In my family we have a retired semi-pro ball player who wants to start fly fishing and thinks casting well will be a piece of cake.
I contend that skillful casting requires just as much skill as pitching a baseball. Will I win?
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In my family we have a retired semi-pro ball player who wants to start fly fishing and thinks casting well will be a piece of cake.
I contend that skillful casting requires just as much skill as pitching a baseball. Will I win?
Can you pitch?
Most true atheletes that can master one sport can shorten the training to become proficient at another. Michael Jorden was a great golfer and so so baseball player, Bo Jackson could have been a hall of famer in Baseball and was an amazing running back, just 2 really bad examples. So the gist of where I am going is...Maybe. If he can translate his eye hand coordination it took to become good at baseball to the concept of casting line and not a weightless fly then he may pick it up quickly, on the other hand if he can't wrap his mind around the concept no amount of physical gifts will shorten the learning curve
Sorry, but I would not equate casting a fly rod to be even remotely near the level of skill required to be a pitcher in any league higher than single-A High school. The difference between high school baseball and college level is a major jump in talent and skills required. The difference between college and the minor leagues is an even larger jump in talent and skills. Anyone who makes it even to the minor leagues in Major League baseball is one heck of an athlete; period. I will bet that this person picks up a fly rod and if he listens to the person teaching him, he will be casting fairly well in an afternoon. I'm not saying he's going to be a top level talent in casting right off the bat (no pun intended), but he will certainly be good enough to catch plenty of fish in all but the most challenging situations. Just my two cents worth...
Jim Smith
I agree with Jim Smith .... one afternoon would be sufficient. My brother, who had never picked up a flyrod, was doing quite well in the yard after 30 minutes. I know the yard ain't the same as the stream, but he was throwing at targets and doing well at it.
As the fellow teaching my son said (in his Scots accent) "Casting is dead easy son, it's the catching that is the hard part."
That being said he had my son casting very respectfully in about an hour, after the basics I believe it is just practice and muscle memory.
He should be able to learn to cast well enough to catch a few fish. That said, one of my best friends picked up fly fishing when he inherited some old fiberglass rods from his uncle. He will never be a master caster but he caught a bunch of warm water fish and a few trout. He will soon be 70 years old, he is a decent hack golfer, plays soft ball, plays pickleball (look it up) and is decent dancer for an old white guy. He struggles with a spincast rod, my 8 year old grand daughter is better with one than he is. It depends upon the individual, he obviously has the motor skills, compared to consistently throwing a ball in the strike zone or to the first baseman, from the outfield to a point ahead of the runner takes a lot more motor skills than fly casting, unless he wants to be a exhibition caster.
Ted Williams ...
You could equate the 2 if you were comparing folks like Joe Humphries, Lefty Kreh and host of others who remain unnamed, who can take a fly rod of any sort and do amazing things with it. But the comparison would end there. :)
We fly fishers like to attach a lot of mystery and mystic to many of the aspects of fly fishing, casting included. Most of it is undeserved.
Mark O'Meara taught Tiger Woods to fly fish. It is reported that Tiger's learned to double haul the first day.
The lesson here is that pro athletes have what I call super proprioception. This is the ability of the mind to unconsciously know the position and relationship of the body to itself in time and space. For example, when we close our eyes, we can touch our fingers to our nose. Without proprioception we would not know the spatial relationship of our fingers to our nose in space and time.
This ability allows pro athletes to "learn" other skill based sports faster than non athletes. John Elway played both football and baseball at Stanford. He was drafted by the New York Yankees in the second round in 1981 and got 150K for playing summer baseball between his Junior and Senior Year. He could not be on the Stanford baseball team his senior year but he could still quarterback the football team.
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I'm sure he will do well. At least in his own mind. Most of us are cock-sure we are far better than our compadres any way, when it comes to our casting.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray Kunz
Once upon a time I was ball player and pitcher though not at the professional level giving it up after HS. I think becoming an efficient fly caster is much easier. Body mechanics are important for both but more things need to be managed well and in concert to pitch effectively. Over the years i have observed several athletes from different sports learn to flycast/fish. They all did well though some initially tried to be too forceful, which is common for non athletes too.
Hurray ! For once most of us agree on something.
But as most guys point out, it all depends on the quality levels you are comparing.
I taught my 7 year old grandson to cast a fly and it's a thing of beauty! Perfect timing without a tailing loop. Does that mean he is also going to be a great athlete? Hmmmm.
There,s reason why they throw too hard, ever thought about why that is. 8-)Quote:
Originally Posted by tailingloop
out of a group of novice ladies one day, the one with the most trouble was a softball player who insisted on trying to throw the rod. "stop at the top" was just not going to happen!
yes, an athlete can master another sport, but sometimes one will interfere with the other.
Neighbor who is in the over 60, 65 & 70 fast pitch leagues bought an LL Bean bass/panfish outfit & was trying to learn to cast after being self taught on a short spinning rod with fly reel & line. He's still trying to grasp the single haul-double haul short tugs without spooling the reel while forgetting to stop the rod in the forward & backcast; like when they teach a ball player to bring baseball & hand up beside the ear & wait in the ready position prior to throwing. At least his overpowered casts whipping the water to a froth are about 25'-30' with just that amount of line out & has caught a few.
Isn't that what you are supposed to do? Fish crawl out on the bank to get away from my fly line.Quote:
Originally Posted by saltydancindave
Was taught whipping waters to a froth is only good in trout stream fishing getting those fish to crawl out of the water & why missing a strike or rise is so common.............Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Jesse
Fly casting is not that difficult, and can easily be learned in a few hours with proper instruction.