Viking Lars | Saturday, 29 May 2021
It’s time to work a little (well, quite a lot, infact) on my casting again. I need to get more consistent on a number of things and I’ve identified a few of them to begin with; just to focus my training sessions.
The first consistency I need to work on is in fact the training sessions themselves. I’m not looking at competition level - just proper “get-the-fly-to-where-it-needs-to-go-really-fast”-level (which probably isn’t too far from competition level, not I think about it). I need at least two session a week to register any real progress. And to register progress, you need absolutes. A tape measure and targets is really all you need. A small tripod for your phone is great too.
Have took four “sessions” last week, about 30 minutes each, just playing around and getting a good feel for the line and rod (my practice setup is the HT Comp 5 and an SA Expert Distance WF 5 F or a Thunderbolt WF 5 F). I did bring the tape measure and the rings. Not to check distances, but to have something to line up my strokes against. And for accuracy, you really *do* need rings. Just casting “to that flower” isn’t good enough. I need to be able to walk and check if it’s in the ring or not. For confidence, just use big hula-hoops to begin with.
I made some notes (I use a notepad and a good, old fountain pen) as I was playing about and I took some video. Having a look at both I’ve decided to begin more focused work on tracking, loop control on back cast and accuracy (the last just because I think it’s fun - and of course it needs some work too). I’ll set no deadlines, just focus on getting out at least twice a week, make notes and videos and try to record progress.
Once these are in place, I need to work on my spey casts. Mostly single hand speys are in dire need, but my double hand speys aren’t too good either. My distance game is off too and that’ll get some attention later on. You might ask - “What’s on then”. Well, accuracy is quite good :-). Oh, and the roll cast is good too!
Now to clean up the line an the rod. I was on a slightly muddy lawn this week, it’s been raining most days for about a month. The line definitely needs a new leader too (hence the hint on not-quite-perfect-tracking).
I’ve put together a little kit that now sits ready to go in a bag. Tape measure, a peg (for the tape measure), foldable rings that I made after seeing Lasse Karlsson’s, my phone tripod and a cloth that I wet before leaving. I use it to wipe down the line after each session and clean the rod.
Have a great weekend!
Lars