New FFi TH certs?

[Mangrove Cuckoo]

Hey folks,

I got a couple questions...

Is anyone familiar with the new FFi certifications (2) for Spey casting? And, if so, do you have any comments?

I am getting more and more requests for lessons for "Trout Spey". It seems to be getting popular over here. I have some experience with Spey casts, especially single hand, but I also have a few traditional DH rods that I have played with. But, I am hesitant to claim I am at teaching level.

So, when I heard that there was a CI level for the TH cert I thought I would look into it. The original TH certification was always something I thought I would do some day, but I realized it was beyond my level and I did not have the time nor inclination to take it on. I saw it as something even higher than my MCI. Now that there is a CI level I might could handle that if I put my mind to it. If nothing else, it would give me some more confidence for teaching.

Second question... looking over the suggested books and videos, I was surprised to see that there were no recent ones listed. The most current one I saw was 2010!

So, can anyone suggest a book or video of quality that is up to date?

Here in Florida, there is very little call for traditional Spey, but Skagit seems more aligned with our larger, heavier, sinking flies. So that is really what I expect will be most useful. As to Trout Spey, my trout fishing buddies flew right past it when Euro style nymphing addicted them all.

Thanks in advance!

[Lasse Karlsson]

Yes, I am familiar with the THCI and the THMCI tests, any specific questions?

General comments would be that there is some typos in the versions available, so don't sweat if something seems odd

I'm not surpriced nothing newer is in the list, do you know of any twohanded casting books that are newer?

Teaching wise, it's casting, physics doesnt change because we need one more hand on the stick, our movements have to be adapter, but booke like Simon Gawesworths speycasting and Al Buhr's two handed fly casting covers that pretty well. As always, question everything and try it out to decide for yourself, have only read one book on flycasting where there wasn't things which didn't hold true IRL...

Cheers
Lasse

[Morsie]

So glad to see the term "Point P" back in use.

[jarmo]

looking over the suggested books and videos, I was surprised to see that there were no recent ones listed. The most current one I saw was 2010!

So, can anyone suggest a book or video of quality that is up to date?

The only traditionally published recent piece of work I am aware of is Travis Johnson's Contemporary Thoughts on Modern Spey Casting. I find the contents to match the title - some interesting tips and discussions - but do not really consider it to be a casting manual.

As far as the FFI list is concerned, I agree with Lasse about Gawesworth's and Buhr's book. I would start with the former and then proceed immediately to the latter. RIOs Modern Spey Casting DVD tome is nice. I have also enjoyed Art of Spey Casting, because you can see different instructors demonstrating their technique, and also see glimpses of what they might emphasize when instructing. When I was prepping, I was unable to find some of the materials in those lists.

I am not sure what "up to date" information you are looking for, but I do not think you need anything radically new for those tasks. I do find it interesting that the techniques can be quite different. We have competition DH casters on this board, and they can most likely shed some light on modern developments. Personally, having initially learned from Gawesworth, I find it interesting how little translation is used by some competition casters. The web has lots of interesting contents, but it is difficult to classify any of that as quality. I have found a couple of videos by Tim Arsenault quite nice. (Although, for some reason, I can not find some of those videos at this time point - something might have been deleted or my memory is distorted. But something is still available.)

[Morsie]

I find Al Buhr's book very difficult to follow, Gawsey's book is the benchmark, but I think this is a difficult set of skills to learn from a book. It's very difficult to find directly related THCI clips online, but there are plenty of reasonably good instructional clips. Gawsey has a pile of them on 2 handers on the RIO channel, I like also Jon Hazlett's stuff which is all heads and perfect for the new THCI, especially his "Spey equation", which I've not seen anywhere else and makes an awful lot of sense from a learning and teaching perspective. George Cook also has a good run down on the various snap casts with Skagit heads and has an excellent demo of the "dreaded dip" in every cast, but he powers his way out of it. The rest you have to sift through with the music of "The good the bad and the ugly" playing in the background. The few clips there are of Robert Gillespie demonstrating the incline exercise and the climbing curve are gold. The hardest part (for me anyway) is finding an observer, someone who understands what you're trying to achieve, who knows when a D is a D and V is a V. You try and focus on observing one part and another part goes to pieces, and then of course there's observing on your non-dominant side and you end up rolling your shoulders and introducing other issues. Anyway it's giving me plenty to do during lockdown. Actually the most difficult task for me is the cack-handed cast, my non-dominant side is often better than my dominant side.....

[Subtropicalspey]

Peter, what length leader do you use to practice the floating line tasks on the THCI exam?

[Morsie]

For the old test with the long belly line I used a 14ft leader, for the new THCI test I'm using a 12ft leader with the Scandi heads - this gives me a few feet of overhang.