Hand position and hauling

[Mangrove Cuckoo]

Folks,

Can anyone explain why it seems to work better, on the delivery stroke, if the haul doesn't begin until the rod hand is in front of the hauling hand?

It shows up occasionally on some of the videos of distance casting, and it has been mentioned a few times. So I have been playing with it. And it seems to work. But why?

Delays the haul?
Somehow effects the butt?
Requires more rod hand translation?

Or, is it simply confirmation bias and I'm fooling myself?

Thanks!

[Paul Arden]

Hi Gary, it’s because the hands are not separating until the rod hand is in front of the line hand. I teach to rotate the body to or beyond the square line to achieve this. It can be trained ground to ground, which makes it easier to learn.

Cheers, Paul

[Mangrove Cuckoo]

Paul,

I don't think that is it. I recognized this while I experimented with different ways of hauling (approximently) directly down the blank.

If I kept my hands where the separation was constant, but my line hand was in front, the haul was far inferior.

All things about the same, but my rod hand in front, and the haul was much more efficient.

The only thing that I could discern was more friction with line hand in front, but rotating the guides evened that out.

BTW, I also played with your idea of hauling from in front of the sternum. I am still limber enough to reach up higher, which is my default. The jurry is still out on what works better for me on that option.

Thanks for the reply.

Gary

[Paul Arden]

Hi Gary, I think it’s a pretty significant difference. The effective haul is the speed of the line being pulled through the tip ring. If the rod hand is moving towards the line hand then it is shortening the effective haul. If it is moving away from the line hand it is increasing it. There are many things that can be done to improve someone’s hauling but this for me is one of the key ones.

I like a vertical hauling plane for the forward cast. That means not crossing the body with the line hand for the forward cast haul. Two of the most explosive haulers I’ve watched are Steve Rajeff and Rick Hartman. Neither cross the body. Steve starts slightly higher with the hand. When I’ve developed my haul I’ve tried to work out how I can haul most explosively and then built the stroke around that.

I remember when I first increased my hauling speed that I threw tails every cast. Beginning the haul later fixed this problem.

I agree on the increased friction.

Cheers, Paul