Rick
Hi Mark,
Good luck with your journey to the THCI. I just passed my THCI a few weeks ago, and it has been a 2-3 year journey, ending with about 2 months of near absolute obsession, which these tests seem to require to get your mind and skills where they need to be. It's a fun trip along the way though, not the least of which is meeting the community of dedicated casters and instructors along the way.
I took my test using a T&T 1409 3-piece with a Delta 9/10 line. I took along a second T&T 1409-3 (a back up in case of breakage) that I had set up with another reel and the sinking tip line (Type 6 tip, Windcutter 9-10-11). Using the first outfit with a 2' leader butt section and a 15' tapered salmon leader, the yarn fly sits at 83' from the reel with the rear taper of the line 1' placed out of the rod tip. Delta lines come with a thin black tube that is run up the running line from the back of the line and then snugs tight on the rear taper of the head. It's easy to see and the system performs nicely with the black section 1-2' out of the tip. From there, I went back 20-23' on the running line and placed two heavy black marks on the running line, so when that came off the reel, I knew the yarn fly should be 103-105' out, assuming a straight cast.
I thought for some time about getting a 15' 10-weight system just for the test, but after practicing and realizing I could hit the distances most of the time with the 14' 9-weight, it didn't seem necessary to go to the 15' rod. Once your technique starts to come together, the distances start to come easier and don't seem so daunting as they did initially.
Others in this thread have given very good advice and I wont' repeat it, other than to note the importance of a couple of items. Everyone worries about and works hard (as they need to!) on the performance part of the exam, but it is an instructor certification exam, so the teaching and the fault recognition and correction are also very critical. More folks fail the Masters single hand and the THCI because of deficiencies in teaching and fault correction than due to casting performance failures. These areas deserve equal attention in your preparation for the THCI.
Another thing that may be useful - Kirk Eberhard has an informal spey discussion relative to the THCI exam going by email that is very useful - particularly in working out the short and concise answers the examiners are looking for. I"m sure yu can join in that disucussin by email. Kirk should be listed in the Spey Pages THCI Instrucotr list or on the FFF website.
Best of luck with your efforts. If you make it down to Idaho and I can help further, please write,
Rick Williams