This is what I personally believe to be the single most important exercise in learning or refining Spey Casting technique. It is a superb technique perfecting exercise devised by James Chalmers, one of the best Spey casters in the world and Manager of the highly successful Carron Casting team. I am fortunate indeed to have had some instruction from James Chalmers and other members of the Carron team including Andrew Toft and Ruairi Costello.
James Chalmers has produced some of the best Spey casting I have ever witnessed anywhere and I can say that standing beside him on the Spey and watching his line V loop perfectly across that magnificent river is a sight to behold. The incline exercise comes from Carron expertise and training methodology.
It is an exercise that has been incorporated into Fulcrum Fly-Casting technique as it is so important for correct understanding of Fulcrum style. This technique teaches many things about Spey casting and rod loading and unloading. It is now the basis or fundamental building block of this style.
Its practice leads through a logical progression and through a process of minor variations on the theme eventually to the climbing curve basic single Spey cast and the climbing curve loop formation for a double Spey cast. In my opinion this exercise, and its natural progression into other exercises that are variations on the theme, is the single most important exercise in double-handed rod Spey casting. This has been made evident to me beyond any doubt whatsoever on very many occasions. Most especially when I have seen how it has utterly transformed peoples Spey casting in general as far as anchor placement and anchor shape is concerned and the nature of its contact with the water. Also how it rapidly gives them mastery of Spey casting on their off side which is really very important. In fact it turns people into accomplished casters on their off side.
It is a basis for many key techniques and aspects of Fulcrum Fly-casting style as it teaches a reliance on the top hand remaining as the fulcrum at all times, an essential aspect of technique. Reliance on body movement, on an ergonomically efficient position of the rod (closely held and compact with elbows bent), and reliance entirely on the rod’s own loading and unloading action to place the line rather than swinging the arms about or tugging. Any type of reaching (outward, upward or sideways), or excessive swinging of the arms, tugging and sharp erratic movements are not a part of Fulcrum Fly-casting style as they are not efficient smooth, steady or controlled movements. An increased acceleration and pressure in a controlled way towards the end of the stroke to create an extra unloading pop is permissible but that is not an uncontrolled tug, however it will not used for this teaching technique where initially smooth steady movement is required.
Steady, ultra smooth, simultaneous compound movements with a correct overall tempo that, most importantly, allow the rod to load and unload itself efficiently are used, and in fact necessary for this style. The first incline exercise in the progression or series uses no lift. The reason is that it is partly about gaining the control necessary to ignore the resulting resistance and rod loading pressure, then the sudden release of pressure into a zero resistance situation when the line breaks free from the water surface and releases the tension. It is about allowing the rod to unload itself without forcing or tugging, without speeding up because of a sudden release of all resistance. Allowing it to load without any hesitation in overall tempo because you feel a lot of resistance initially.
There is no lift initially so that the resistance and rod loading is at a maximum and yet you ignore it to make a steady movement within an overall tempo, learning what steady rod loading feels like. The net or overall effect of those steady, directed, simultaneous compound movements on the rod loading and unloading in a certain way, and in a certain overall direction is what matters.
With the correct movements and trajectory the anchor will land more gently and have a straighter shape and yet there will be tautness and tension maintained from the rod unloading pointing and correctly channelling all the energy as much as possible in the one direction. Any dissipation of the direction that the loading and unloading rod is kept to a minimum and working along one tilted plane is critical so that the energy is then directed and confined.
The rod is best thought of as a machine that is better at placing the line than we are as due to its taper it unloads perfectly and smoothly and the same way each time, it is a constant. The fulcrum style allows the rod to place the line for us at a smooth and steady tempo rather than using any unnecessary force. This has many implications as to how the part of the line forming the anchor touches and sits on the water, especially when combined with continuous motion Spey casting. Correctly done the anchor will often be seen to slide into place as the unrolling bottom leg of the line has still directed energy back and upwards from the rod unloading, even though gravity is bringing the whole loop and line down steadily. The caster will have done very little, and will have freed up his top arm completely from tugging or acting as the driving force to place the line on the set up. The hand will move and steer with upper body rotation. The aim is to maximise, direct and control the energy available from the rod unloading rather than forcing placement with a top hand tug.
The Incline exercise has a series of steps so it is a few exercises that follow a logical progression, one leading into the other. There is no rush though. This is important and it is best to get it right. It is the building block of the entire Spey casting technique and for understanding and really feeling how the rod works. The steps are as follows -
1.applying leverage on a straight line Incline of approximately 30 degrees using no lift on both right and left hand sides, leading to
2.a prior shotgun lift and shallower straight line incline on both right and left hand sides, leading to
3.a shotgun lift and curved jump roll with continuous motion on right and left hand sides, leading to
4.a lift and an ultra smooth climbing curve basic single Spey cast with direction change on right and left hand sides leading to
5.a formation of a D loop from the line lying on water surface as the final part of a Double Spey or any water borne on right and left hand sides
6 an in swing single Spey on right and left hand sides leading to
7 a lift and V loop single Spey on right and left hand sides
Practical Steps
1 The first exercise is sometimes called a 30 / 30 incline exercise. The first need is to be precise, a straight line incline is a straight line incline, therefore not an arched convex curve with a pull in or pull down behind. The furthest back position the rod tip reaches was arrived at by the rod tip rising to get there no matter how slight the incline. The rod unloading when the line breaks free will then be all in the one direction and at the right trajectory, the rod tip moving a long way in the one direction overall, directing the line momentum efficiently in that direction.
The upper body turning and a simultaneous pushing out of the bottom hand provide the loading, with longer lines both hands must also poke the rod in one direction just before stopping to keep the momentum and energy release in one direction, therefore using the second part of the fulcrum definition while ensuring the furthest back position the rod reached it stayed in plane and rose to that position. The top hand is the fulcrum and remains the fulcrum. The top hand does not pull in at the end which would pull the rod tip around into a deflection which was not in the same direction as the overall movement. Make sure the energy is directed in the one direction.
The basis of the exercise is that there are no left or right hand rods so the rod is going to work exactly the same way on either side as long as we change its position and angle and apply pressure in the same fashion so that it is a mirror image of the other side. Also that anyone can turn their upper body or torso from their ankles through. All body movement starts at the ankles, saying we turn our upper body is a bit of a misnomer although that is what we do but perhaps not literally, all of the body is on the move from the ankles up. So anyone can turn their body. If before we turned our upper body, we placed a hand out in front of us slightly and turned the body, our hand will turn with the body of course. The hand is then moving in relation to a position on the ground or in relation to your toe but you are not moving your arm to do it, you are turning your body. So as Mr Andrew Toft once pointed out, the hand can move independently of the body and the body can move independently of the hand or arm but bring the arm with it, this is still stroke length. To a fixed point on the ground body movement moves the hand, in relation to the upper body however it is not moving. Now anyone can also push out their bottom hand steadily. Both movements – upper body rotation and the bottom hand pushing out can be done at the same time, both movements can be spread out so that they happen simultaneously throughout the stroke. The top hand can ensure steering along the approx 30 degree incline desired
It is made along a shallow angle gradient. That angle is about 30 degrees as Patrick Steenhout an FFF Instructor from Belgium who is a carpenter and rod builder confirmed by eye. It is necessary to absolutely ensure this constant straight line incline at the beginning, the caster must ensure two things, that the rod is steadily rising until the stop so that it does not pull in behind or down behind at any time, it remains on a steady gradient. As there is no lift there will be serious water loading of the rod taking place
It is best to put the reel into plane first to be aware of the plane used and the tilt over the river used which is low. The greatest awareness is of the rod travelling in a perfect straight line and of no tugging whatsoever occurring. The angler must feel the rod load and unload without reacting to that by hesitating or tugging. He must use a steady overall tempo and disregard what he feels. The tempo will become apparent as there is a correct position for anchor placement. too little speed or overall tempo fails to break the line from the water usually or perhaps it just managed to break the line from the water but it drops too far below the caster causing an excessive anchor. Too much speed and we do an overhead cast to the side. Just right and the anchor placement is perfectly positioned just below and outside of the caster.
The caster starts off with right or left foot forward stance, the rod tip is touching the water in front. If 12 o’clock is directly in front of the caster then the rod tip is touching the water at 1 o’clock, it is going to rise on a 30 degree incline and swing round to 5 o’clock. If only the body turning was used it would go to about 4 o’clock, because the bottom hand pushes out it can go to five o’clock. He turns his body and starts pushing out the bottom hand simultaneously, the top hand will raise the rod along the incline as the body turns.
To Be Continued shortly
The first, no lift, incline exercise on the river. Sorry about the pic quality as it is taken from a film, as was the top sequence on a pier on Lough Cullin one evening.
However this sequence on the river does show the resulting V loop formation. The top sequence shows weight shift and upper body rotation.
However this sequence on the river does show the resulting V loop formation. The top sequence shows weight shift and upper body rotation.
To use, or to see precision being used by an experienced practitioner of any skill is a thing of beauty for me. Relaxed precision is a thing of great beauty. That's exactly what great casting is to watch, great precision being used fluently in a controlled and relaxed fashion. That precision coming from experience and a fundamental understanding of how everything interacts and works together interdependently and where the optimum use and blending of each aspect of technique is. That's why the person makes it look easy.
I simply could not over estimate the importance of the incline exercise in learning how to Spey cast correctly in this style. It is actually in itself an absorbing and rewarding exercise, and one that develops great precision, control and understanding. It is one of the keys to greater understanding.
I simply could not over estimate the importance of the incline exercise in learning how to Spey cast correctly in this style. It is actually in itself an absorbing and rewarding exercise, and one that develops great precision, control and understanding. It is one of the keys to greater understanding.