Hi guys and gals,
I'm pleased to say that because of my 11 year old son, I've picked up the gauntlet again after a 20ish year break. And boy how I've missed it!
My problem is that after casting for an hour or two I get severe pains from my elbow the wrist of my casting arm. I'm hoping that it's an adjustment period whilst my arm gets used to it's new requirements. Anyone else suffer and can you recommend anything for it? i.e elbow support or muscle cooling gel? or could it be just age catching me up!?
Cheers for any advice in advance.

I'm glad that you are back enjoying fly fishing, with the bonus of doing so with your son. As regards your casting, this may sound harsh, but you probably aren't doing it right: it shouldn't hurt.
Instead of injuring yourself, or finding a way around the injury, I would recommend you try a casting lesson from a good teacher.

My credentials are I'm 52 and returned to fly fishing about 4 years ago after a gap of 36 years. I've been dry fly fishing on a river today from 11.00 'til 20.00; must have made hundreds of casts, and no sore elbow. I have had casting lessons.

Absolutely spot on.

Have more than a lesson, have several.
You may think it expensive, but it will pay you back tenfold and may save you from damaging your bits and pieces severly. It will also catch you a lot more fish.
Also it is not nice for your boy to see the old man in pain.

__________________
GAIA: APGAI & GAIC, Single Handed. Qualified Mentor & Trainee Assessor
FFF MCI - Master Casting instructor
ADB Level 1 & Level 2 Coach (Game) http://www.flyfishlondon.co.uk/

Ennio and Granty are bang on the money, but I would urge you to take your son along, too.
I take it that you are teaching him yourself, and bad habits learned now can last a lifetime.
Cheers,
Angus

Has your gear also had a 20 year break ? rods have come a long way in 20 years.

Thunderbubble, the guys are right. Try and get hold of the latest book "Casting With Lefty Kreh". It has a section dedicated to the Body and Casting. What injuries are caused by bad or incorrect casting and how to solve them. The injuries are wrist, elbow and shoulder problems.

Good luck.

I have the book: Casting with Lefty Kreh and can say it should be on the shelf of every keen fly fisher. For about 5 years I have been getting a pin point pain in my elbow after a couple of hours of casting. By reading the chapter by Dr. George W. Yu and using my whole body more, I have cut out the pain entirely.

The main tip I learned was to eliminate the elevation of your elbow on the back cast and the lowering of it on the foward cast. I concious application of this principle will prevent damage to your rotator cuff.

In my opinion, the closed stance which is often advocated by many casting instructors is responsible for damage such as tennis elbow and torn rotator cuff. Not only that but you can't watch your back cast if you use the closed stance. Other than standing with your feet together for accuracy over short distances, Lefty advocates an open stance which allows your body to swivel and the arm to move easily back and forth.

On the subject of rods, they have certainly improved vastly during the past 20 years. I picked up a Hardy carbon rod the other day that was about 24 years old and got the shock of my life. It was 10ft 7/8 rated and felt like a lumbering tank aerial compared with my Greys Platinum XD #7 of the same length. It also had one of those horrid long handles that were so in vogue in those days.

Does anyone remember those awful down locking handles where the reel was located at the maximum extremity of the rod? The first thing that used to happen was when you grounded the rod, the edge of the reel spool met with the ground and was often damaged. Then you held screw thread which put a blister on the heel of the palm of your hand. Then when you held the rod by the cork of the handle the lever arm of the reel working against you caused more problems. It was Richard Walker and the American rod builders that put that fault right. Yet I expect to see one day someone advocating the bad old way again. Human beings can be very strange at times.

As suggested, your casting technique is probably at fault - you're probably trying too hard.

An up-to-date rod and a few lessons for you, and your son, should solve the problem. Don't keep flogging away if it's causing pain. I had a similar experience some years ago with an old glass-fibre rod and a tired old line - it resulted in tennis elbow and caused me to lose a whole season's fishing

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

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Thank you very much guys,
I've already taken heed of your suggestions and upgraded both of our kits to Hardy rods with lines to match. As I'm in Bedford, my nearest water is Summerfield at Haynes, which I'm sure some of you may be familiar with.
Anyway, it's a small open water, ideal for people like me, and the baliffs have been great and offered help with casting techniques. If that fails, then I will seek professional help. My hope is to then progress on to Grafham.
Thanks for the info on the book Ron (Casting with Lefty Kreh). That's next on my list!
Keep tugging at that line and thank you all very much.