Glasgow Casting Club

[Wildfisher]

I'm going to stick that on the board for my foundation class after the holidays, A solid principle communicated with a good mixture of authority and wisdom, my work is done for today

It was inspired by the magnificence of Stan.

[Malcolm]

most that come to the casting club are vague about what they want to achieve
 

That's fair enough, different people have different aspirations and the casting club is a broad church and for many it's a nice get together particularly over winter.

For some people specific goals are helpful. I have at least two for this winter the major one is to cast a very long way with a salmon rod, I won't say just how long as it will provoke loud and long derisive banter so I'll keep that to myself. Secondly I'd like to be able to cast c shaped curves better than I can at the moment - ie the difficult curve - Fred knows what I mean!

One of the things that has always struck me is the emphasis on technique to cast well but there is a physical element too. It's much easier to cast well if you have strong hands. Just have a look at the Rajeffs. Charles Ritz used to practice with a wine bottle! It's like basminton or tennis as well as technical excellence all the top players have the strength to apply that technique. For some reason most people trying to improve casting never try to improve their hand strength.

Malcolm



 

[Squigster]

I have to say i'm quite taken by Malcolms idea.  I reckon it would encourage me to learn outside my comfort zone, as at the moment I tend to try and improve my current modest skills as opposed to learning new skills. New skills that would be genuinely useful when i'm fishing
And hopefully by learning a suite of skills my overall performance at individual techniques would improve

Stephen

[Teither]

Here we go again with the unspecific [ and thereby unstructured ? ] use/application of this word " structure ". It seems to me that whenever I hear this word mentioned in respect of the GCC and all its works it's being used to imply but rarely, if ever, define different things, notions, ideas, have it as you will.
Malcolm's "strawman" goes quite a long way to setting out that particular notion of his, and it is a good prompt for further discussion.
Somehow I don't believe it's the only kind of thing people mean by "structure". A couple of weeks ago, following some lively exchanges of views at a Sunday session, it was proposed by some members that a meeting to discuss the club, its direction, and its structure be arranged. The time and place of that meeting were made known to all attendees at the pond a week past Sunday and these details were also posted on at least two fora commonly used by GCC members, though not, for whatever reason, on the WFF.
In the event, only five GCC members turned up for the meeting and there was one apology !
As it turned out, the person who had made the original proposal to discuss and settle " structure " actually meant setting up a structured approach to his own learning path. I think I'm right in saying he believed that at least one or two others had the same thing in mind.
I had thought that the main purpose of the meet was to discuss the structure of the club and any issues of current or possible future significance, including, for example, issues about use of the pond, future activities etc.
In the end all of these matters were discussed, very amenably, with, I suppose, a kind of agreement to observe, in general, the kind of arrangements outlined by Alberto in the opening post of this thread - ie that the club was primarily a practice facility with ad hoc help and advice likely to be available most of the time. Its set-up was intended to be relaxed and informal, thus allowing folk who attended to pursue their own paths as they saw fit, with no pressure on anyone to follow any particular route. There was also a recognition of the importance of the social aspect of the club. It is also fair to say that there was some discussion on concerns that individuals have, or may have, about other aspects of the club. I don't want to go into these concerns here.
All of this was, of course , the outcome of informal discussion among just five members. I suppose that the main point of this post is to ask whether anyone at all, but particularly those who did not attend last week's meeting or did not even know about it, might see value in having another get-together to cover all these matters, and anything else of interest, with, hopefully, a much bigger attendance than we could muster last week.
Finally, I should say here that this post represents only my own thoughts on these matters.

Teither

[aweman]

I agree with your comments and description of the meeting , It was a pity that more members did not turn up to express there views.
Now that we have moved to Sunday's it may be a good idear to have a meeting after the casting session
Let's hear everyone's view and what they want out of the casting club.
Also it would be nice to hear what the instructors think they should be doing.

Malc

[haresear]

My thoughts on Malcolm's straw man poll and awards scheme:

First off, it sounds a bit like an exam to me and I'm not sure I want to do that, so I probably wouldn't take part

Secondly and this is a more objective view, some will with justification see the spey casting or the aerial mends as being irrelevant to their day to day fishing.
If you are going to go down the route of awarding certificates for levels of proficiency, would it not be a better idea to split the scheme into casting headings, such as accuracy (bronze, silver...), distance overhead and roll/spey casting? That way if you only ever fish lochs you can concentrate on what is relevant to you and disregard the rest, if that is what you want.

It strikes me that some of the members are looking for a more formal club structure and perhaps direction? Maybe that is something for discussion, but not I suggest, on this forum.

I'm happy to stay on next Sunday for a quick meeting if that is what is wanted. Maybe a longer pub or coffee shop based meeting (but not on a Friday when Scotland are playing a Euro qualifier is warranted too. There is always MacDonalds up the road :shock:

Alex

[Wildfisher]

At risk of dragging this off topic a tad -

The "certificates"  thing intrigues me. What is it? Who has the "authority"? Who has the "authority"  to grant the "authority"?

Perhaps  in reality anyone does.

You set yourself up, declare yourself, announce yourself,  get a flash web site, some glossy leaflets printed, write a few articles.

You will eventually be "recognised".  

After all in all walks of life busybodies / posers who wish to control and influence what others do invariably  get attention if they shout loud enough and / or strut and stride  enough to get themselves noticed.  

This is not an attack on you guys, on the contrary, it's a recognition that you can be  as valid as SANA, APGAI,  GUYGUY, GIRLGUY  or any other organisation if you really want to be. All it takes is a bit of time, effort and a brass neck. It's been done before - look around you.

How many other loosely tied  organisations work as well or have lasted as long as this casting club?  Seriously. There is nothing like it in this neck of the woods in spite of there being  a rash of qualified  instructors up here.

Do it through this site if you like. It's been going for 7 years, it's well known. It's ever "respected" by some and seen to have "authority" in matters related to wild fish / fishing.

Go for it, capitalise on your long and varied experience.

As Arthur Daley would say, could be "a nice little earner".    :lol:

[Malcolm]

The fact that we all want different things from the club is clear. However the above strawman - remember it is there to be knocked about - is simply that some form of syllabus/targets have been mentioned by more than a few and so that is clearly a desire of some people's part. As I've said before this is not what I personally want to practice - my goals are different but I do have them. (I had them last winter too: to cast overhead, roll cast and curve cast using my left hand.) That said I will do everything I can to help during the winter.

So, I'm suggesting that for those interested in having some form of progression then a goal-driven prospectus may be of interest. The only thing I'm sure about is that it should be goal-driven. There are different paths to achieving goals and if we get there then that's fine.

As to the contents of the above then everything is just my first input - Alex's idea is every bit as valid - that's the whole idea. It may well be that the issue of a badge would be popular - so I put it in. As far as I know there are very few casting proficiency marks out there except the BFCC distance awards and these are targetted towards distance. What I do know is that if I could complete the gold award I would feel confident that my casting armoury was in the top 2% of all fishermen.

I haven't attemped anything on the salmon front as I don't know enough about double handed techniques.

Malcolm

P.S.
Teither,

Had I known about the casting club review meeting I may well have been there. I feel sure that I would have remembered during the tedium that permeated during that Scotland game so I'm pretty sure I didn't know about it.

[Teither]

Malcolm

P.S.
Teither,

Had I known about the casting club review meeting I may well have been there. I feel sure that I would have remembered during the tedium that permeated during that Scotland game so I'm pretty sure I didn't know about it.

Malcolm,
            I'm sure that would have been true of a number of the guys and I'm pretty sure you weren't around at the pond when the idea was first mooted. That's why I think it would be better to have another discussion with a bigger attendance, hopefully to generate more thoughts, ideas etc.
T

[scotty9]

I think it's a big problem that has been discussed since last winter and now nearly a year later has not been resolved. This isn't a reflection of the people trying to solve it but maybe just an indication it is far harder than many may realise?

Anytime I try to write a reply to these kind of threads I find myself writing out a post and then deleting it. No matter what the idea I find it will not suit everyone all of the time. It's awfully difficult to give a structure to what I'm starting to think is the 'unstructurable'!

Keep it informal, make some games - get people casting around things, through things, against each other, make it interesting. And then get on a loch/river with your basic skills and learn by doing/working it out!