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I’ll do a book report on those later. As a quick heads up to those who are considering buying a book right now, I would go with the LL Bean book – it has a tremendous amount of additional detail on the subject of casting.
So – adding to the key Lefty pointers from before –
- Don’t use the wrist, use the forearm
- On the forecast, stay at the same elevation
- Point thumb forward and end with the thumb parallel to the ground
- Punch the thumb at the target – just like you are throwing a dart
- Visualize the water at eye level – do not throw at the ground level
- Don’t let go of the line
A lot of good info.
Here’s the link to the Lefty DVD on Amazon. They also have still have the VHS version.
Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore
After watching the Lessons tape twice, I worked on putting the pointers into practice. With the great weather we have been having this January, it’s a no brainer to do something that will get you outside.
As I mentioned before, I did buy two books:
- Getting Started in Fly Fishing
- LL Bean Ultimate Book of Fly Fishing
The first one says to start your backcast at a 45 degree angle; the second says 10 o’clock – same thing. Both have you stop the rod when your forearm goes verical. By following this procedure, you gently pick up the line off the water (to get to 45 degrees) and then start the acceleration to move the rod to the vertical – stopping abruptly when you get there. Do not bend your wrist after you start the cast.
Next thing to get used to is the need to pause while the line plays out behind you and then reverse the stroke for the forecast.
Before I saw the Lefty tape, I followed this procedure and was getting what I thought to be pretty decent casts after some practice. BUT, sometimes the end of my line would fall below the front of the line creating something that I think is called a “Tailing Loop”. This is a bad thing as your leader gets knotted and the line can tangle in on itself.
Lefty had the solution to this – when you are ready to do your forecast, be sure and keep your hand at the same altitude on the forecast. In effect, you accelerate forward, not down and end with your thumb parallel to the ground pointing in the direction of the target. If you drop your wrist, the loop gets big and everything is all screwed up.
As a spincaster, this is tough to learn. After all, this is exactly the opposite of how you throw a Panther-Martin. With spincasting, it’s all in the wrist and you will never get a decent, accurate throw by keeping your arm stiff like a tennis swing.
I know I am still doing something wrong as this is taking too much effort – I believe I am tensing my muscles too much and not relaxing as much as I should.
Interesting point back to the starter kit article – the back of the Wal-Mart starter kit explains the clock method of casting. You can save a few bucks on books just by reading that. But, these two books do have a lot of other good info that is not summarized on the boxes.
I’ll do a book report on those later. As a quick heads up to those who are considering buying a book right now, I would go with the LL Bean book – it has a tremendous amount of additional detail on the subject of casting.
So – adding to the key Lefty pointers from before –
- Don’t use the wrist, use the forearm
- On the forecast, stay at the same elevation
- Point thumb forward and end with the thumb parallel to the ground
- Punch the thumb at the target – just like you are throwing a dart
- Visualize the water at eye level – do not throw at the ground level
- Don’t let go of the line
A lot of good info.
Here’s the link to the Lefty DVD on Amazon. They also have still have the VHS version.
Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore