Struggling

[Mangrove Cuckoo]

Paul,

In another forum you mentioned the idea of wrist flailing as a possible cure for a student "struggling" for distance.

I consider myself as such a student, and have been all my life. At every stage I have always strived to cast further, and I still do so today.

Somewhere along the line I began to incorporate the concept of using a cradle grip and closing the fingers when attempting to cast longer distance. And it seems that is where I am stuck today.

I get the idea of sequential braking and I think I use it lower, but not in my hand. Closing my fingers seems the opposite of flailing.

Have you progressed beyond cradle / closing?

Can you elaborate?

I'd love to add another 10 feet to my cast.

Thanks!

[Vinny]

Paul,

In another forum you mentioned the idea of wrist flailing as a possible cure for a student "struggling" for distance.

I consider myself as such a student, and have been all my life. At every stage I have always strived to cast further, and I still do so today.

Somewhere along the line I began to incorporate the concept of using a cradle grip and closing the fingers when attempting to cast longer distance. And it seems that is where I am stuck today.

I get the idea of sequential braking and I think I use it lower, but not in my hand. Closing my fingers seems the opposite of flailing.

Have you progressed beyond cradle / closing?

Can you elaborate?

I'd love to add another 10 feet to my cast.

Thanks!

I love the question !!

[Paul Arden]

Hi Gary,

I’ll answer tomorrow. Have to be up in 6 hrs. I’ll see if I can explain my thoughts on this afterwards!

Cheers, Paul

[Paul Arden]

Hi Gary,

What holds most people back in distance is their backcast. It’s either not straight, or it’s open and the power has been applied through the stroke and not nearer the end with delayed rotation. To cast another ten feet in front you probably need to carry another ~7’ behind (assuming a full flyline).

I always recommend 2/3rds of distance training is devoted to carry and 1/3rd the Launch.

Put a big black mark on the line at 90’ and play with carry. You can strip measure back or forward to measure your max carry this way. There are three exercises. One is close to max carry and play with loops and power application/body movement. Swoop/Cradle etc. Another exercise is to keep trying to increase carry. And the third exercise is to get to max carry and start to slow down as much as you can. Ie speed exercises.

There is an optimal carry point for the MED and that’s to position the head at the top of the loop and for the initial loop to be running line. And then you can start to extend further from there and see what happens.

For the backcast in OSD we block the forearm and flail the wrist. The haul coincides with the wrist flail. In 170 we block the upper arm and flail the forearm. The haul begins in earnest after the rod butt passes the perpendicular (play with this timing… try later; it’s visual).

I do still use the cradle grip on the forward delivery. I get underneath the rod, have turned the body to put the rod hand in front of the line hand, have a good bend in the hauling arm, initiate the launch pushing up from the front leg. Haul to a straight arm. The haul happens when I see the upper third of the rod come into view above and in front of me. Then it’s a rotation of the rod, like reaching out with the hand and putting the thumb on top of a tree in the distance.

I told Nick I wouldn’t even teach him the Launch until he was carrying 90 That was then. Nowadays I introduce it much earlier because it helps connect the body sequence throughout the casting stroke. The difference between a 65’ carry and a 95’ carry is largely technique.

I’m coaching a few competitors in the WCs this year. One is new to the 170 and is in the process of learning it. I’ve said to them that for the next 4-6 weeks I’m not interested in the launch. Just extend carry. I’m looking forward to meeting them tomorrow to see where we are now.

The ideal situation is to be able to carry more than we need. Then we can play with speed, trajectory, loops on the backcast because it’s within our capabilities.

Cheers, Paul