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The Physics of Flycasting

3K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  GregS 
#1 ·
Smart guy (MIT) contemplates the fly cast.

<!--http--><a href="http://space.mit.edu/%7Ekommers/fly.html" target="_blank">A Classic Page</a><!--url-->
 
#2 ·
That gives me a headache. Try another mission statement anyone?

There was a thread on ffsw late last spring/early summer, the Tony S. board I believe, on leader butt sections and getting the fly to turn over (hard mono vs. flexible). Josko gave a BBoard lecture (tongue in cheek I believe) on conservation of energy. In response somebody posted the above link. I took a look and decided it took all the fun out of learning to flycast. It also reminded me that, as I approach middle age, my analytical skills have been stored in a bucket of brine for too long.

Regards,
Fred A.
 
#3 ·
So one New Englander's calculator results were already reviewed on a New England angler's website. Sorry I missed the other one or I might have had second thoughts


Actually, the author is from Montana and claims he never cast a fly. Probably had something to do with relatives that do FF, an assumption only.

I took the study lightly, in other words I thought it was amusing that MIT scientists spend time analyzing the dynamics of a fly cast. I also thought it was interesting that by adding various physical characteristics the performance of the cast changed.

Although I am no expert, seeing the mpegs made me wonder if the dynamics of the device used to generate the loop was not modeled - in other words the rod looked like an inflexible stick. Still control items are useful to isolate things... now I am starting to over-analyze.

Anyway, sometime this winter I plan to dig into it a little and see if I can't derive some layman's rules out of it.
 
#6 ·
Reminds me of a book from a psych. class long ago about human memory. At the start of the book, they approached a known memory guru with a non-sensical math formula about as long as John's. At the end of the book, several years later, they popped in on the guy and he recited it easily.

How'd he do it?

He made up a little nursery-like rhyme (3 black yaks went over the fence for pie, etc). The power of mnemonic devices!

Any good ones for flyfishing?
 
#8 ·
I just saw this <!--http--><a href="http://home.att.net/~slowsnap/calib5.htm" target="_blank">link</a><!--url--> on Tims' board. It's a 'scientific' rating of a few different rods. It looks pretty interesting at first glance, but i don't know if i've got it in me to read the whole thing. There's a nice chart at the bottom that seems to sum it up though.

Matt
 
#10 ·
Did you notice all the Sage rods in the table on the link MattB provided, are factory rated for a line size smaller than the recommendation based test data. I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that I prefer a line size higher than rating on my RPLX rods????
 
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