You want to keep it simple while teaching, but this is sometimes easier said than done. While teaching you sometime get really tough questions from your students. I'll give you an example: I've been asked a few times about what the doublehaul does to your cast.
When I get this question all sorts of things goes through my head. I am thinking about what I read in Mac Brown's excellent book, Casting Angles. The haul is a necessity to master because it enables the caster to conserve energy throughout the fly cast. It entails putting all the various casting fundamentals together for a cumulative effect of attaining higher line velocity on the stream. The line hand pulls on the line. This causes the rod flex to increase with leads to greater rod deflection.
I am also thinking about a great essay in physics that doctor Grunde Løvoll published a while ago. Mr Løvoll's findings show that the catapult effect, the actual unbending of the rod only equates to about 10% of the total line speed in a cast.
Among the other things that go through my head are a few of the traditional views of the double haul. That it increases the bend of the rod and that it also reduces slack line in the cast.
I am tempted to answer all of this. But as you already figured out, these explanations question each other. On some points they even contradict each other. And most importantly, handling this big package over to my student is not simple enough; therefore it is not good enough.
Let's have has closer look at them. My conclusion of Mac Brown's explanation joined with Løvoll's findings is that the haul gives additional speed directly to the line. I like it, let's leave it at that.
If I would go for the traditional view of the haul reducing slack in the cast I would risk planting a casting fault in my students head. Why is that you ask? Well, if there is slack in the line it would most likely manifest itself the most early in the cast, while the loop is unfurling or after the line has turned over. The idea of using the haul to reduce slack would incline starting the haul early. Well, if I start the haul early I risk finishing it too soon. And what would that give me? I run a considerable risk of adding a tailing loop to my students cast with that explanation.
So, all these things buzzing in my head and the student still waiting for an answer to his question: What does the double-haul do to my cast?
So what do I say? Do I go for the technical explanation or do I go for a traditional description? This student had not read all the literature and joined in on all the threads on the internet boards. He just wanted to brush up his casting for hunting seatrout down the Swedish coast.
No, instead I'll choose an explanation by Lefty Kreh that I think sums them up: The line hand is the accelerator. You drive your car, you shift gears and you press the accelerator. You start your stroke, you speed up and then you haul.
Being able to abstract and condense a huge amount of information and different theories into a short and simple answer proves that you really know your stuff. Read everything, evaluate everything and learn from it all. But keep your explanations clean and simple. The mark of a great teacher as the late Mel Krieger is to make complex things simple. Use few words, use your body language, use examples that your student can relate to. Keep it simple.
April 2009