Castwell right again. A few minutes with a good instructor is worth a world of reading. Case in point. I always considered my self an acceptable caster. I read Joan Wolfe and watched the FFF videos. I could get the fly kinda where I wanted most of the time. All the time if I had included the fact that I wanted it in that cedar tree or I wanted my back cast in that tag alder. Hell, I even wrote a few articles on the mathematics and physics behind fly casting. Silly me. But then I started in salt water. All the bad habits you ever had will jump right in your lap when you try to hold 40 feet of #9 in the air and double haul enough energy into it to shoot out another 30 or 40 feet of line right to a spot slightly under a mangrove tree. You do anything wrong and you are in trouble.
So I went into Mangrove Outfitters in Naples and got some help. Captain Tom Shadley spent 1/2 hour out back with me and pretty well straightened me out. Now I just have to practice what he showed me and I’m all set. I highly recommend Captain Tom for a good FFF certified instructor. I plan to go out with him for snook and reds next week. I’ll try to write it up - that’s if I can catch any fish :lol: .
And Castwell - I have never seen you cast but I know people who have. Don’t try to fool us into thinking you are just and average caster. Believe me, I know what an average caster is. I am one. And from what I have heard, you are playing in a different league than me.
Sir James made several fine points in his essay. First, it is nearly impossible to put fly casting into words and to teach it through words only. This is true of many other things. Could you teach tying the perfection loop through words only. The words require an accompanying mental picture. Then we try casting. We do it somehow, perhaps as Sir James suggested, figuring out how to deliver the fly one fish at a time. In effect we feel our way through it.
Though the first thing I will tell a beginner is to get some lessons, ironically, I have never had a lesson myself outside of some tips from my father and my uncle early on. Over the years, I have learned from drawings and photographs in books and articles by McClane, the Wolfes, Whitlock, McNally, Kreh, and other lights. Recently I was given a copy of John Alden Knight’s 1940 book which included instructive photos–very interesting the way that IEI rod flexed during the cast. Now with DVDs it is becoming even easier to see the dynamics of a cast. Was this the best way?
Another thing I am very aware of is that the champion tournament caster is not necessarily the one who catches the fish. You must have a good knowledge of the fish and its habits to do that. So at any time there is a question of what is more likely to contribute to increasing my success, time on the water gaining experience with my quarry or time on the practice pool perfecting my strokes. (I wish we had practice ponds the way golf has driving ranges.)
At least I do not feel so isolated in my reluctance to take lessons. I owe that to Sir James.
The problem with trying to write about casting is that people tend to over word their point. JC nailed it with this line
And if you haven’t read the shortest casting lesson ever written yet, here it is. “Stop your rod.”
That is what did it for me. I have taken several casting instructions, but it wasn't until I read JC's "How to Cast" before it came together. Here is the link to that article. http://www.flyanglersonline.com/cst/cst3498.html
