Just The Rod....

[davefromtheattic]

Last night I was watching casting videos on youtube and watched Mel Krieger's loading and unloading the rod for about the 10th time! He's really got the knack of firing you up! I actually took his advice and got up, set up a rod and just started messing about with it. Within no time I'd identified loads of things I was doing wrong. For one, it's surprising how little movement it takes to load the rod and how rubbish I am at moving the rod tip in a straight line! I seem to naturally move from left to right, so I set up a straight line on the curtain in front of me  and will get the straight line action into muscle memory.

[haresear]

Last night I was watching casting videos on youtube and watched Mel Krieger's loading and unloading the rod for about the 10th time! He's really got the knack of firing you up! I actually took his advice and got up, set up a rod and just started messing about with it. Within no time I'd identified loads of things I was doing wrong. For one, it's surprising how little movement it takes to load the rod and how rubbish I am at moving the rod tip in a straight line! I seem to naturally move from left to right, so I set up a straight line on the curtain in front of me  and will get the straight line action into muscle memory.

Dave, when working on tracking I find it helps me to stand in front of a mirror (face on) and work on making the arm movements while keeping my elbow pointing at the mirror.

Alex

[davefromtheattic]

Cheers, I'll give that a shot. SWMBO will think I'm daft, but no more than usual 

[Teither]

Dave, when working on tracking I find it helps me to stand in front of a mirror (face on) and work on making the arm movements while keeping my elbow pointing at the mirror.

Alex

Alex,
        I followed that tip tonight  ... till my arm and shoulder ached. My lawyer will be in touch ! Good compen, I believe, for maliciously induced frozen shoulder !!  :lol: :lol:
J

See you Sunday [ with an estimate ] !  :lol:   

[haresear]

Alex,
        I followed that tip tonight  ... till my arm and shoulder ached. My lawyer will be in touch ! Good compen, I believe, for maliciously induced frozen shoulder !!  Laughing Laughing
J

Jim, you must have got this wrong. Think of the rod as a big dart, but you are holding it by the sharp bit, with the flight pointing vertically.

Anyone have any darts for Sunday?

Alex   

[davefromtheattic]

I think I've just realised today that the fast actioned rods are going to the back of the cupboard. I'm not ready for them yet, I'm just another victim of the marketing brigade. I was out today with the Fladen 4wt overlined with a #5 (the rod that I set-up after Mel's Video) and was loving it. The window to analyse and make changes is so much larger and I could actually feel the rod working. I'm taking out my first fly rod tomorrow which is slow actioned to see what effect that has.

I'll try that position tomorrow Alan, my tracking was better today. I'm at about 1 in 4 straight. Practise, practise, practise!

[Malcolm]

I think I've just realised today that the fast actioned rods are going to the back of the cupboard. I'm not ready for them yet, I'm just another victim of the marketing brigade.

Forgive me for this type of post on this forum as I am not a qualified casting instructor. However..

I asked a question on another forum about the difference in casting between an out and out casting fast action rod and a normal rod. The answer from a very fine distance caster was , wait for it - 5 feet!

I personally like very slow actioned rods by modern standards. There is one very good reason for this: slow actioned rods are much better at spey casting and it makes very little difference in practical fishing terms for long casting.

At extremes a horrible 5 weight SAGE TCR can cast over 140 feet. A nice fishing rod like the 5 weight XP can cast over 130 feet. The difference is that the 5 weight TCR will not deliver a Spey/switch/roll cast with more than 15ft lead but the XP can with more than 40 feet beyond the tip ring. I know as I've tried them both. For really flexible casting you need a medium action rod.

If you need to cast more than 90 feet with a 5 weight and can't do it, the answer is not to speed up the action of your rod it is to learn how to cast with the rod you have.

Again apologies for the lecturing tone of this post. I promise not to do it again!   

[davefromtheattic]

I didn't find your post lecturing in the slightest, in fact it has really just listed all the things I've come to realise over the course of the winter. I've been really focusing on my casting in the last few months and absorbing as much info about it as I can. Now with an , albeit probably basic, understanding of the physics behind whats going on I can see that a fast actioned rod isn't going to perform roll casts very well in my hands. Only once I've got the stroke sorted on a medium actioned rod could I think about the fast. Even then, a medium action is probably a better fishing tool for landing fish anyway.

Thanks for posting.

[scotty9]

I didn't find your post lecturing in the slightest, in fact it has really just listed all the things I've come to realise over the course of the winter. I've been really focusing on my casting in the last few months and absorbing as much info about it as I can. Now with an , albeit probably basic, understanding of the physics behind whats going on I can see that a fast actioned rod isn't going to perform roll casts very well in my hands. Only once I've got the stroke sorted on a medium actioned rod could I think about the fast. Even then, a medium action is probably a better fishing tool for landing fish anyway.

Thanks for posting.

I'm going to be difficult here as usual!  :lol:

Malcolm - the TCR like rods in the hands of some excellent casters are definitely capable of some mind blowing spey casting. I've seen some videos of some great casting with crazy stiff rods but whilst I am saying that, the XP is a lovely rod for speys....!

Incidentally, I've been saving for a while and am about to invest in a #6 TCX and boy I cannot wait!  :lol:

Dave - I don't agree with the medium action thing for landing fish. My rod is one stiff rod to cast but bends double when playing a decent sized fish, to say this rod doesn't help absorb the shocks and head shakes of the fish would be nonsense. I have no problems at all playing fish on the stiff rod.

Basically in any cast what happens when the rod bends is the tip tracks a straight line path in a good cast. You are imparting acceleration to the line in the most efficient way, pulling it along a straight line. The longer you can make this straight line of acceleration, the more energy you will get into the moving line. This is where most people have trouble, they can't get enough of a bend out of the stiff rod to apply acceleration over a longer straight line distance than they can with a softer rod. Like Malcolm says though, I've also been told that, the differences in extreme distance are not that much more. And if you can't cast a 5 weight line over 90' - learn how to track straight! It's bloody difficult but it's the biggest thing that robs distance, everyone is strong enough to power the cast but they canny move it in a straight line! Me included and it annoys the hell out of me!  :lol: Paul Arden says the difference between a 100' cast and a 120' cast is tracking.

[davefromtheattic]

to say this rod doesn't help absorb the shocks and head shakes of the fish would be nonsense. I have no problems at all playing fish on the stiff rod.

I didn't say a stiff rod doesn't, I just think it would be kinder to your tippet.

Out of interest, what did you learn to cast on Scott?