A great master (Mel I believe) urges us to grip the rod as if it were a delicate little bird that we want to protect and keep warm. That's ideal until you stop the rod at the end of both the back and the forward casts. If you want a very pointed loop, then try to crush the living daylights out of that little bird at the instant of each stop. Then immediately release the pressure as if you wanted to see if it's still alive. If you do this correctly, the birdie should look like it's in a deep sleep, wrinkled and not at all healthy.
You may be hard-pressed to get a supply of little birds for this exercise. Besides, it's downright cruel. I've discovered a substitute material that you have to handle just as delicately so it won't burst.
Necessary equipment
A rod with its line and plenty of bubble wrap. Always faithful to our reductionism commitment, we strive to achieve complete illumination as fly casters.Objectives
To learn to firmly tighten your grip on the rod just at the stops and then to relax it immediately. To educate your mind and to train your muscles to do this. The ultimate objective is to achieve sharply pointed loops.
Procedure
Place a piece of bubble wrap in your hand and grip the rod with this original glove. Make a series of false casts. Pay close attention because you want to hear the popping sound of bubbles bursting on the forward stop. But you don't want to hear anything during the rest of the cast. When you've burst several of the bubbles, take a new piece with fresh bubbles to pop. When you've mastered the front cast stop, practice the technique with your backcast.
Harder yet
Use a very little piece of bubble wrap with just a few bubbles. The pressure of your grip has to be firmer and more energetic if you want to pop any.
Tips:
- Do the exercise in complete silence.
- Don't do it in view of anyone. Especially not in view of those that saw you learning to pull with bags and balls.
- Tell all your friends and relatives to take extreme care with any package they get to not waste a single bubble. Have them let you know right away so you can go get the bubble wrap.
