Joined
·
5,375 Posts
this picks up from a recent thread on the "techniques" board, but I thought I would add something from my own recent experience here on the Instructor's board in the hopes that it would help others with their casting and/or instructing.
During a recent casting session I was working with a new caster who was struggling with his initial lift while switch casting. The lift itself actually was good (the classic "shotgun lift" that Derek describes in his "Spey Masterclass" video--an excellent resource, BTW for both casters AND instructors) but the line just wouldn't come out of the water cleanly as the caster moved from the lift to the D loop formation. When he pulled back to form the loop his line stuck to the water. Not enough lift, right?--an easy analysis. But here's what was interesting--why wasn't there enough lift??? It took me a few minutes to nail it for him, and let me describe the process I went through:
I first asked him to lift higher, and he did, but only for a cast or two and then back to the same problem. Plus lifting higher made his top hand rise into an uncomfortably high position, which led to other problems later in the cast (falling D loop as the hands came back down to a more comfortable postion, or hands too high before coming forward for the delivery cast). So I started looking for the root problem and watched closely his hands on the lift. His top hand was very low on the upper handle--right up against the reel seat. So I asked him to move his top hand forward on the upper grip an inch, then two, then to the middle of the upper handle. Guess what happened? Each time he moved his hand forward his casting improved until finally his problem with the initial lift disappeared.
Try this yourself: grab a rod butt section and hold your upper hand right up against the reel seat, then do your typical initial lift and notice how high the tip of the butt section rises (use a wall or bookshelf as your reference). Next, execute the same lift, but do it with your hand farther forward on the top handle; better yet, after your first lift, keep the rod at its original stopping point and slide your top hand forward along the upper handle and see what happens to the butt tip. You'll notice that the butt tip is now higher along the wall than with your initial/previous lift. Multiply this difference along the length of a 15ft rod and you will see that a few inches on the butt section is a big difference by the time to get to the tip top.
Next time you find a caster having problems with the line getting stuck during the initial lift, have a look at his or her hand positioning--it may hold the key to correcting the problem!
During a recent casting session I was working with a new caster who was struggling with his initial lift while switch casting. The lift itself actually was good (the classic "shotgun lift" that Derek describes in his "Spey Masterclass" video--an excellent resource, BTW for both casters AND instructors) but the line just wouldn't come out of the water cleanly as the caster moved from the lift to the D loop formation. When he pulled back to form the loop his line stuck to the water. Not enough lift, right?--an easy analysis. But here's what was interesting--why wasn't there enough lift??? It took me a few minutes to nail it for him, and let me describe the process I went through:
I first asked him to lift higher, and he did, but only for a cast or two and then back to the same problem. Plus lifting higher made his top hand rise into an uncomfortably high position, which led to other problems later in the cast (falling D loop as the hands came back down to a more comfortable postion, or hands too high before coming forward for the delivery cast). So I started looking for the root problem and watched closely his hands on the lift. His top hand was very low on the upper handle--right up against the reel seat. So I asked him to move his top hand forward on the upper grip an inch, then two, then to the middle of the upper handle. Guess what happened? Each time he moved his hand forward his casting improved until finally his problem with the initial lift disappeared.
Try this yourself: grab a rod butt section and hold your upper hand right up against the reel seat, then do your typical initial lift and notice how high the tip of the butt section rises (use a wall or bookshelf as your reference). Next, execute the same lift, but do it with your hand farther forward on the top handle; better yet, after your first lift, keep the rod at its original stopping point and slide your top hand forward along the upper handle and see what happens to the butt tip. You'll notice that the butt tip is now higher along the wall than with your initial/previous lift. Multiply this difference along the length of a 15ft rod and you will see that a few inches on the butt section is a big difference by the time to get to the tip top.
Next time you find a caster having problems with the line getting stuck during the initial lift, have a look at his or her hand positioning--it may hold the key to correcting the problem!