Hi Carol,Carol wrote: ↑Wed Nov 04, 2020 1:03 amThank you for this, because it better clarifies what it is that I'm doing when locking the forearm muscles. Whenever I try to use the Joan Wulff sponge squeeze, I tend to shock the rod. So I gave up on that and simply started locking the forearm. I never thought of it as a block, but that's exactly what it is!Mangrove Cuckoo wrote: ↑Tue Nov 03, 2020 7:57 pm There is the tightened grip locking the forearm muscles, what I expect John might consider a block.
Then there are the multitude of micro wrists that accelerate the rod, but do not necessarily mean the grip tightens.
Mac turned me on to a subtler form he considers "pulling", where the fingers furthest from the thumb close and lever the rod butt around a fulcrum at the base of the index finger.
All of these techniques seem beneficial (to me), but they are all distinct in my mind.
I learned the same pulling technique from Mac (and Jonathan Walters) wherein the pinky and ring finger pull back into the palm. Combined with the lower hand grip that Mac uses, I use this stop a lot, especially after the stroke in roll casting for the delayed rotation, adjusting the amount of pressure applied for a given distance.
Thank you!
Maybe I misunderstand your thoughts on Joan's 'Squeeze Stop'...
The squeeze is not a simple gripping motion, it involves a thumb push and pulling up into heel of hand of the pinky and ring fingers. The pulling up of the back digits is often over looked. The Squeeze Stop begins with the thumb push and works its way down to the pinky, similar to a piano player finger roll.
Craig