can’t even think of another sport where we have to throw backwards! I personally think there is a relationship between the haul and rod force. The faster we can haul the faster we can move the rod, but we are also limited by haul speed and the balance is in favour of the haul. You are right to develop haul speed and back off on rod force. You can always feed force back in later and watch the results. I certainly don’t hit it as hard as I can. Mind you I do break a few rods so I must be giving it some oomph!

Gotta run. I’m in town picking up supplies. Filming next days and as well as Gourami catcher I’m head chef. I suppose this is what they mean by hosting a TV show. I’m the catering department Still I’ll have the last laugh and feed them potatoes for three days.

Cheers, Paul

[RSalar]

You are very lucky in golf that so much biomechanics research has taken place. We don’t really have that in fly casting instruction, which is somewhat bizarre, and the best really that we have, is within the small competition world. There have been a few studies but I still feel we are very much in the Dark Ages. Much further than 20 years ago in understanding how the rod/loop works, but with regards biomechanics there is very little indeed.
Cheers, Paul

Hi Paul — you made the point to me when we were discussing the wrist flip (flail) that the iPhone does an amazing job with slow motion video. I agree — it’s an amazing tool that we have easy access to. I think it would be really fantastic if you could figure out a way to film yourself making the 170 cast in slow motion. Getting it clear enough so we could see the wrist flip and all the other things that are going on. You might need to take the shots from several angles and zoomed in on various parts to the cast …

Just one more thing to add to your busy schedule!

—Ron

[RSalar]

The shootout video!

[RSalar]

I can’t even think of another sport where we have to throw backwards!

Cheers, Paul

I can — throwing salt over your shoulder to ward off evil spirits — that’s a huge sport in some cultures. How about when you’re digging though a chest of old cloths. You throw everything back over your head as you dig in there trying to find your favorite fishing shirt. That’s great sport!

But seriously, the motion is similar to throwing a frisbee or making a backhand tennis shot. It’s not behind you but the body movement is basically the same. You use the muscles in your back and you twist towards your back as opposed to using the muscles in your chest and rotating towards the front.

[RSalar]

Paul, the videos that you posted are interesting but this one is better — it clearly shows the thrust or stab at the end — plus it’s clearer and in slow motion:



Cheers,

Ron

[Paul Arden]

Yes it’s in there, Ron. It’s also possible to see a slight doming of the hand path through the stroke. I would prefer to exaggerate that. You can also see that the element of Thrust occurs pre-RSP.

I know this is a useful cast and a lot of people analyse it. However I think it’s also important to consider that sometimes I do things differently and over the years different parts happen have certainly happened differently. I haven’t always used Thrust for example and then I’ve turned over later in the Stroke. And I’m not sure which is better

I also know that the rod/line combination makes a difference. I’m less “floppy” now with the HT10 (I think that was an HT10). With the HT6 I was much more “exaggerated”. In many ways with the softer rod it’s easier to see the elements I’m discussing eg doming.

Yes I think Tennis backhand is very similar to 170. I really have no examples of a similar chain of movements to the Open Stance Distance backcast. Salt maybe but often do you spill salt?

Cheers, Paul

[RSalar]

Hi Paul, If the loop forms at RSP then any movement of the tip after RSP effects the rod leg of the line. (How am I doing ) So if you do that stab, jab, push thing after RSP and it’s angled upward then it closes the loop by raising the rod leg closer to the fly leg. But … if you do the wrist flip flop flail instead of the upward stab then it should open the loop (because the tip drops and lowers the rod leg) … which it seems to do from my experience. I haven’t gotten to the lesson yet where I learn how to tighten the loops of the 170. I’m interested in finding out how that is done because it seems impossible! Cheers, Ron

[Paul Arden]

I know it might sound odd but I personally don’t worry too much about the rod leg opening. I want the fly leg straight and angled to target. Manipulating the rod leg has very little affect on distance. However, yes you can close the loop from the rod leg by lifting the rod butt after RSP.

Are these back loops tight? You can see them in the final minute of the video.



Cheers, Paul

[RSalar]

I see what you mean. The leading edge of the loop is very narrow but as the rod tip counter flexes it opens up the loop a distance away from the leading edge then as the rod comes back to RSP2 the loop closes again (by loop I mean the distance between the fly leg and the rd leg). I guess it’s leading edge of the loop that matters most in terms of the amount of drag? And the wideness (is that a word?) of the loop farther away for the leading edge has less effect on drag?