S7, Ep 80: Foundations of Fly Casting: Mastering Variability and Adaptability with Mac Brown

EPISODE SUMMARY

Guest: Mac Brown - Casting Instructor and Guide (Tennessee/National Park area)

In this episode: Casting expert Mac Brown shares foundational casting principles and variability training methods for developing adaptable fly fishing skills. Topics include building core casting techniques, avoiding context dependency in practice and developing problem-solving abilities on the water.

Key fishing techniques covered: • Foundational vertical casting stroke • Positive and negative curve casts • Power application variations • Rod path manipulations • Variable practice methodologies

Location focus: Wisconsin Driftless area, Tennessee national park region, Mountain Home (Arkansas)

Target species: Not specifically discussed (general fly fishing applications)

Equipment discussed: Basic fly rod and line combinations, foundational casting gear

Key questions answered: • How to build adaptable casting skills • Why repetitive practice limits fishing success • How to practice casting variations effectively

Best for: Beginner to intermediate anglers interested in foundational casting skills, casting instruction methodologies and developing water problem-solving abilities

Marvin Cash00:00:04

Hey, folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of The Articulate Fly. And we're back with another Casting Angles with Mac Brown. Mac, how are you?

Mac Brown00:00:10

I'm doing great. How are you doing, Marvin?

Marvin Cash00:00:12

As always, just trying to stay out of trouble.And you know, it's kind of funny I got to spend some time with you this weekend at your advanced line control class and had a good time and it kind of gave us an idea for this week to talk about building a strong foundation and then how to vary off that. And it doesn't apply just to casting. It kind of applies to everything in fly fishing, right?

Mac Brown00:00:31

Oh, yeah, yeah. I think that's a good, that's a great topic.And kind of like, kind of like when we're timber framing and talking about foundations and what, what's going to stand on top of that foundation and, you know, what you can do with it. So I think that's going to be a good thing for the talk to talk for the podcast tonight.

Marvin Cash00:00:49

Yeah, and I think so.You know, kind of part of this too, folks, is what we try to do is we tend to have a tendency to like, try to remember a ton of different little itty bitty pieces of information and they're not really related.And you know, in casting, if you can kind of come up with a foundational casting stroke, then we can talk about doing all sorts of things off of that based on just varying, you know, we, you know, we were going back and forth, we started recording, we could talk about, you know, power path and pause, but, you know, basically, you know, variations off of that. But if you don't have that core understanding, it makes it really hard to easily move to those variations. Right, Mac?

Mac Brown00:01:26

That's exactly right. Yeah. Because think about, I mean, to apply this, I mean, to what we do in our sport of fly fishing and casting.It's all about, you know, you, you dealing with all the external surroundings and the situation you're in.So, so what that means for what you're trying to do with the string on a bendy stick, if you're trying to vary speed or the angles or the distances and the equipment you're using, you add in there when. And the challenges of all the, you know, the might be parsnip.If you're up in the driftless area of Wisconsin here, the rhododendron and all the COVID on the stream like a cave, you have to adapt all these challenges and motor systems to adapt to it.And what tends to happen is, you know, a lot of times when When I first got in this rodeo, when I was like in my early 20s and I'd go to like St. Louis, Kansas City, and I was doing all these clubs across the country and it was like they go to the park and they practice six hours of like pick up and lay down. Pick up and lay down. Well, that's, that's all context dependent.And so what tends to happen when they practice under these ideal conditions in the park? When there's no wind, when there's no trees, everything's wide open and the variability factor really starts to suffer.Then you put them in a situation where you have all these things and of course it's going to lead to what, frustration.So yeah, I think that that helps a lot with, while practice and retention tends to, tends to help better for like the, the more situations, you know, on the water, no matter what you're doing, I don't care if it's salt water, I don't care if you're throwing under mangroves or I don't care if it's Montana with wind. I don't, I mean, it's all relatable, isn't it? It's all the same thing. You got, you got wind everywhere. You're going to have surroundings everywhere.Sometimes it's open, sometimes it's not. Usually it's not where I fish anyway. Usually it's not. So we have to deal with variability every, every day.

Marvin Cash00:03:17

Yeah.And so if you kind of work through that, if you talk about, you know, the foundational casting stroke, and Mac and I have worked on just a, you know, the, the most basic, you know, vertical, forward and backward cast. And then you talk about varying, you know, some of the three P's and that evolution as to what Mac is talking about is I'm in a fishing situation.You say, well, what am I trying to accomplish?And you know, you won't have the foundational stroke necessarily, but you'll know how to vary that stroke to achieve the object, your fishing objective on the water.

Mac Brown00:03:51

That's right. Yeah. So I mean, the variability just by something as simple. That's what came up when you just said that. I just thought of something else.How many times in guiding over the last 40 something years, we say, Marvin, there's a tree in back. You tell, you tell somebody that you, you just told them there's a tree in back.But if they've practiced at the park, back to that example, and they've done thousands of pickup and lay downs and that's the way the, the myelination in Their body wants to fire every time what's going to happen? And they're going to probably still throw, even though you told them they're still going to throw it straight back. That's what they know.So I would, I would make the argument that even in casting stuff that happens a lot where, where, where people have practice something a lot to reproduce of really what we. What I call context dependency. It's like that's the context of all the situation they've practiced.And it leads to very little ability to adapt to the surroundings around them when that's the case. Because I always thought like, what's going on? Did you not hear me? There's a tree in back. The tree's not moving, is it?So, yeah, that used to happen a lot. And it used to really frustrate my 20s, 30s, 40. Cause you just told the person they still did it anyway.So then you ask yourself, well, what part of that did you miss about the tree, Marvin? Then you tell me what you missed. So you see what I mean by context, attention. Does that kind of. Does that kind of resonate?

Marvin Cash00:05:14

Yeah, it does. And if you think about, like, if you take the foundational. Let's take an example.So let's say you're in a situation on the water where you need to throw either a positive or a negative curve cast. Right?

Mac Brown00:05:23

Right.

Marvin Cash00:05:24

So you say, well, here's the foundational stroke. Well, I know I can throw a curve either by my power applic. Right. Or by my rod path.And so then you're on the water to your point, like, hey, I've got this problem.You say, well, I know I can't do the foundational stroke that I've been practicing, you know, on the football field, but I do know that how to vary path or power. And I throw that curve cast. And that's really what we're talking about.And that's a way easier thing than for every possible context you have memorizing exactly how to do it exactly.

Mac Brown00:05:56

You know, that's a great example.And that's the fun part of it really boils down to just the amount of creativity that variability can bring into your game, to where all these problems that people call problems early on become, you know, old hat after a while when they, when they start to really appreciate the variability and why they're doing it. That's. That's going to create a much, much more efficient angler for dealing with, you know, changing conditions around them.Yeah, they're going to be able to adapt, you know, I mean, they're going to be able to adapt this so quickly. It's just flawlessly, seamlessly adaptation, because they're able to do that and a lot of people aren't.I mean, that's why I like this, this whole topic. I think it's a good. It's a good topic for a podcast just to talk about the necessity of having variability where it starts.And that's back in the, in the grass area. You know, it starts back, not just on the water. That's part of the problem. Everybody wants to try to do it on the water.Well, a lot of these things are learned on the grass, you know what I mean? For, for.For those that are, like, new to a lot of those concepts, it's a whole lot easier to learn it on the grass, where you get confident in that ability.

Marvin Cash00:07:04

Yeah. And I think it's great, right?So, like, you know, once you've worked and you've kind of got the good foundational groove and you kind of understand the mechanics, I mean, just go out to max point on the field and say, well, can I try this? How does that work? Right? And just play around with it and say, you know, we, as we always advocate, it's better to.To practice a lot of times for really short periods of time. You know, just go out for 15 or 20 minutes and just say, well, hey, I want to see how much I can do this.Like, whether it's, you know, playing with power on loops and like, you know, take the power off until the loop collapses and then you kind of understand that, or, you know, hey, I wonder if I can, like, manipulate where I put the curve in the fly line. How do I do that? Right? And those are. That's just kind of how you do it.And then you just kind of, you know, you got to eat the pie one bite at a time, right?So you just start doing that, and next thing you know, if you, if you're consistent about practice, like we always preach, then you look down and you've got a toolbox with a lot of great tools in it.

Mac Brown00:07:58

That's right. No, that.That makes a huge difference for helping, Helping solve things, you know, in those, in those stages where people are, like, trying to figure these things out. And I think that's a really good. It's a really good approach. It's not just in the.For the angler, I mean, trying to solve this stuff, but also in teaching. I mean, it has to be variable teaching to produce a. A great result. Nothing in teaching can happen with the mundane blocked.What we call blocked practice. You know, when we're talking about block practice practices like Marvin, go out and do a pickup and lay down 500 times. What.I mean, if you did that every time you practice for 40 years, what would you have? You'd have a good pickup and lay down with zero variability from it. That kind of makes. That kind of helps talk about the differences, you know.Then when you talk about random variable, then you got, you got that plus a whole bunch of kitchen sinks to add on top of it. Now you got adapt, adaptability.

Marvin Cash00:08:58

Yeah, well. And you become a problem solver on the water, which I think is kind of what so many people are trying to do. Right?

Mac Brown00:09:04

That's exactly it.

Marvin Cash00:09:06

And lots of different ways to skin that cat. And so, you know, it's kind of funny, we're in the middle of September and DH will be here before you know it.And so folks, you know, get out and practice. But I would also say, too, Mac, I know you're. You're running God trips. You've got a school coming up. You got all kinds of stuff.You want to let folks know a little bit about that and where to find all that good stuff.

Mac Brown00:09:26

Yeah, that'd be great. It's the 15th to 19th. We've got a school here for. That's the dates in October.And then the 24th, 26th, we head to Mountain Home with Davey, Davey Watten. And we're going to run a. A school out there on Mountain Home. So we're looking forward to both of those.And that was a great, you know, a great weekend this last weekend. I really enjoyed it. I had to. I had to rest a lot today, Marvin, because I was actually. I was actually still tired from Saturday and Sunday, for sure.

Marvin Cash00:09:55

Yeah, well, it was, it wasn't necessarily. It was a little warm, but it was, you know, when you're outside like that, you know, eight plus hours a day, it takes it out of you.

Mac Brown00:10:03

Yeah, I felt like it today.

Marvin Cash00:10:05

Yeah.And so, you know, remember folks, that Mac really likes smoke signals and he likes email, but don't communicate with them on social media because you might not hear back from him for a while. Right, Mac?

Mac Brown00:10:15

That's right. Yeah. So that's the best way to get me email or text. And I look at those a lot of times, I don't see stuff on the other very much. So. That's great.Smoke signal works too.

Marvin Cash00:10:25

Yeah. Do you have a preferred color smoke signal?

Mac Brown00:10:29

Well, you're a little bit far to see it from Charlotte, but if you were up like in the national park. I can definitely see it.

Marvin Cash00:10:35

You're gonna call, like, you, like, this is my yellow smoke, my purple smoke, or my green smoke?

Mac Brown00:10:39

Yeah, no, that's it. But, yeah, we're looking forward to those coming up, and I'm really looking forward to fall.I got to do a couple hours walk, a couple hours before we started the podcast. I'll tell you, we're already seeing color. I mean, there's a lot of leaves already coming down up there that have, you know, that always happens.The early ones fall. But we're starting to see some color on a lot of the maples and sycamore. Poison ivy starting to turn yellow.You're starting to see a lot of color change right now, so I'm looking forward to the colors coming.

Marvin Cash00:11:10

Yeah. So, folks, as I always say, you need to beat the leaf peepers. You need to get out there and catch a few tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Mag.

Mac Brown00:11:17

Tight lines. Marvin.