Paul Arden | Tuesday, 7 March 2023
This week I’m posting an interesting, practical and often entertaining game, that I learned from Peter Hayes in Tasmania. The game is to start with a length of flyline outside the rod tip that is the same length as the rod (usually 9’). Then three subsequent PUALD casts are made. In training you are trying to make your longest third cast.
In the multiplayer game, you start with a shorter length of line initially off the reel (say 30’) and try to hit the reel on your third cast (if you do this on your second or even first cast, then this is fine!), pull off a metre of line and pass the rod to the next contestant. They then strip in, measure the correct starting line length to the rod and repeat, now with one more metre to reach. If they hit the reel, then they also pull out a metre of line before passing on the rod. If they fail they are “out” and the rod is passed on with the existing length of line off the reel.
The game is won only when there is one caster left and in order to win he/she must cast the line to the reel at the end (remember it’s one more metre than his or her previous cast). If they fail to do so, then the line is wound in by one metre and the final round is repeated, until there is only one winner!
It’s a good game for many reasons. One is it can be done over grass or water. Another is that it can be done in complete darkness – and when I’ve played the game, it’s often been in the dark and with beer! If you are playing for beer then the game becomes progressively harder. That’s really for the pros.
What it teaches you, is to slip line on the lift and shoot line into the backcast. The first PUALD cast is key, as is the second of course. In the right hands with a 5 MED line the final distance can be 120’+. And yes, for this game to be interesting you want a long belly line or a DT!!!
The reason I teach it and am sharing it with you today, is because this ability to slip and shoot line is essential for quick distance shots. And we have a chap (Jake) on the SexyloopsTV YouTube channel who is chasing tarpon, that are breathing, and he needs quick casts. I think he will find the game really quite useful.
I’m not sure how well I explained all of that, but the video might do a better job!!!
FISH CAMP FAIL
Part two of this FP is I really want to talk about a new book that was published mid last year. I was just heading back from the UK in January and received a message from Ben Jailler, would I like to read his book? Now, it normally takes me longer to read a book than it takes for it to be written in the first place. This is not, as you might suspect, because I’m a slow reader; rather I just get sidetracked. Sometimes for months! In fact I always have a sense of impending dread when someone asks if I would like to read/review a book, because then it commits me to reading it. And after a few pages I don’t always want to do this.
Anyway, I’m very happy to say that I fully enjoyed reading Ben’s book. So much so, that I took it a chapter or two at a time. Like enjoying a good bottle of wine over several sittings, or something like that. It’s a humorous and often insightful read. A bit of stocky bashing, plenty of adventures for wild trout, references to werewolves and a good solid dose of irony. Excellently written. It’s not a how-to book, at times, in fact, it’s more of a how-not-to book. I’ll even read it again, which says something! So if you want to be entertained, then I can thoroughly recommend Fish Camp Fail. You can find it on Amazon.
Oh yes… I should probably mention that some of you possibly won’t enjoy it! How do I phrase this? If you have seen the Revolution film, that Ronan, Tonio and I made, whenever that was? 16 years ago. There was quite a lot of colourful language, that wasn’t just Tonio speaking French. I actually had a flyfishing Priest send the DVD back to me, asking for a refund – true story! In retrospect we should have used the original and full title “The Revolution against God; it’s a love story” but instead, I called it the shorter and catchier “The Revolution”. The final scene, which was to be Ronan and I storming a church, at night, with fly rods, was rewritten, with God striking us both down with lightning. An interesting twist of fate I thought. So for the people who didn’t send the DVD back, then you’ll love this book!
Have a great week!
Cheers, Paul