Andy Dear | Monday, 14 February 2022
A few weeks ago when I started this series on angling fitness, I referenced a friend of the family who had tried his hand at saltwater fly fishing while on vacation in Central America. The night he returned from his charter, he sent us an email detailing how sore he was from trying to coordinate the cast and presentation while trying to BALANCE on the deck of a tippy skiff that was constantly rocking in a stiff coastal breeze. As he found out, BALANCE is one of the key physical attributes to becoming a successful fly fisherman. And, perhaps even more important, the maintenance of the muscles involved in remaining balanced, while fishing in an unbalanced environment.
Several years back, when we did a series on the similarities between fly casting and the golf swing, I referenced a gentleman by the name of Jim Waldron. Jim, who is one of the top golf teaching pros in the nation felt that the concept of balance was such an integral part of a sound golf swing, that he actually named his golf school Balance Point Golf. In fact, I dont think you'd have to dig too deep to find that most athletic pursuits consider balance to be one of the key factors in high performance. And why should fly casting be different? It does after all require high levels of cooridnation, and a fair amount of strength and speed to execute a proper cast, especially with the heavier gear and in extreme conditions.
The question then becomes, how do we get it? The best place to start is to familiarize ourselves with th term Proprioception. According to the WebMD website proprioception can be defined as Proprioception is your body’s ability to sense movement, action, and location. Proprioception results from sensory receptors in your nervous system and body. Most of these receptors are located in your muscles, joints, and tendons. When you move, the receptors send detailed messages to your brain about your positions and actions. Your brain processes these messages and works with your vision, nervous system, and vestibular sytem to create your perception of where your body is and how you’re moving."
Back in the 90s it was common practice for those of us "in training" to chase salt water fish with the long rod to stand on a cooler and practice casting to a target. This was supposed to emulate on standing a casting platform on the deck of a skiff....and it worked "ok", except there was no wave induced boat rock to contend with., which is half of the battle if not more. It wasn't until I started diveing depper into proprioception that I realized just how many muscles and joints are in play during a proper fly cast executed from a moving boat.
Drawing from the old method of casting from a platform, one can immediately create a more realistic and demanding environment by implementing the use of a balance board, also known as a wobble board. Although the balance board probably requires much mare balance and stabilty than casting from the deck of a skiff, it engages all of the muscles and joints involved from the toes and ankles, through the knees and into the core. And, if you're really a glutton for punishment, you can even try casting a fly rod while standing on one of these torture devices. After some training on one of these, casting from the deck of a rocking skiff will feel like fishing from the deck of a luxury liner! I am going to link include some links to some youtube videos detailing the use of a balance board below, as I think it's a valuable and important part of training for moderate to extreme angling conditions. Additionally, over the next few weeks we'll look at some more exercises for improving proprioception.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF1Y38ANUaQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7apCjsspVUA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t0Lb_JlX9A
Hope you all are having a great week and are staying safe and healthy!
Andy