Glasgow Casting Club

[haresear]

It's difficult Alan, the instructors do a terrific job pulling the whole thing together and instructing at various levels but it's like teaching everyone from primary 1 to first year university students!
Maybe trite, but I think it will work for those who are interested in the lesson of the day.

There are groups. For everyone there is a social element. Apart from that

1. The teachers - who also like to learn and test tackle
2. Beginners and improvers interested in the basics
3. Competent casters of various levels who aren't teachers but interested in improving or learning new things

...and of course the double handers who do their own thing for the most part. With a club like this all of these groups have to be happy - including the teachers 

I reckon perhaps Alan and I should back off on the practising ourselves until "after hours" and concentrate on helping others.

As Malcolm has said, there is a wide range of abilities and experience at the club. Our natural tendency is to welcome and try to help any new faces, particularly beginners. The trouble is, this is quite time consuming and I tend to leave the old faces to their own devices, which is a pity.

Still, I suppose it is after all a casting club and not really intended to be a platform or substitute for, formal one to one casting instruction, so maybe Alan is on the right track when he suggests a more disciplined approach to us (Alan and I) splitting our time between members. This could be varied according to the numbers of people who turn up.

Alan tells me to expect a cast (no pun intended) of biblical proportions this week :shock:

Alex 

[scotty9]

As i mentioned earlier in PM, before trying to decide what to do. It needs to be worked out what the desired outcome is?

People must realise they will not get a one to one lesson but a friendly environment in which to pick up tips, practice and improve through a multitude of sources.

The main strength of the casting club is bringing knowledge from various sources together. I said this last sunday but I am now firmly of the belief that being able to ask 5 people the same question and taking a mix of reponses and taking from that what you want is by far the quickest method of learning.

[Wildfisher]

I wonder if the success of the  casting club might be, at least in part,   similar to why our   forum is so successful?  By that  I mean is it because  what you see is what  you get?   Completely non commercial, no motives other than sharing experience and knowledge. Neither exist, even in part, to promote a business:  no tackle sales, promoting commercial fisheries, selling advertising  etc;  no one tries to sell anyone anything.

Total purity of purpose. 

[scotty9]

Yep definitely sure that's part of it Fred!

It's also where the main problem arises from in regard to instructors willing to devote time to individuals. It's always going to be a compromise. Instruction by it's nature is commercial and the casting club is a step in the right direction of making it purely about advancement of the sport not commercially driven. It's difficult and there needs to be a care not to stretch the teachers too far!

Now that i've got that out the way, I should add I'm more than happy to help out anyone at the casting club! I'm not completely cynical!

[Wildfisher]

It's a pity Magnus was not a bit closer. No instructor is more generous with his time and knowledge. Travelling from Banff to Glasgow is a bit of an ask though even for one  so enthusiastic!   

[aweman]

Today was most enjoyable at the casting club I found the recap of last weeks lesson followed on by Alan,s demo on hauling most enjoyable.
I am sure if the instructors keep to the agenda of the lesson we will all be casting full fly lines by the start of the season.

The gasman challenge is there for anyone that wants to participate

Well done lads


Malc

[haresear]

Sounds like you all enjoyed yourselves

also gasman is right, casting to targets is the quickest way to learn how to judge distances and get instinctively good at presentation at all distances, its also way better than sky casting.

Absolutely spot on.

when the hell did gasman learn to double haul?

Well done Gary, it's like riding a bike...only with your hands :?

Alex

[Malcolm]

also come to the conclusion that 75' is the furthest distance that anyone can achieve presentation beyond that they talk pish, scott taught me this and im humbled but also hate him now :lol: casting further is in the realms of 'sporting achievement' or the odd stoat out in hope.

Sounds like a good day Alan.

At the risk of sounding like a pompous prat, can I suggest that the statement above isn't wholly correct without qualification? It's true enough in calm conditions and for me with the  usual very light tackle it's a moot point as I can't cast much further anyway. However:

1. In a tail/cross-tail wind by roll casting high (much more effective than overhead casting  in a stiff tail wind as the wind can't interfere with the back cast to the same extent) the wind will carry out the line beautifully and land it very gently at distance. A couple of us carried out a series of tests a couple of months ago where we measured everything and in the big tail wind the "fly" always landed beautifully at extreme distance. I'll show you if I manage to get down in the next couple of weeks.

2. "Presenting" needn't always mean that the fly lands like a piece of feather attached to gossamer. At times the important thing is to get the fly in the general area. Scottish conditions can be very forgiving of a less than perfect cast!

Malcolm

[scotty9]

Malcolm,

I had a lesson with Andrew Toft on saturday and one of the things we learning to become smoother to cast a "distance" of 75'. In reality this is not far in reltion to power needed. After a bit of tinkering made to my stroke it was amazing just how easy and smooth you can be. There was no wind then but any further and a straight leader with say a dry fly using a 5wt line is beyond my capability and I imagine damned difficult for anyone with a 5wt.

The wind issue is a big one, sunday was a wee bit windy and into the wind I could not turn it over properly into the wind. However I made one cast when the others went for a coffee, downwind into the backing and it turned over perfectly due to the wind. Wind conditions play a big part!

The 75' mark is bang on my limit of "acceptable dry fly" presentation with a #5 line. Sure I can cast much further but i'd scare everything within a half mile.

And finally your point on presentation is bang on, I got caught out by "dry fly presentation" on sexyloops when asked to explain good presentation. It could be plopping a beetle onto the surface for example. Really opened my narrow mindedness that one.

[Wildfisher]

i was in a bad mood last night with the total acceptance of myths on another forum, claims of 100' casts etc,

Don't be too hard on them it may just be they have 100mm, fully extended  knobs, are insecure  and have an unusual desire  for recognition