Back in the distant past I used to advise organisations in a spot of bother.  Over time I decided that getting three fundamentals straight usually made them more effective. In logical sequence those three things were, clarity of purpose, people and structure.  Applying a similar line of thought to my casting I realised that purpose needed a bit of clarification. (People and structure are simple. There’s only me, my fishing and my casting practice to be organised!)

So, looking back over the last six years, including the 4.5 year life of this blog, I can see change and evolution in why I want to improve my casting. At first it was essentially practical – cast better to fish better, extend the range at which I could cover fish reliably and therefore confidently.  Then I began to enjoy casting and casting practice in their own right.  They aren’t easy and the challenge to improve provides a perfect opportunity for me to pursue excellence. (I am “driven” to excel. It’s not just about the pursuit of achievement. It’s equally or more about the delight of the journey, adversity included and, for the record, it has nothing to do with beating, or being better than, other people.) More recently I began enjoying it as a means of self expression through graceful movement performed without superfluous effort. 

Ok, so what’s the problem with purpose?  Well, this week I had two practice sessions.  The first was sheer delight. Essentially still conditions allowed play, variability, and long casts with long carries. It allowed me to cast with the only relevant limitation being the quality of my technique. Great opportunity to test, explore, learn and refine. A couple of days later I decided to go out in very different conditions – swirly shitty wind conditions not conducive to graceful, easy casting.  Rather, they demanded adaption.  Back casts weren’t easy to fully extend and forward casts were often subject to gusty interruptions and disturbances of the force. To my initial frustration I couldn’t cast like I did in the still conditions.  I knew the job was dangerous when I took it and that’s why I took it – thinking it would be a good test of  technique and composure. I had to give up trying to cast in exactly the same way, testing the same techniques under different conditions.  Instead I had to meet the conditions and adapt, much as you do when out on the water.  You know, fish don’t always disclose themselves obligingly downwind of your casting position.

To be more specific, the trickier conditions demanded changes in trajectory, carry length, combinations of carry and shoot, a bit more punch in the finish on either or both of the back and forward cast together with snappier hauls.  Both aspects of accuracy, range and bearing, were constantly challenged.  At first I didn’t like it one bit and then….I changed my attitude, expectations and technique to suit – a whole new ball game to the previous session.  Refinement in “pure” technique is assisted by still conditions but adaptation to less obliging conditions is not.  Horses for courses.

The short of it is that I’ve decided to enlarge and clarify the purpose of my casting to include, practicality, aesthetic pleasure through self expression and now, adaptability to all reasonable conditions. There won’t be masochistic sessions in the rain or after strong wind warnings but I will be less choosy about when I go out for a practice and more realistic about what I’m trying to achieve when the conditions get a bit dicey.

To be clear, I wouldn’t advise my students to harden up and head out for a soul destroying session in strongly adverse conditions. For my situation it’s a bit different because I’ve cobbled together a good enough technique to do all the fishing I’m likely to do in a general sense. Deliberately practicing to improve my adaptability expands both the learning and the fishing opportunities. 

As a post script, I went out for another practice in unhelpful wind conditions. It was easier than last time (maybe me and/or the conditions improving) and it was possible to combine and change techniques for crappy wind and no wind sessions. Key words. Purpose, adaptability, variation = more control. It was a practical application of the movement stuff I wrote about in the previous three posts.

As a btw I also decided to do a bit more work on my hauls, especially timing, having watched a vid I shot a few weeks back. It showed fit for purpose hauling but it was a bit lazy.