Paul Arden | Monday, 22 February 2021
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was looking into the possibilities of teaching fly casting via Zoom and having given a few lessons I’m now at the point where I’m ready to offer this as an option for developing flycasting skills. I have a couple of regular clients and I’m not looking for very many! I think realistically I can run with about ten students per week, so places are very limited!
Ideally you should be looking at six lessons. A one hour, one-to-one session, on Zoom once/week (but if you miss a week this is fine, it will roll over and it’s just the six lesson commitment that matters!) and during the week you can send me videos or ask advice and I will respond with advice and probably a video or two back at you!
Every course will be structured differently depending on requirements. It could be river casts, stillwater distance,, saltwater casting, even casting certification instruction and competition casting. I can also do complete beginners but since this is Sexyloops I don’t anticipate too many of these – but it would be fun nonetheless!
I’m charging £50 for each hour’s lesson and all the in-between stuff is on the house. I think that makes it a really good deal. There is no travelling involved but what you will need is a zoom account (free), either a smartphone, tablet or laptop, somewhere to cast outdoors with Internet connection, a few hula hoops and, ideally, a tape measure. I would prefer that you were filming from above the ground, so a phone holder and a chair or tripod will suffice.
We can and will of course cast using the tackle you mostly fish, but also a base level outfit of a ~9’ rod and 5-7WT floating line I would recommend. I don’t need to see your loops so long as you can! At some point it’s going to be helpful but to begin with I’m much more interested in how you move.
I’ll be doing this for about 6 months. Time zones are interesting. Great times for me to teach is 2-5pm Malaysian time and again after 8pm til late (I have a flood lamp on the boat). If I can get 4G connection out here in the jungle then I’m sure you can where you are too!
Last week during one lesson I accidentally left my phone in the sunlight while I was studying the MacBook – the phone was acting as a hot spot and it overheated! So I stuck it in the icebox for a minute or two and I was back online again :D What I’m saying is that there might be teething issues but my hour is flexible!
So yep, if you’re interested let me know. I reckon I’ll be doing this for about six months but it could very well extend to a year and then who knows? Give me a shout on paul@sexyloops.com and we’ll run some ideas around.
I’m currently on the roof of the battleship enjoying the night sky. This is the time of year it doesn’t rain at all in the jungle and the stars are my ceiling. I love it. I’ve always loved sleeping under the stars. It can help put things into perspective!
The lake has opened again to fishing, but unfortunately international travel and even interstate travel is currently impossible. However I’ve been nosying around the last days and have found some fresh baby snakehead with parents (maybe 1-2 weeks old)! This is perfect for this sort of fishing. [As an aside I find this very interesting because these fish obviously spawned after the Wet Season, not during, and I’ve seen and suspected this before]
So this week, as in tomorrow onwards and until the weekend, I’ll go offline and head to a prime zone of mine. This area is one reason why I got the Battleship in the first place - it’s a 2hr boat trip. When it’s fishing well, on a great day, you can find 15-20 sets of babies. That’s very serious fishing!
I reckon this baby season, the early free-riser season, the Gourami eating ants season and possibly the whole damned year, will be just me fishing (and Ashly). This is unfortunate but it has its attractions too of course! Personally I’m much more excited about free-risers than babies but you can’t not fish for babies (parents!) when no one else is! The last years I’ve been inclined to skip them and leave them for guests; this year however they’re in for a whole lot of trouble!
Being truthful about it, it will be good to test myself against them again. I currently put in 90% of shots, properly, first time. This year if we manage to avoid more lockdowns I really expect to set about them. It really kicks off next month, this month is usually pretty slow, but next month is often the best baby/parents fishing of the year. Let’s hope it’s a big fish year as well! A ten kilo Snakehead I haven’t landed yet and it’s about time I had a couple or three.
Have an awesome week and ping me if your interested in a Zoom Cast.
Cheers, Paul