the Five Essentials - part four & five

Shame on me! It's been almost 3 months since my last entry. But that's all about to change.

There's a new season with lots of things to do and lots of things to see.

Today I will talk about the last essentials. And Heck... I 'll even give you an extra one for free!!

Essential nr. 4: The Casting stroke. 

First of all a definition. The casting stroke is the motion in which you apply force to the line in order to generate a loop. This all may sound a bit technical, but to just say that we are talking about a cast isn't a 100% correct. For now, we'll forget this and stick to the subject; the Casting stroke. 

The size of the Casting stroke is generally determined by the length 
of the line to be cast. 

Now, what does this all mean? Quite a lot actually. You constantly need to adjust the length of the casting stroke to the amount of line that is outside of the rodtip. 

Remember this: Short line short stroke, long line long stroke.

I remember a drawing of this concept when I was learning the basiscs of the flycast. I will try to explain the mechanics: 60 feet of flyline weighs considerably more than 30 feet. 

Asuming that you make a well executed cast, the rod will bend deeper against 60 feet than against the weight of the 30 feet. If you don't adjust the casting stroke, you will deviate from the all important Straight line Path and thus ruin your cast. Not good and no fun at all. 

The key to good loop formation is to match the size of the casting 
stroke to the amount of bend in the rod  This is known as a Variable Casting 
Stroke. 

Essential nr. 5: 

There must be a Pause that may vary in duration at the end 

of each back cast and forward cast stop.

After making the cast you need this Pause to let the loop straighten. If you start the cast before the line is full straightened you will lose tension and not load the rod properly and the whole cast goes to bust. 

A longer length of line needs a longer pause than a short line etc. 

Easy to grasp, but difficult to execute perfectly.

Use these ingredients to make a smooth cast. Take it easy, don't rush it, don't use too much power, let the rod do the work and most of all: Have fun!