Continuing the movie theme as of late, I wanted to point FF&W readers to a full collection of 500 frame-per-second fly-casting videos (hosted on Revver.com). Actually, if you’ve been reading this blog, you may have already seen these, but I figure that it never hurts to make them obvious. These videos are the result of work by Grunde Løvoll Ph.D., who I have worked with in the past on fly-casting articles (including “The Rod & The Cast”).

Because the time resolution is so high, the various parts of a cast, including loop formation, are quite easy to see. While the videos at Revver are at lower physical resolution than the original 1024X768-pixel camera files, you can still see the marked rod and line, which allows for approximate calculations of speed of various parts of the casting system (for reference, the rods used are 9 feet long).

Note that these videos can also be downloaded (and in QuickTime format, as well, which allows for easy frame-by-frame viewing). Here’s how:

First, look for the menu shown below. It will be just under the actual video itself (for example, click on “Paradigm #1,” and let the page load). Then, click the blue QuickTime symbol. The video will re-load in QT format. Then…

…look for the menu below. It’s over on the right-hand side of the page. Once the QT format of the video has loaded, click the Download link. That should do it.

So, if you have any interest in what the fly cast really looks like, go and have a watch. There is a lot to see, even if you are just a “casual caster” who only has a passing curiosity about what goes on in otherwise blink-of-the-eye moments. For casting geeks, however, this stuff is like a drug. Go get your fix…