The Wrist In The Cast

If you want an absolutely top expert´s opinion, then see here;

http://www.sexyloops.co.uk/cgi-bin/t...t=ST;f=3;t=195

For casts of less than about sixty feet or so, no wrist is needed. It can be
used, but it will introduce faults if not done properly. Simply allowing it
to "break" will always introduce faults, and may cause pain as well.

For simple "pick up and lay down" casts, only rotational power application
is required. ( The rod simply travels through an arc).This is easier with a
locked wrist. For long casts, then the stroke length needs to increase.
There are several ways of doing this.

For maximum power, a "wrist snap", as described above is also required. As
hardly anybody needs to cast 90 feet or more with a #5 wt, there is usually
no call for it under normal fishing conditions.

If you use light gear, and understand the mechanics involved, you can cast
using practically only your wrist. This is however rarely a good idea for
most people. Wrist muscles are weak in comparison to shoulder muscles. This
may also cause you various problems and pain.

From: (Mike=A0Connor)

If you want an absolutely top expert=B4s opinion, then see here;
http://www.sexyloops.co.uk/cgi-bin/t...D4cafde435435=
6c66aecbb69c86a7b78c;act=3DST;f=3D3;t=3D195
For casts of less than about sixty feet or so, no wrist is needed. It
can be used, but it will introduce faults if not done properly. Simply
allowing it to "break" will always introduce faults, and may cause pain
as well.
For simple "pick up and lay down" casts, only rotational power
application is required. ( The rod simply travels through an arc).This
is easier with a locked wrist. For long casts, then the stroke length
needs to increase. There are several ways of doing this.
For maximum power, a "wrist snap", as described above is also required.
As hardly anybody needs to cast 90 feet or more with a #5 wt, there is
usually no call for it under normal fishing conditions.
If you use light gear, and understand the mechanics involved, you can
cast using practically only your wrist. This is however rarely a good
idea for most people. Wrist muscles are weak in comparison to shoulder
muscles. This may also cause you various problems and pain.

Hi Mike, thanks for the link and excellent advice. It seems that many
of the experts have differing opinions regarding the use of the wrist in
even the basic "pick up and lay down". Joan Wulff is a notable example.
She teaches loading move, power snap of the wrist and then drift to 12
o'clock on the back cast. Then loading move, power snap of the wrist
and then drift to the target on the forward cast.

"tmon" wrote in message
...
SNIP
Hi Mike, thanks for the link and excellent advice. It seems that many
of the experts have differing opinions regarding the use of the wrist in
even the basic "pick up and lay down". Joan Wulff is a notable example.
She teaches loading move, power snap of the wrist and then drift to 12
o'clock on the back cast. Then loading move, power snap of the wrist
and then drift to the target on the forward cast.

My pleasure. The link was of course concerned with distance casting a #5
wt, not learning to cast.

Indeed, opinions do differ. Unfortunately, irrespective of the particular
opinion involved, as I have discovered over many years of practice, it is
not always ( or not eben usually!), a good idea for a beginner to try doing
what an expert does. At least not at first. This often causes massive
problems. I have a lot of literature on casting, loads of videos, etc etc,
and I spend a lot of time doing it, teaching others to do it, watching
others do it, and discussing it with experts.

At one time, I rather hoped that it would be possible to design a
"universal" casting course for beginners, but it has proved impossible, as
in many cases one is unable to reach even a satisfactory concensus on the
definitions of various terms. Some of the books etc available, are so
complex and comprehensive that they are more or less useless to beginners.
There is no way for a beginner to know how to implement what he is reading.
Most don´t want to go to such lengths in any case. Certainly not at first.

Nevertheless, I don´t know of anybody who advises allowing the wrist to
"break". This is mainly a beginners fault, and nothing else. "Using" the
wrist correctly is only possible when you can already cast. This is also not
a lot of use to beginners, as they have no idea when to do what. They
basically have no "feel" for what is going on, and are not even capable of
the simplest cast without having problems. Introducing wrist usage, and
other things at this stage, is in my opinion merely unecessarily confusing.

Possibly, Mrs Wulff and others, can teach people their methods of "using"
the wrist "hands on", and in person, but most beginners have severe problems
when trying to do this by reading text, watching videos etc.

I can teach any rank beginner to cast at least 40 feet in less than a hour,
without using the wrist, or allowing it to break. With people who have
already tried to learn by themselves, this is often much more difficult.
They can not cast properly to start with, but want to cast further anyway!
Trying to remove the faults they have acquired is far more difficult than
teaching someone from scratch.

Some never will cast 90 feet, not even 60. Mainly because they have never
learned the basic principles properly.

Discussion and argument, on this or any other forum, about wrist usage or
indeed other aspects of casting, are more or less useless for beginners as
well. Other people ( who no longer consider themselves beginners, often
merely because they have been fishing for a while! ) wont listen to what
one says in any case, as they are convinced that they know it all. People
also take things extremely personally, and before one knows quite how it
happened, one is the butt of all sorts of insults and nonsense.

Lastly, to become a really first class caster, one needs to know not only
what to and when to do it, but also why, as otherwise it normally just will
not work. There are exceptions to this, and I have known a couple, but they
are few and far between.

TL
MC