Vince was asking some questions on Facebook but I can’t stand FB. Trying to post anything meaningful is a huge undertaking. I have to post in a tiny little box, it’s almost impossible to edit (and I edit posts 3-4 times on average), I can’t see what I’ve written before and try posting some images to assist your words and you can forget it! Even more infuriating is that it’s a threaded structure, which makes no sense when you read it top to bottom because that’s not the order in which it grew.
I have a few other problems with Facebook as well but as a business you cannot afford to ignore it. That’s the modern world we live in. I was happier when FB didn’t exist. We didn’t have to worry about them in the early days of Sexyloops. But now we live in a polarised world with social media companies that are being used to divide people, they record every link you follow, everything you like and say, they even read your “private” messages. Wankers!
And finally, one last thing to get off my chest - there is no long term incentive for me to post a technical reply on FB because one week later no one will find it. At least on a Board you can find and read discussions from years ago. For example the flush toilet on the Battleship was getting hard to flush. I did an internet search and ended up in a marine forum, where I read to pour cooking oil down the pan. Works a treat!! But it was written something like 7 years before (I can’t remember the exact number, but you get the idea).
And so for me, the stuff we write here lives on. And very possibly long after we have gone. I mean I can imagine Lasse’s great great grandchildren going through the SL Board to try to count how many times he was wrong. Maybe one of them will even write a book about it.
To the question:
Well, in summation, Vince was suggesting that to learn non-dominant hand casting it’s about brain neurology and learning step by step. His example was trying to learn left handed writing... hang on I’ll post it...
Now here is my reply, but I’ll edit it now as I normally could...Paul Arden I’ll try and skin this another way. Say you write a short passage in pen with your dominant hand and it’s all nice formed letters and flowing script. You then try it with your non dominant hand and it turns out all scribbly.
To improve your non dominant hand writing would you write with a pen in each hand until it feels right, or would you work with a single pen, concentrating on accurate movements, forming your letters slowly, then practice until you get better and eventually your handwriting flows just like your dominant hand?
Hi mate,
You make an excellent point, however I believe that a cast isn’t only about drawing letters; it’s also about using those letters to form words and then write a description. Let me give you an example:
We have an awesome competition on the Board right now – that I think only Lasse and I are doing – Which is a 90’ carry left handed while blindfold, that I’ve been working on now for about two weeks. (Two more to go and we will see where we are at!).
The particular line I’m using is a 97’ long DT (it’s actually the SL Lumiline). I can carry this to the backing knot blindfold off the right hand no problems at all - which is where the idea came from. I had been employing SF at the time which is often where the best ideas originate.
A 97’ carry is not about drawing letters however; it’s technique. If it was easy then everyone would be able to do it. Sure we know it’s high line speed and straight tracking... but then what?
When my line wraps around the reel, I could spend 20 minutes reworking my right handed haul, or I can see where my left hand goes and simply copy that.
I twist my wrist at the end of the haul. How important is that? I don’t know but when I copy it over I can visibly see that it makes a difference.
However the biggest thing for me is Feel. The contact the hands make to the rod and to the line; ie how we apply force using each. And that’s really easy to cross over; much harder and takes far longer to learn.
My biggest breakthrough recently, was copying a backhand delivery 170 cast with the left - because that is essentially the backcast of a 170 but with a trajectory change. I think one of the biggest challenges to overcome when we switch hands, is that the left hand that is now holding the rod still behaves as if it is hauling and the right hand that is now hauling, hauls like it is just in for the ride, instead of aggressively controlling the cast. The full arm stretch 170 backcast demolishes that because the hands end up in the same position, with a remarkably similar final acceleration, no matter which one is holding the rod at the time.
Anyway, as I wrote previously, it’s not just about the process of teaching the left hand, it’s the same as teaching any advanced skill; we actually need to work out exactly what it is that we are doing. When I’ve had some of my casts analysed here on the Board, I’ve been surprised to learn that I was doing something totally unexpected – this has happened quite a few times now!
Apart from the possibility that I’m actually doing it wrong of course, it’s also possible that I’m doing it right – and that the timing/force application that has developed over millions of casts is actually spot on! If that happens to be what is generating a 97’ carry, or whatever it is that we are trying to achieve, then the simplest way is to mirror it over and find out. I often find myself having to do this when teaching advanced skills to others – and so it should be of no surprise that this is how I now teach myself too.
I have to say, it’s been truly fascinating. I’ve ended up going though all the casts. Accuracy, PUALDs, funky Speys. There is a long long way to go with this, but just think of the huge potential it has for casting two lumi-lines! Hauling might be difficult but you could use one foot. The possibilities are endless. Snakehead fly on one rod, Gourami fly on the other. Or Snakehead Popper on one rod and bunny on the other. Tease them in with the left, nail them with the right. I’d need to get a couple of those Vivarelli reels...
It actually has a practical side too. Fishing wise I don’t think I really need it. My backhand shots are good as my forehand. Where it is a clear advantage to me, is both overpowered curves and Speys. If my left hand was as good as my right, I would possibly have won two world championships by now.
Anyway it keeps me amused on these dark tropical nights
Cheers, Paul