Lefty is indeed a ‘lefty’
He casts with his right hand during demonstrations so as not to confuse us ‘righties’
He’ll be 86 this year. Does pretty well for an old guy
ok, i gotta hear more about this - should be question number one if FAOL does a podcast with him
Interesting, I always heard Lefty was injured while in the Military. I tend to recall it was during active duty.
Wayne
Seems like Lefty should be called “Ambi” for ambidextrous.
The easiest way to visualize what happens is to remember that the fly line and leader will do what the rod tip does. Regardless of whether you are a right handed or left handed caster, an overhead right cast requires the rod tip to hook to the right; and an overhead left hook cast requires the rod tip to hook to the left. This is the first variable - the rod tip motion.
The second variable is timing the hook. For the hook in the line and leader to occur at the end of the leader and line, this hooking motion of the rod tip must occur as the end of the casting motion just before the stop. The sharper the hooking motion and the closer it occurs to the stop, the sharper the actual hook in the line and the closer to the end of the line it will begin. Begin the hook earlier in the casting motion and the exact rod tip path is reflected in the line and the hook will occur closer to the caster.
Sometimes the motion of the hand is described, but I find it easier to think of what the rod tip must do and when it must do it. When you visualize that, you will know what your hand and wrist must do.
Tailingloop describes very well the motion of the hand and the fact that for a right hander it is much, much easier to make a LEFT hook and difficult to make a RIGHT hook. “For a right hand curve the the motion is to the right with the palm facing away at the completion of the cast. It is much, much, more difficult to make the right hand curve (left hand for the left handed caster).”
One tip on making this more difficult cast. It becomes an easier cast if you perform the cast by taking your rod over the opposite shoulder as a cross body cast. For the right hander you take the rod over your left shoulder and the back of your thumb will be facing toward the target. Because the back of your thumb is facing toward the target rather than the front pad of your thumb, you now have a greater range of motion when you turn your wrist and hand at the end of the cast. You can perform a faster and deeper hooking motion of the rod tip.
As you read this, whether you are right or left handed, grab a pen or a pencil and pantomime the more difficult casting motion by taking the “rod” over your dominant shoulder and then over your off shoulder.
Now to get technical and you non technical folks can stop reading. The reason that this works is biomechanics.
The anatomical terms for rotating the hand and wrist are supination and pronation which comes from the prone and supine positions of the body. With elbow bend and your open (karate chop) hand at your ear in the forward cast position; SUPINATION is turning your wrist and hand so that the PALM faces FORWARD, and PRONATION is turning your wrist and hand so that your PALM faces BACKWARD.
Begin at the casting karate chop position and actually turn your wrist back and forth and you will see that it is more difficult to turn your wrist palm forward than knuckles forward. That is why the right curve is more difficult for the right hander.
Now turn your wrist and open hand back to the casting position of a karate chop. This is close to the position of your hand and wrist when you begin the cast with a thumb on top grip. It is obvious then that you have less ability to rotate the hand to make palm face forward, because you start with the hand and wrist already partially turned at the beginning of the cast.
To begin the cast in the best bio mechanical position, you need to begin with the back of the thumb facing the direction of the cast, and to do that you need to take the rod over the opposite shoulder.
Seems like Lefty should be called “Ambi” for ambidextrous.
The easiest way to visualize what happens is to remember that the fly line and leader will do what the rod tip does. Regardless of whether you are a right handed or left handed caster, an overhead right cast requires the rod tip to hook to the right; and an overhead left hook cast requires the rod tip to hook to the left. This is the first variable - the rod tip motion.
The second variable is timing the hook. For the hook in the line and leader to occur at the end of the leader and line, this hooking motion of the rod tip must occur as the end of the casting motion just before the stop. The sharper the hooking motion and the closer it occurs to the stop, the sharper the actual hook in the line and the closer to the end of the line it will begin. Begin the hook earlier in the casting motion and the exact rod tip path is reflected in the line and the hook will occur closer to the caster.
Sometimes the motion of the hand is described, but I find it easier to think of what the rod tip must do and when it must do it. When you visualize that, you will know what your hand and wrist must do.
Tailingloop describes very well the motion of the hand and the fact that for a right hander it is much, much easier to make a LEFT hook and difficult to make a RIGHT hook. “For a right hand curve the the motion is to the right with the palm facing away at the completion of the cast. It is much, much, more difficult to make the right hand curve (left hand for the left handed caster).”
One tip on making this more difficult cast. It becomes an easier cast if you perform the cast by taking your rod over the opposite shoulder as a cross body cast. For the right hander you take the rod over your left shoulder and the back of your thumb will be facing toward the target. Because the back of your thumb is facing toward the target rather than the front pad of your thumb, you now have a greater range of motion when you turn your wrist and hand at the end of the cast. You can perform a faster and deeper hooking motion of the rod tip.
As you read this, whether you are right or left handed, grab a pen or a pencil and pantomime the more difficult casting motion by taking the “rod” over your dominant shoulder and then over your off shoulder.
Now to get technical and you non technical folks can stop reading. The reason that this works is biomechanics.
The anatomical terms for rotating the hand and wrist are supination and pronation which come from the prone and supine positions of the body. With elbow bend and your open (karate chop) hand at your ear in the forward cast position; SUPINATION is turning your wrist and hand so that the PALM faces FORWARD, and PRONATION is turning your wrist and hand so that your PALM faces BACKWARD.
Begin at the casting karate chop position and actually turn your wrist back and forth from the karate chop position. You will see and feel that it is not only more difficult to turn your wrist palm forward but also you cannot turn it as far as the knuckles forward position. This is why the right curve is more difficult for the right hander.
Now turn your wrist and open hand back to the casting position of a karate chop. This is close to the position of your hand and wrist when you begin the cast with a thumb on top grip. It is obvious then that you have less ability to rotate the hand to make palm face forward, because you start with the hand and wrist already partially turned at the beginning of the cast.
To begin the cast in the best bio mechanical position, you need to begin with the back of the thumb facing the direction of the cast, and to do that you need to take the rod over the opposite shoulder.
Excellent Silver!
Thank you…