On Feb 18, 2:43*pm, Larry L wrote:
(aka wobbley wrist)

I completely suck at fly casting .... and wobbly wrists are only one
of my problems ..

This business of keeping the wrist locked in position and keeping the
elbow tight against the body may be good advice for beginners
(minimizing variables and all that), but I'm not entirely convinced.
One thing is certain, though; anyone who adheres to that advice
rigidly throughout a career of fly fishing will never be a very good
caster.....let alone a great one.

The human arm, with it three major joints, the wrist, elbow, and
shoulder allows a literally unlimited range of motion in three
dimensions, elevation, azimuth and skew will do as well as any other
names. For elevation, think of the arm held against the side with the
hand moving up and down through an arc. Azimuth refers to what is
achieved with the arm held in the same position but with the hand
moving from side to side. And skew is accomplised by holding the arm
in the same position, once again, but no change of position for the
forearm.....the wrist simply turns, which, incidentally doesn't really
involve motion in any of the joints....it's a matter of how the
muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments are attached at the wrist and
the elbow. There is more than one way to achieve each of these
motions using the various joints. The wrist alone allows nearly 180
degress of range in one plane and a bit less in a second. Which two
of the three motions depends on the orientation of the wrist, which is
in turn controlled by the other two joints. The elbow is the most
limited, allowing a substantial range of motion in only one plane.
But, like the wrist, its plane of motion is variable depending on the
position of the upper arm, controlled by the shoulder. The shoulder
is the most versatile in terms of range of motion, it can point the
upper arm to any point in a hemisphere.

Now, imagine yourself standing inside a sphere (shouldn't take much
imagination.....you ARE standing inside a sphere) holding a stick (or
a fly rod, if you prefer) just long enough to reach the inside surface
of the sphere. Using all three joints, there is no point on the
sphere you can't reach with the arm in any of several to many
different positions. Do the same experiment with your elbow held
tightly to your side and the wrist locked in any position you choose.
Comparing the results should send a very clear message.

But, of course, this isn't fly casting. Well, no, it isn't. And thus
it doesn't matter.....as long as you fish only in places and
situations in which you always cast directly in front of you in a very
limited range of distances on a nice flat piece of water with no
obstructions in front of or behind you.....and there's no wind.

Tools. Use 'em.

but for that one,

I find grips modified like this

http://kimshew.com/BFP/firehole04-7.jpg

help me a bit ... get the heal of the hand right over the reel and
there is much less leverage on the wrist, it's far more comfortable to
do so with cork there

"much less leverage" is ambiguous.....at best. Personally, I'm
inclined to the believe that it's flat out wrong.

I move my hand up, even onto the blank at times, *for short little
flicks ( a lot of my fishing ) but back down over the added section of
cork when I want to put more power into my wind knots

Whatever works.

brief how to: *get three cork rings, glue them together, drill out the
middle to fit you real seat, cut the whole thing length wise through
the center hole, but so one piece is larger than the discarded one,
rough shape off the rod, glue to rod, carry a piece of sandpaper with
you for a long time, occasionally taking off a bit of cork until you
are happy.

I like it, YMMV * for sure

It's interesting. Never gone to that extent myself, but I've done
serial modifications in the field.

giles