Improving Your Fly Casting…
Those who wish to improve their fly casting, should first inspect their equipment, before signing up for fly casting instruction. Few days ago I posted something on the bulletin board in response to someone wanting input about paying for fly casting lessons. There were some FAOL members who get paid for fly casting lessons, and I think I might have gored their cow, from their response to my posting. I am opinionated, just as everyone else, with their own opinions. But I speak from my experiences in life, and learning from my mistakes…over the past 62 years. PS: I was a Senior Instructor in the U.S. Army, so I know how to teach someone properly so they succeed.
All my life I have been involved in various sports; baseball, hockey, golf, tennis and fishing. In each of these there is one thing that determined how well I played the game, matching handle to match my hand grip size and hand grip shape.
Professional sports players have always known that if the hand and the handle do not match, they would not succeed in swinging whatever they were holding. Ted Williams, Baseball Hall of Fame Outfielder for the Boston Red Sox’s, knew when one of his bat handles diameter was off by as little as 1/16th of an inch in diameter, or the balance of the bat was wrong. Ted Williams knew the importance of matching the handle to the hand! It also did not hurt that he was a U.S. Marine Fighter Pilot in WWII, and the Korean War, and had 20/15 vision!
One of my earliest articles that I wrote for Fly Anglers OnLine was about Custom Handle Grip, for my fly rod that I was building…
I had spent 4 years casting a Cortland CL Series 6 weight, 9 foot fly rod. I practiced almost every day I did lawn casting for distance, and I also did 360 degree casting to various distances around a central casting position, to cast at various directions in relationship to the wind direction and wind speed. I practiced various casting methods in relationship to the wind direction and speed.
I was somewhat successful, never being consistent, and there were times were I had to stop my practice because of my arm, shoulder and hand suffering injuries from the practicing.
When I built my first fly rod (Gotta Get a Gatti), the first thing I knew I had to do was to determine my hand grip size and shape.
Earlier in my life I took up golf, so I could spend more time with my father, who was an avid golfer. My father was absent many times in my childhood because of his military assignments overseas when in the U.S. Army, when the family could not go with him.
I found a Minnesota PGA Golf Pro do this for me when I wanted to learn to play golf. George Shortridge (George Shortridge was PGA Champion three times, of the Minnesota PGA Tournament) picked out the golf clubs to match my swing, and then replaced the golf handles so that the handles and my hands matched. I spent a whole year on the driving range, hitting 3 buckets of golf balls each day. George would monitor my progress in matching the swing to all of the 14 clubs. Finally it was time to put my driving range practice to the test with hitting chip shots onto the practice green, and putting the ball in the hole. Only when I progress enough, did George take me out on the course, for my first game of golf, I shot a 83 (I never shot that high of a score again) George never charged me for golfing instructions, only charged me for the golf clubs and the new handle grips!
I guess what I am sayiny, is that all the practice in the world will not help you cast a fly rod any better if the handle grip, and your hand grip diameter and shape do not match. You will not feel the weight of the line during the casting, you will not achieve the level of proficiency that you want, and you will not enjoy the pleasure of fly fishing as you should be able to. It all begins where your hand and the fly rod handle meet…
Ken Morrow, of AFFI (Adaptive Fly Fishing Institute) requested my permission for somewhat unprofessional writers’ skill article on FAOL, for their fly casting program.
“That grip customization article is exactly what I've been looking for.”
I told Ken that he has my permission to use my article (no charge) and my thoughts on matching hand grip size and shape to the fly rods handle size and shape. I request that he not charge anyone for what I had wrote for everyone use. I feel that nobody should have to charge to teach someone how to cast a fly rod; this should by the instructor’s way of “Paying Forward” for all the help they received in life by others!
As and Senior Instructor in the U.S. Army I expected the student to achieve 90% of all course material, and constantly encouraged them to continue with Military Correspondence Course to aide in advancing their military careers, and to take advantage of College Course that the U.S. Military offers it soldiers. I always trained for success, and if the student had not learned, then the failure was mine for not teaching!
That is why I have been faithful to FAOL for13 years. FAOL has never charged anyone for the use of the articles and help published on this site! To the professional writers who have allowed their articles to be used, with no remuneration. To fly anglers as Ron Lucas and Al Campbell, who help FAOL rise to a higher plateau to where it can be honestly said, “The Fly Fishing Enthusiast's Weekly Magazine ', ‘The Fraternity of Fly Fishers’. Without Deanna Travis, following her dream, none of what we know as Fly Anglers OnLine, would have ever happened! ~Parnelli