December 15th, 1997
Tear Yer Shorts?
Webster's New World Dictionary: casting; to put, deposit, or
throw with force or violence; fling; hurl ... to give vent to...
Now I have a problem. For years I have tried to make my casts
smoooooth. I've spent hours and hours practicing the rhythm of
the mid-range cast. Over and over, until the front and back loop
were as close to perfect and equal as possible. Obviously I have
been doing it all wrong!
One of my first clues was watching the 'Greats" at a
sportsmen's show. These were the 'biggies,' the ones who write
books, make videos, give classes and performances. These are the
ones I should try to be like. No matter how hard I have tried to
make my fly-casting smooooth, I have had this nagging suspicion
that the real good guys don't cast that way.
The show opened my eyes! Out of ALL of the fly-casters there
was only ONE who did cast very smooooth; ok, smoooothly. The
rest of the fly-casters would get a darn nice rhythm going, make
sure they had good control of the line length, the shape of their
front and back loops, and then WHAM; make the final heave to the
front with enough force and violence to tear their shorts!
Now, the single fact that the only fly-caster who did not cast
that way won the distance event should not be considered. He was
only one out of about fifty. I have, since then, started to put a lot
of violence and force into my fly-casting. Fifty to one; ya can't go
against the odds, right?
So far the results are not too encouraging. A lot of tailing-loops
out in front, my distance seems to have fallen off, but I have not
broken any fly rods; yet. I feel that if I just keep giving my final
forward cast that every-last-all-I've-got-punch, I too may do well
in one of those distance casting contests. It is hard to break the
habit of making a cast smooooth, but I will keep at it.
The fellow who did win wasn't as fortunate as I am. He must
have never seen how the 'big-guys' fling their guts out on the last
cast. He didn't know any better. I wonder how much better he
would have been if he, like me now, would learn to when making
that last forward pitch, "tear-'yer-shorts"! I am glad that it is too
cold out now to practice and I can sit at this computer and write
this for you. The tennis elbow-brace and the hernia belt are not
much of a problem as long as I am sitting down. ~ JC
Till next week, remember ...
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