The Board

Mel Krieger said that teaching acceleration was one of the hardest things to do. He recounted that there have been various ways to try to describe it but none of them were very good. So he came up with the word "Wuuuuump." He also said to "start heavy, start strong." Do you have any drills you use to help a student get that Wuuump feeling?

Try casting without line. Hold the fly line against the rod, holding both sides with your rod hand (so you have two lengths of line, reel to tip, tip to hand) and give it that little spin so the loose end wraps around the rod. Now cast to a firm stop so you feel the rod bounce.

Overlining the rod by a 2 or 3 line weights also works, or working with a softer rod.

Once people get this, they soon start throwing tailing loops, and I usually congratulate them, since they have now moved on to "intermediate casting flaws".

I also often go back to a bow and arrow cast, to make sure they aren't afraid of bending the rod. It is also a bit of an eye opener that most of them can bow and arrow cast (at least with a piece of fluff) 25ft very nicely.

It really depends. Some times I teach to “lead with the butt”, other times to “think heavy”, “feel for the weight of the line”, flicking a potato off the tip (not actually a real spud but an imaginary one), forward casts only, backcasts only, casting in slow motion, dynamic rolls to teach delayed turnover. No power until midnight, or the perpendicular. Powersnap, Carl’s explanation above but with minimum power.. I have a lot especially since this is 99% of what casting is all about

Cheers, Paul

I had to come up with a novel approach this weekend just gone.

I am helping our local tackle shop guy to get his CCI. He has been fly fishing for 25 years and has a tailing loop on every cast (tailing tendency is what they previously described his loop shape as.) I could not get him to change with any of the regular drills I had, so I analysed my own cast a bit more, specifically where I look when I'm trying to show my cleanest & tightest loops. What I noticed was that I was often watching the slow and steady development of the bend in the rod throughout the cast.

When I watched his rod's bend development throughout the cast, I could clearly see the point at which the tail was forming, so I asked him to watch his rod and compare with mine. The results were immediate: his tails disappeared and his loops tightened. He went from failing the first task on the exam to easily passing it within 2 minutes (after two hours of previous work.)

I'll certainly keep this method in mind for students like him in the future.

Cheers,
Graeme

Thanks Graeme. I’ll try that!

Graeme H wrote: ↑Tue Sep 22, 2020 9:30 pm ... so I analysed my own cast a bit more, specifically where I look when I'm trying to show my cleanest & tightest loops. What I noticed was that I was often watching the slow and steady development of the bend in the rod throughout the cast.

Graeme, were you using video analysis for this, or casting slowly enough for the student to see?

Casting slowly enough over a distance of 40'. Not much line speed is needed to reach the distance, so it's very easy to follow the rod by eye.

Cheers,
Graeme

On my teaching rod, a painted white Sage One, I have a bright orange butt fitted. This is what I watch, and this is what I film when someone is throwing tails or other faults - it tells you and them so much. I'll film just their hand and then follow it immediately with a shot of what my hand/wrist is doing.

I also ask them to lay the rod out to the side and to push against it while I hold it at various places along the rod, "the butt its hard to the bend, the tip is easy, just bend the tip and feel the weight in the tip". Sometimes it ain't and I must admit to having lost sleep at times over several casters I have not been able to influence. Will try your method Graeme.

I always go back to body movement and use an exercise band on the wrist and hold it from behind. The resulting hand lag generates the required whuuuuump every time.

John

Yep I was also thinking about that John, and start with the cast beginning at the ground up. It really just depends on the caster in question. Everyone is a little bit different in how they learn. And some are a lot different

Cheers, Paul