FLYINTROPICAL: March 2012

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Ed Ward in SkagitMaster.com forum

Check out this forum if you are interested in Skagit casting techniques. LINK Riveraddict a.k.a. Ed Ward is one of the inventors of the skagit casting technique. He frequently teach casting techniques, answers questions, clarify misunderstandings in the skagitmaster.com forum. ------------------from Riveraddict - Ed Ward ----- LINK It is quite revealing to me to hear/read opinions that a Singlespey or Snakeroll produces the same or greater power than a Perry Poke IN REGARDS TO SKAGIT CASTING. Number one, technically speaking the SS (SingleSpey) and SR (SnakeRoll) casts are not Skagit-type casts as they use a T&G (Touch-and-Go) anchor. This does not mean that SS's and SR casts cannot be performed on an outfit setup for Skagit casting... it just means that those casts should not yield the same performance level as true SA (Sustained Anchor) casts. If an outfit setup for Skagit casting does not produce noticeably better results from SA based casts as opposed to T&G casts, then there is something wrong with either the weight relationship of the rod and line, or there is fault in the casting technique. The "wrong" that occurs in a rod and line relationship is an easy diagnosis... the line is too light for the system. The fault in casting technique is also usually of a common, easy to analyze nature... the Sweep is not being performed correctly. If there is a stage in SA (Sustained Anchor) casting that can be labeled as "most important" in the Skagit casting procedure, it is in fact the Sweep. The Sweep is where the majority of rod load - think casting energy - is formed for Skagit casting. This load is produced via effects of water tension on the line, combined with "centrifugal forces" (angular momentum). To capitalize on these two actions the Sweep of a Skagit cast entails actions that are quite different than those of other Spey-type casting styles. To begin with, a Skagit casting Sweep IS NOT about lifting the line OFF of the water. It is, instead, about SWINGING IT AROUND. This may sound like a trivial detail, but in actual implementation it makes a very major difference in results! Swinging the line around for the Sweep as opposed to lifting it up, is accomplished by manipulating the rod tip/line into an OUT-and-around arc or curve, while maintaining the rod in a perfectly a flat plane (remember that "flat plane" does NOT necessarily mean horizontal). I emphasized the "out" here because in order to achieve an actual "around" via an arc or curve, the rod tip must first travel AWAY from the caster. Now then, once one is able to conduct a true out-and-around arc in a flat plane, it takes one more action to then tie it all together and make it work... power application. The out-and-around, flat plane Sweep requires an INSTANTANEOUS application of power AT THE VERY BEGINNING of the Sweep in order to first, bend/load the rod IMMEDIATELY via water tension, and second, to project or prompt the line into an actual out-and-around, centrifugal, "rotational" status. This outward rotation of the line increases effects of rod loading via a process called angular momentum. The immediate application of power at the start of the Sweep is KEY to realizing the most potential from a Skagit cast. The immediate application of power at the beginning of the Sweep can almost be thought of as a small "pop" of acceleration, but bear in mind that this is then followed by keeping just enough speed on the rod through the remainder of the Sweep to retain the feel of that load that was produced from the initial pop... it can be though of as a "one-speed" Sweep! There is no massive acceleration into the D-loop because if an immediate start was correctly performed, the rod is in fact optimally loaded and any forceful acceleration afterward will only overload the whole system, usually incurring a very pronounced anchor blowout. This immediate-start-followed-by-one-speed Sweep is exactly what gives an accomplished Skagit caster the "effortless" aspect of casting! The unique aspects of a SA Sweep process are not easy to differentiate from other casting approaches, nor easy to learn, and that is a major reason many casters never realize the full potential of Skagit casting, especially casters trained in other Spey-type techniques as they have to deconstruct well-ingrained habits of lifting the line during the Sweep to make the "conversion". However, for students willing to put in the time and effort, the payoff is well worth the price. The sequence should be learned in stages - out-and-around first, followed by flat-plane movement, then concluded with immediate-start-followed-by-one-speed power application.