Castigating Casting
By Captain Paul Darby (QRRFISH1), Shalimar, FL
Words, ah words, so many to chose from. We
toss them around with such carefree abandon.
Words are, after all, light and compact. They
come in all shapes and sizes, the fruit of their
vessel, manifest of thought, forged of our life
experience. Tools to convey thoughts, emotion,
concepts and instructions. Yet how much time do
we give to considering the impact of a chosen
word? Key words and phrases can very easily tip
the scale of understanding in an individuals mind.
The word 'casting' is one of the most misused terms
in the world of comprehending the operation of the
fly rod. If I ask ten people at random on the
street what the word cast means to them, it's likely
I would receive a very diverse definition from each.
Yet each one would be just as true to the individual,
no matter how incorrect it might be in the context
of operating a fly rod. For too many years the fly
fishing community has attempted to bring the joy of
the fly rod to the uninitiated, using a word that
holds a different meaning to each person. To draw
this more into context lets take a look at the word
'cast', as it relates to fishing rods.
There are really three distinct types of fishing rods
commonly in use by the vast majority of anglers today.
One category includes by general function, spinning;
spin casting and revolving spool reels, (AKA bait
casting reels), a second would be the flyrod, and a
third, the simple cane pole, or static line rod. To
understand the relationship of the word 'casting '
to each category we need to look to the functioning
of each class.
The static line and rod; set length of rod, with set
length of line, simple operation. The 'cast' consists
most often of a swing, and plop down the appliance,
a pretty straightforward approach.
Then you look to the more common line up of equipment,
the spinning, spin cast and revolving spool set-ups.
This is where the vast majority of fishermen gain
their first insight and verbiage to equipment
operation. Most of us learn 'cast' in connection
to the operation of the more common group. This
experience and language then becomes our strongest
point of reference. With this group, the line is
drawn off the spool by virtue of a weighted
appliance attached to the end of the line. Lure
drags line behind, so to speak, when 'cast.' Again
a fairly simple straight-forward approach.
Then along comes the fly rod and all the dynamics
change, but not the language. We still call what
we do to project a fly line with a fly rod a 'cast.'
After all, we work the cane pole, spinning rod and
the fly rod in the same way, don't we? They all
do the same thing in the same way right?
Wrong.
So why bother to use different language. Everybody
will understand when I say, "In order to learn to
cast, you need to stop casting, and start casting
because what you're doing is casting and that's not
casting. This is casting. Confused? Well it's all
very clear to me, but then I know what I'm talking
about, what's the problem. ~ Capt. Paul
Have a question? Email me!
captpaul462@aol.com
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