Advice...buy a Wulff Wrist Lock to practice casting. Saves a lot of time breaking bad habits from learning on the fly and doing it wrong. Perfect practice makes for perfect results. :cool:
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Advice...buy a Wulff Wrist Lock to practice casting. Saves a lot of time breaking bad habits from learning on the fly and doing it wrong. Perfect practice makes for perfect results. :cool:
Your shirt or jacket sleeve works too! My Grandfather taught me how to cast 45 years ago and he used masking tape and taped the rod butt to my wrist just below to reel...it works.
Just don't attach it in front of the fly reel, as the flyfishers around the corner did with really no help on accuracy nor distance; always below the reel seat & you'll see the improvement !
A clean handkerchief works GREAT! Knot it on top of the wrist.
Honestly I'm not wishing to be offencive, but for the many years I been helping folks learn to gain confidence with a fly rod I have yet to see the value in such contraptions. Then too I don't accept the idea of folks haveing bad habits in learning manipulation of a fly rod. By defination a bad habit is knowing whats wrong but choosing to do it any way. If indeed that is the case than yes you can claim the title of having and useing bad habits. If however you simply haven't learned accurate personal technique then don't tag yourself as having bad habits. There is no shame in being a work in progress as most all of us are. Let you in on a trade secret, some of us are so good at covering up our weaknesses that you have to be a real grand master of "The Order of Line Shooters Extraordinaire" to catch us fudging proper protocol. But alas, the last of them is now gone and rumor has it the sacred scrolls were buried with him or her we don't even know that for sure. As far as the use of an artificial devise to restrict your hand or wrist movements, unless you have some physical impairment that would dictate there use. I would suggest you have a void in your understanding of fly rod control and dynamic purposeful application that can be easily corrected by being ask the right questions and a willingness to give an honest consideration to answers plus the effort to apply suggestions. Well here I go again, fat man walking out on a slender limb. Were did you happen to come by the suggestion of a wrist lock?
You probably are casting with the thumb on top grip which aligns the fly rod with your thumb.
The wrist lock prevents you from flopping your wrist back (valgus hyperflexion) on the back cast. It often is the result of a former spin fisher transitioning to fly casting. Instead of contraptions, try changing your grip to the 3 point grip. It automatically creates the stop at the correct angle because it aligns the rod with your forearm rather than your thumb.
On of the requirements of cast is a positive and strong stop. A poor stop robs power from the cast and the more positive the stop, the more efficiently the energy transfer. The three point grip automatically creates a strong stop because the stop occurs at the limit of the wrist mobility. For the thumb on top grip, the caster must create the stop at the proper angle.
The advantages of the three point grip is that both the positive stop and the angle of the stop automatically occur at the correct position.
I wrote an article about the 3 point grip for the latest issue of Wisconsin Trout. See pg 23 below:
http://www.wisconsintu.org/LinkClick...bid=58&mid=381
Jason Borger video shows how to position the rod in the hand:
http://fishfliesandwater.com/casting...ee-point-grip/
Jason Borger in FF Mag.
http://www.flyfisherman.com/content/threepoint-grip
The Loop, Spring 2008 discussion of grips.
http://www.fedflyfishers.org/LinkCli...=4469&mid=3361
Silver, kudos! I learned the 3-point grip from Gary Borger at a sports show in Utah years ago. My wife advocates that style grip for most women and it improved her casting so much that she jumped lightyears ahead in her skills after learning that one grip. I use it all the time for all of my fishing and there is no need for any wrist supports. Some will disagree, but I feel the 'proof is in the puddin'.
Kelly.
Nice. I'm going to give this a try next time I'm out. Thanks for the links!
Well I don't know if this would be considered disagreeing or not. As a saltwater enthusiast the techniques mentioned while worthy and situationaly may even be appropriate, are self limiting by there very nature as relegated to the lighter end of the fly rod scale. Then too if it helps some to gain the spark and further their interest, then bang on. ; )
I agree that the 3 point grip is not as strong a grip for most folks as the thumb on top grip. But, muscles will respond to being used and strength improves with use. Both Gary and Jason use the 3 point grip for Salt Water work and they are pretty good salt water fishers.
Truth be told, no matter what your grip, most fresh water fishers used to a 5 wt rod will have difficulty casting 10 - 12 wts. into a wind. Similarly, pure salt water fly fishers will have some difficulty when having to perform the specialty casts and mends in trout streams. Some fly fishers like Lefty have their feet firmly planted in both worlds. Kudos to them.
I also think you'll agree that once a person uses a three point grip and he/she learns the feel and timing of a proper cast, it is not a big deal to then move to a thumb on top. Most folks that have learned to cast with a specific grip can change readily to another grip because they know how they want they rod to move. I can use a thumb on top, the key grip, the 3 point grip, the index finger on top grip, etc. Similarly even if your favorite rod may be a specific length or action, a good caster can use a soft flex, medium flex or a stiff flex rod.
Gary also taught me the forward thrust cast to get increased distance. In the thrust cast the rod is thrust forward as one would thrust a sword. One of the reasons why this thrust works is that it creates a sudden strong stop as your arm comes to a sudden and complete stop because it physically cannot extend any farther. This sudden stop at the end of the thrust creates optimum energy transfer . This is the same thing that happens with the 3 point grip because it automatically creates a strong positive stop at the end of the back cast. See pg. 7 in the club newsletter.
http://www.tbffc.org/pdf/FFC%2007-03P.pdf
Now look at Steve Rajeff as on the final forward cast he THRUSTS the rod forward and slightly up to get the maximum distance. See how his arm automatically stops at the end of the forward thrust creating the positive stop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbAi6g4eEPA