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People may find fly casting difficult because ..........

Started by Wildfisher, March 29, 2010, 11:10:28 AM

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Wildfisher

Quote from: corsican dave on March 29, 2010, 07:35:22 PM
people may find fly casting difficult because.... they get too hung up on casting!

true to some extent, but the better - or rather more intelligently - you can cast the better your prospects of success. This is especially  true river fishing, much less so on lochs, but still important there.

Inchlaggan

it ain't no different from teaching a golf swing, a forehand volley, draw filing, tap drilling, curtain making, or the tango.
The concepts of teaching (and the fear of learning) remain the same.
'til a voice as bad as conscience,
rang interminable changes,
on an everlasting whisper,
day and night repeated so-
"Something hidden, go and find it,
Go and look beyond the ranges,
Something lost beyond the ranges,
Lost and waiting for you,
Go."

Malcolm

 :idea:To get back to the original question. Fly casting is really easy - you just do it don't you? There's certainly no need for lessons. No need to think about it too much. It'll just come naturally. That's how we all learned isn't it and we cast just fine for our purposes and doesn't stop us catching the odd trout. There's far too much emphasis on formal learning and we're too quick to jump in when someone starts and say "get a couple of lessons".

Er.... Bullshit...(in my humble opinion of course....)

I have two lads who learned to fish they were very small first with bait and then with fly. They are good fishermen and cast a fly as well as almost anyone. After a few minutes of basic instruction it was a case of "I can do that..." and they did. Kids do that sort of thing all the time and very easily. Stick a 5 iron in a 12 year olds hands and if they're keen you'll come back in a couple of weeks and find them doing flop shots, chips, drives.

As adults we go out and get lessons rather than just doing it. We're daft!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjcdj6tbKyA

There's nocht sae sober as a man blin drunk.
I maun hae goat an unco bellyfu'
To jaw like this

scotty9

Mark, sorry I meant confusion over what a term means. You would not believe the arguments the "top" guys have over what a particular cast is or what that particular term means. It's quite an eye opener! I fully realise that things have to be explained differently and I said above that is a huge element to helping understanding. I know from my experience personally that the best way is to take X from Him, Y from another and so on and eventually you have a well rounded picture.

There's a lot to be said about your last paragraph! I never thought I'd hear you say something positive about casting  :makefun  :D

I actually think just about everyone on this thread is saying the same or very similar thing.

Breac - the elbow down at the side is so old school!  :D Too out dated for me! And the lower hand is so promiment in double handed casting now, in fact it's the bugger that i'm currently trying to learn!

P.S. Just thought I should add, I stand by my original comment that people find fly casting hard because it is an unnatural movement. The body isn't designed to create forward momentum by stopping. And therein lies learning how to stop properly. See it's a real bugger! :lol:

alba

Quote from: guest on March 29, 2010, 07:53:20 PM


I seem to remember that Jocky Wilson never had a textbook throw but was a pretty good darts player :D



great comparason, every dart he threw was different, you see the same with older golfers who have unorthadox swings, there still pros, theres not always a right and wrong way to do things

Wildfisher

I think the consensus is that the hourly thing is indeed bollox.

Explaining:

Getting and using the right words is  part of it.

Getting a logical structure with no if buts or contradictions of stuff explained in step 1 when you get to  step 6  is another.

Assume our beginner Joe has never had a fly rod in his hand.


Fishtales

To me actions speak better than words. Imagine the person you are teaching can't see. Explaining what you are doing, no matter how succinct, means nothing to them as they have no idea what you are trying to convey as they have never seen it. Using words without letting them feel what you are trying to convey achieves very little.
Don't worry, be happy.
Sandy
Carried it in full, then carry it out empty.
http://www.ftscotland.co.uk/

Looking for a webhost? Try http://www.1and1.co.uk/?k_id=2966019

Teither

Individuals have different learning styles. So long as " teachers " try to focus on their preferred teaching style, as opposed to the pupil's preferred learning style, it is unlikely that either party will make the kind of progress which might otherwise be possible. I do earnestly believe that the most important objective for the teacher at the outset of the relationship is to reach an understanding of the pupil's preferred learning style - sometimes not an easy task, for the pupil himself may not be aware of that. And while it is undoubtedly true that acquiring a deep understanding of anything is likely to enhance mastery and accomplishment,  it is also very often true [ and especially in leisure activities, I think ] that some , perhaps most,  do not want to delve into the " theoretics " , and certainly not beyond the point at which they can, or feel they can, take the next step up the progress ladder. And some may not be inclined to take all that many steps up that ladder anyway. What those who fall into that category most definitely do not want is some "smarty pants" instructor, even though he may be obviously highly skilled and talented, demeaning them with verbosity or any kind of supercilious mind games, probably reflecting the interest he has in the subject as opposed to the pupil's own ambitions, at whatever level these might be.
So, having identified at the outset what the pupil wants to learn [ so far as he is able to know that ] try next to understand how he would like to learn/ be taught and then just take it in small stages, whether by demonstrating or drawing on wee bits of paper or whatever - and often, perhaps a combination of all the various teaching/explaining devices. Certainly demonstrate the " what " and the " how " and show how/why the pupil is going wrong, which at the start will often be the case. The fast learners will learn fast, others at a pace more suited to them. Please settle for the fact that , irrespective of what you might like him to do, he will, in fact learn from you in his own way...and, for any sake avoid telling him that this or that is " nonsense " or that what he is doing is " terrible " or  making other remarks of that sort. They don't help. Most likely these kinds of remarks will put the pupil off altogether. They are possibly quite likely to cause the pupil to wonder if the " smarty pants instructor " might care to enjoy a dook in the pond  :lol: ...... !!!

Of course, occasionally the  instructor  may get lucky and acquire a pupil who shares his fascination with understanding all the minutiae. Let's hope that such bright and obviously talented pupils don't end up falling into the cesspit of windbaggery themselves over time  :lol: :lol:

Of course, all of the foregoing is just one perspective, and a good-natured one, I hope .... but I hope too that it may go a wee bit along the road of answering the original question.

Teither


haresear

Quoteim curious about terminology, as an example..is this too complex?

'balance is the perfect weight of line for the strength of flex in the rod'
if its too heavy(or too much out beyond the rod tip) the rod will struggle to recover crisply, if its too light(or too little line) there wont be enough weight to flex the rod properly. ??

Some people will get that Alan, but not everyone.

I like to relate the question of balance in fly fishing to something else like spinning or beachcasting, as most people will have cast a spinner/lead at some point. To a beginner who has cast a spinning rod before I tend to say something like this...

"a spinning rod which is rated for casting say 20-40 grams will cast a 10 gram lure and it will cast a 60 gram lure, but it won't cast those as well as it would 30 gram lure, which should be the best casting weight for that rod. The 10 gram lure won't bend the rod enough for the rod to act as a spring (I then demonstrate the spring effect when the rod straightens) and the rod won't have enough strength to cast the 60 gram lure very well.

Fly rods are just the same, except that the line is the weight we are casting and the longer the line, the heavier it gets, so we have to match the weight of the line to the power of the rod, just as in spinning."

That gives a lead in to talking about the AFTM system.

Got to go now, sorry.



Alex



 
Protect the edge.

zeolite

Quote from: guest on March 29, 2010, 07:53:20 PM


I seem to remember that Jocky Wilson never had a textbook throw but was a pretty good darts player :D



Is that because textbooks would bounce off the dartboard?
Schrodinger's troots pictured above.

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