42
VIII The Haul - The Third (and last) Model
So far we have looked at the haul on the forward delivery stroke in two ways: the effect of pulling with the line hand as an assist and boost at rotating the rod, and the effect of pulling in on the line as furthering the rod flexion, increasing the acceleratory force, and effectively lengthening the geometry and time of the maximum acceleration phase.
The last model was one I stumbled upon 50 years ago. In those early years of salt water casting, not only could Lefty Kreh throw the whole line by loosening himself from the “trout casting” restrictions on arm movement, but he could cast the whole line with the tip half of the rod! And, it was published, he could throw the whole line with NO ROD AT ALL! No details were given.
Then, at age 22, I was about there with a whole rod. And I had been using a 4 foot rod for fresh water fishing for a year….so a 4 ½ foot tip half was not the least intimidating. But, for the life of me, I couldn’t throw the line very far with my hand. How could one do it?
Could one do it using two hands and some variation of a haul? I played around with the line until I discovered that one COULD throw the line, and a LONG WAY, by stretching the line out straight on a lawn. You take the line in your line hand. You then take the gloved index finger (use protection or you will get a line burn) of your rod hand and loop the line over your index finger right at your line hand. You then THROW your rod hand-finger forcefully out and forward. You only have about 2 feet of “throw” so you need to get everything tight at the start, but with practice the line will scream by you and lay out….way out there. Wow! Since then, on Youtube, there are videos of casters throwing the line without a rod….and they are using this technique. What is happening? And does this happen in an actual cast?
The answer to “what is happening” is the moving pulley effect. And, does it happen in an actual cast? The answer is potentially yes, and probably.
Let’s review pulleys. There is, first, the simple pulley whereby the pulley is fixed and by pulling on a line one advances the line on the other side of the pulley in a 1 to 1 fashion…there is no mechanical advantage.
Fig. 20