Why should we get the book, a lot of the stuff regarding "tow in" "power snap" "follow though" are what Joan Wulff wrote a while ago yet he has changed some of the wording, so a re-hash of Joan Wulffs work.
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This phase can be ridiculously slow, but its purpose is to start to create some movement such that the
line is not shocked from a standing start, which would cause it to “bounce”. The tow-in phase both gives
the line momentum and removes any slack from the system in preparation fro the power snap. Gordon
would always describe this phase in terms of towing a car; you ease into it, you don’t just let the clutch
out and power away. In the image above, the tow in phase of a forward cast is shown, the cast is being
made on a horizontal plane for ease of illustration.
For the sake of a description we will refer to this as the “tow-in phase” of the cast. It may seem like you
are achieving very little but this phase is an essential step to creating a good cast. Moreover, it needs to
be repeated at the beginning of each stroke, whether from a standing start, pulling the line off the water
or changing from the forward to the back cast and vice versa.The Power Snap on the forward cast, note the rod tip moves in a straight line, the snap is short and
the loop is already forming.
This is where it all happens: the rod and line are accelerated in a very short and very quick snap. The
power snap creates energy in the rod, which then releases it into the line, accelerating it and creating
the line speed and loop required for a good cast. Despite its name, the power snap doesn’t actually
require much power, just a severe and short-lived acceleration followed by a rapid deceleration as one
enters the follow through. As will be seen later, it is essential that this phase is both brisk and short. This
phase is the guts of the entire cast; get it right and the line will sing out in style, get it wrong and you
war not going to impress anyone (and you fly won’t reach too many fish either). The image is shown
with a horizontal cast for better representation, this is also the way we teach everyone to cast,
horizontal casting exercises.
Phase 3; The follow through.
This is also an essential element of good casting. Although it doesn’t seem to be doing anything at all, it
is actually putting the rod into the correct position to be able to start the tow-in phase again. You
neglect the follow through at your peril; each casting stroke much contain all three phases.
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As for the clock, I agree in what he says regarding using it as a rigid teaching tool, but the clock face gives students the best visual image of what is expected with the stop on the back cast and the stop on the forward cast
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In the above illustrations notice that the rod tip is NOT moving in an arc, during the power stroke, It
moves in a straight line, and it is this straight movement that creates the ideal tight loop and the high
line speed required to produce a good cast. The ability to produce this flat, straight-line acceleration of
the rod tip is at the core of being able to cast well.
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The rod tip is moving in an arc, just trace a line though along the rod tip of the drawing (follow the link folks). In fact on one drawing the tip dips below the SLP, that would give you a tail.
All good fun though and the book could be interesting, I just wonder how much of it is his own work, one of the first people to move away from the strict clock face style of casting and write it down was Mel Kreiger, so it does seem as though this chap has taken some ideas from some of the best casters and ground breaking casters and re worded it.
Chris
The myth of the casting clock
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