Right, so I have been f-fishing for over 5 years now and I still cast like shite so I am undergoing a challenge to improve my loops as well as my double hauls in an attempt to get a 30m cast with decent and straight presentation.
I went and spent a bit of money on a new rod and purchased a Sonik SK4 #5/6. After a session or two in the park I was casting further than ever before BUT..... there was a nasty gremlin rearing its horrible head! Tailing loops..... You know, where you really give it for that last haul and that line goes really well till the last few meters and then just collides with itself into a nice big heap of crap!!
So.... I hit my bandwidth with a vengeance and downloaded a monumental amount of casting videos....LEFTY KREH, TIM RAJEFF, Steve Rajeff, Mel Krieger, etc etc etc (please see links below of some decent ones I found). I use Mozilla Firefox and a little add-on that enables me to save the video to my pc (VERY HANDY) so I can view them over (and over) and whenever I like.
Tim Rajeff - Tailing Loops- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp36L6ttbxE&NR=1
Leland Fishing -getting distance - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBKgdd6QA9g
Mel Krieger - classic one that helped the penny drop - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZDOON6pZ1Y
NZ casting instructor - watch all 5 parts, very good videography/camerawork and tips- I want to order this dvd - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRxehBEnCX8
So...... what did I learn.....
In the first few sessions I went right back down to basics....Lift......stop.....pause......forward stroke....... stop...... put down...... basic stuff!
Then on to soft gentle back cast with line hand in pocket..pause......forward cast..pause..........back cast..pause........ forward cast..pause...... back cast, pause....... repeat till arm falls off!
I was trying to focus on keeping the loops clean and tight.
Then I proceeded to putting the double haul back in, using what I learnt in this video by Mel Krieger...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcE-9WPuZ04. And he is right, it will teach you the double haul in 15 minutes! But you have to practice it for 15 minutes!
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