What do people reckon is the best type of action for practicing casting? Are there any particular benefits in using rods at both extremes (I.E. fast and slow) to refine your timing? I would think that there are different skills required to get effective casts out of either so using both may be beneficial in honing your skills.

What do you think?

Cheers

Andy

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GAIC Single Handed Casting Instructor

http://www.andygreyfishing.com/

I think you are right i like fast and slow rods and everything in between.. Depends on my mood really.. I think it is certainly beneficial to learn and cast both.. I think you will learn a lot from casting different rods all together not only from the one extreme into the other, but just different rods, and lines for that matter. Often i hear i prefer soft or slow, i think the situation determinates what kind of action is prefered..

Jerry

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When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.

Andy a good bit of advise that I was given is to try out a few rods until you get one you like. Then only practice with that one. If you chop and change it will only put you off. Also always practice with the same length of line out of the rod then once you become proficient with that ,time to try others.
Worked for me
Above all Andy try and make it Fun. Thats what is good about Casting Clubs,you get the banter as you are learning.


Brian

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A.P.G.A.I. Instructor
Trout: Wary of signs revealing the presence of a human being,or of abnormal conditions to his modus vivendi: Ritz

i cant imagine why a practice rod would be different from the one you do it with, although having to adjust to different actions might be a useful learning curve, certainly a couple of minutes with a 16 footer makes my 5 weight cast more delecately

changing lineweights does the same thing surely, helps you tune into different setups, but one that you can do everything with is fine, xp 5 weight and snowbee 5 weight line is the most universal i ever found.

Try it with a rio windcutter 2 ,like night and day for the better/especially speys. Myself and brian have tried just about every line on this rod and this one wins no problem

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Andy, I practice with two rods, both #6: the first is stiff with a lightweight tip, the other is still classed as a stiff rod but is more flexible and with a heavier tip. Just now I'm practicing most with the second because I'm trying to develop a smoother casting stroke, and I feel this rod gives me more feedback ... if I get it wrong I know about it. When I chuck an aggressive line like a RIO Grand with that rod for a week or two without getting a casting knot, that is measurable progress

Andrew

My main 'practise' rod is an old 7'6" 4wt 4 piece Daiwa that I cart round the world with me when I off working. I rarely fish with it but it owes me nothing and it can disappear for months with my technical equipment whilst being freighted without being missed. It's soft and pretty slow (at least with the line I use with it, a WF4 of long forgotten make and model...). It's much slower than most of the rods I normally fish with but there is theory that the slower you practise a physical motion, or combination of motions, the better and more accurate the muscle memory you build up.
Basically I'm asking the original question 'cause I find it easier to analyse and develop my casting with a slower rod but can't necessarily get the same line speed and distance sometimes required when fishing (bigger waters, strong winds etc.) without using a faster rod. So a combination of learning with both should hit all bases?
There is probably no right answer to this but it's been something that has been interesting me for a while.

Cheers

Andy

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GAIC Single Handed Casting Instructor

http://www.andygreyfishing.com/

I would have thought that it would be much better to teach a beginner with a softer actioned rod, possibly even with an heavier line than the rod was rated for, so that it would be much easier for them to feel the rod loading.

Once they have got the feel for the rod and the timing of the cast they could then move on to different actioned rods.

I would always introduce a beginner to a soft or mid-to-tip actioned rod.

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How poor a thing, sometimes I find,
Will captivate a greedy mind - Isaac Walton.

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Tommy, I don't think we're talking about beginners here. However there's no finer tool for throwing tailing-loops than a soft-actioned rod: not the thing to put in the hands of a beginner.
Andrew

PS If you're thinking what do I know, I'm delighted that esteemed Scottish rod builder David Norwich shares this view; as does Bruce Richards, retired line designer for Scientific Anglers

Interesting. That is certainly how it works for musicians - you practice something dead slow - slower than you actually think is necessary - then when you speed it up it is more accurate and has "sunk" in better. However, you'd tend not to learn a playing technique on one instrument and then go and perform with another instrument - the differences between the two instruments would throw you off - you'd need a bit of time to make the adjustments needed.

Not sure where that takes us!

Neil