Tracy&James | Sunday, 25 October 2020
Despite the lack of competitions this year, due to the Covid situation, I’ve been continuing to practice my distance casting (as well as my all round casting I should add). With not having many specific events to train for this year, e.g. the BFCC season, the world championships, the Game Fair etc. all of which were cancelled, I’ve had the time to rebuild my casting stroke particularly my #5 weight distance one.
Looking back now I can see that I plateaued in trout distance some time back. At the only BFCC competition of the year, Devon in March before Covid got a hold in the UK, I did ok but still came away thinking that it was a missed opportunity to do much better. Sure, there was the excuse that the field we were casting in was a mud-bath which hampered body weight movement, gripped the lines and coated the rod rings in red clay soil. However, there was a good wind and I couldn’t help thinking about how far a truly great caster would have chucked on the same day.
I know my casting has a lot of obvious faults, I can see them on video. I’ve never managed to make much headway with these though as there was always a competition a couple of weeks away that I didn’t want to be in the middle of a radicalre-styling for. With the imposition of lock-down though, I was given the perfect opportunity to implement and lock-in (I think that’s the hard part) some changes. For once, I think I’ve succeeded (despite losing a significant amount of time due to a wrist injury when I fell over). I’m certainly seeing more ‘big’ numbers on the practice field than I ever have in the past, I just hope I can still produce these when the casting competitions start up again next year. I did manage a 2nd place in trout distance at the UK championships a few weeks ago perhaps suggesting I’ve made a step forward, but more evidence is needed. I will also be interested to hear if the people who ‘know’ my cast quite well can spot any difference– Tracy says she can, but she might just be saying that in a ‘that’s nice’ placating type of way.
To try and slightly fill the void left by the lack of competitions, I’ve decided to start an on-line one – the PULD challenge. Actually I should credit TC with the idea, he sent me a video of him doing a pick-up, lay-down with a #5 MED that made me say ‘wow’ out loud. We discussed it and decided to make a competition out of it; the rules are very simple – using a World Championship trout distance outfit make the longest PULD cast that you can. Entries must be videoed and ideally should show the cast, the distance and the laser marking on the MED line – although I tried the latter and it doesn’t show up that well on screen.
Tracy and I have also decided to offer a prize for the winner; a day’s fishing on the river Dee in Wales, accommodation at our place, a great home cooked meal and a pub crawl in order to get rid of the taste of the former. Obviously this requires the current Covid restrictions to be lifted; Wales went into a full lock-down again on Friday – this means no fishing unless you can walk to the venue. Hopefully when trout season restarts next year Covid will be lessening in its impact on our lives.
Anyway, I hope some of the uber casters out there will have a go at the competition, entries can be posted anywhere – mine’s on Facebook.
Have a great week,
James