Some of you may know I took the Master Casting Instructor (MCI) test. Well, it happened on 1 November during the Malaysia International Fly Fishing Festival 2018 and the outcome was unfavourable but expected, as I did not have high hopes of passing the test.
HIGH EXPECTATIONS HIGH STANDARDS
It is only fair to expect the best of a Master Casting Instructor and as such, an MCI must be able to perform all casts with absolute ease.
Although (I believe) I manage to get through the casting tasks without too much problems, I probably could have done them better, much better. Practice more.
The second section on-water spey cast tasks is where I sucked and got stucked, which is not very surprising as I hardly spent much time on spey casts, and practicing them on water is crucial.
The fact that I spent four months in Rompin for the sailfish season just before the exam did not help.
The consolation is I gained a lot of knowledge from going through the whole process. I’ve improved, especially my understanding of a lot of casting mechanics, and teaching skills, so they will come in handy.
WRONG TOOLS?
One of the things I discovered during my practice sessions is carrying/casting the required 50-feet distance consistently (one handed) and maintain nice tight parallel front and back loops is not easy with my 7-wt setup.
Perhaps a 6-wt setup would be less tiring and easier. I will need to experiment more on this with different rod-line combinations to find the best for me generally for all the performance tasks.
Same goes for the on water single hand Spey casts, will need to get a better line for sure than the Expert Distance line I’ve been using. A few months before my test, FFI sent out an email stating that a different fly line can now be used for the on-water cast. Previously candidates are required to use the same line for both sections of the performance tasks.
One of the evening fly casting get-together
IN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
If you still wonder why one would go through all this trouble and take a test, well…I enjoy teaching others (and learning). Furthermore, catching fish and helping others catch fish on the fly is my business, and while most of us can cast to catch fish, if you want to be really really good…you need to challenge yourself and continue learning.
Till the next one…tight loops.
Juan Wei
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