CASTING

An experiment with an elastic band can teach you a lot about casting…

Why a rod’s like an elastic band.

What is technique for? What does good technique do that bad habits do not? These are important questions. Techniques and tackle may differ wildly, but the answers are the same.

Technically, it is a long and complex story. In real life, all we need to know is that the technique’s primary goal is to make the rod act as a combination of lever and spring. If we want to cast effortlessly and consistently, making a rod perform this way is critical whether we fish at 50 metres or at extreme range.

When we learn to cast, we naturally focus on the technique itself. How to stand, how to lay out the tackle, what the arms do and so on. But why do we do what we do? Well, obviously to get more distance, but that’s getting slightly ahead of ourselves. A more helpful answer, highly important to understand, is that the overwhelming aim of good technique is to make the rod work well. For when a rod does this, distance and control automatically follow.

THE SECRET

If there is a secret to good casting, it mostly boils down to getting the slack out of the system before the power goes in. It’s time for a quick experiment. Hold a fairly weak elastic band between your hands. Slowly move your hands apart to stretch the rubber and feel how tension builds up quite slowly until the rubber reaches its elastic limit, at which point the band feels tight and solid.

A rod reacts in a broadly similar way except that bending replaces stretch. If you whack into a cast before a rod is bent far enough to get the slack out of the system (classic overhead thumping style), it cannot work properly. Poor distances, exploding baits and monster backlashes on a multiplier reel are guaranteed.

The first step must always be to bend the rod

Words by John Holden, Images by Lloyd Rogers and Shutterstock

A rod reacts in a broadly similar way to a rubber band except that bending replaces stretch

until it feels taut, similar to the stretched rubber band. Now it acts like a lever and becomes highly efficient. The point where it stiffens nicely is where the main power goes in – push and pull, or however you do it. With no sloppiness in the system, you are free to hit into the cast more or less as hard and fast as you like.

The sinker soars effortlessly into the sky, baits stay on the hook and your previously untamed reel becomes a pussycat. In addition, you get a bonus: the energy stored in the rod to make it bend in the first place releases in a creamy catapulting action to give the cast a turbo-like boost.

Proper technique is never a lightning quick, mighty whack while the rod is straight. It is always a relatively steady increase in pressure to bend the blank, followed by smooth, powerful acceleration. That is one reason why most teachers say start slow, finish quick. Learn to feel what’s going on as the casting action progresses. The rod tells you all you need to know. ■

Look at the quality of those beauties! When dug fresh and suitably looked after, king ragworms remain in excellent condition for several days, often longer with care and attention. It all adds to the satisfaction of digging your own bait.

They are found towards the lower reaches of the intertidal zone, mostly from sheltered beaches where the ground consists of a mix of sand, mud, peat, gravel, grit, stones, seaweed and rocks, all of which makes digging a challenge.

THE DIGGER’S CODE

■ Always return any stones you turn over to the position you found them.

■ Back-fill all holes you have dug.

■ Never dig in the immediate vicinity of boat moorings.

■ Never dig more worms than you need to use. They are a resource and an essential component of the marine environment.

■ Be careful during the bird-nesting season, roughly March to July. Nests will be located above the high-water mark, but are easily disturbed by inconsiderate access. Newborn chicks often follow their parents into the intertidal zone to feed.

■ Do not ignore ‘no digging’ signs. The best advice is to find somewhere else. Talking to someone in authority, a harbour master or wildlife warden, for example, will usually clarify the situation.