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Manual de Lanzado
Sección de Carlos
The Downloads

Falsecast

Monday: Paul Arden
Tuesday: Harps
Wednesday: Bernd Ziesche
Thursday: Mr T.
Friday: Ray
Saturday: Viking Lars
Sunday: Bruce Richards

Ronan's report

As we all know now, because it's all we've been talking about for days here at Loops, the bar has just been raised for five weight distance casting. Just in case you're arriving late and haven't heard, our main man, Paul Arden, just broke 130 at the British Fly Casting Club last week. Not being much of a distance hand myself, I have to admit I haven't paid attention to what's been going in the competitive fly casting thing, so I decided to look into this business to see who's zoomin' who out there. Turns out there's a whole world within a world. There are guys lining up to push the casting envelope all over the place. The Fly Casting Forum, displayed some recent achievements by names we all recognise around here, like Lance Egan, Jason Borger, Steve and Tim Rajeff, and several others. What nosing around recent casting results made clear to me was just how big that shot of Paul's was. And as if that wasn't enough, Paul broke another standing BFCC record for the seven weight that same day.

For decades, I've been flattering myself that I'm a pretty decent hand with a fly rod. I now realise that I know jack-shit about casting. I've got a couple of moves all right, and can cover most of the situations that I encounter while actually fishing, but, maybe like many of you, I tend to rely on "I may not be the world's greatest caster but, goddammit, I catch fish!"

Well, when I see stuff like young Joseph Harris' fantastic 108'10'' throw with the seven weight, I realise that I'm basically full of crap. Joseph is twelve years old. I've never broken 108 feet in my entire life. These guys take fly casting seriously, precisely because it helps them catch MORE fish. If you've got the technique to throw a trout line that kind of distance, you have a true grip of fly casting principles. Not that you have to bust 130 with a five weight to be able to catch trout, but I want to know that I can put a fly out exactly when and where I want it, with no excuses. And we've got a big Australian saltwater trip planned for next May, which will stretch my abilities for sure. So, I've promised myself to get serious this year. Der Ubercaster has promised to review my technique when we hook up in NZ, and I promise to actually pay him for some lessons, because, as we all know, talk's cheap but it takes money to buy whisky.

~Bob

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