Paul Arden | Monday, 4 May 2026
It’s been very interesting. This week I’ve been going through some Zoom videos with Nick and I have to say I think my teaching can be more focused/structured!! That’s been extremely useful actually. Recently my one-hour lessons have been going on for considerably longer, which is fine and my choice; I like the company! But that’s no good for duplication. So what I need to do is to drive the content back into one hour, imaginary bells and whistles, and then have the fishing chats after this tightly focused hour.
I think that will be better. It will also be more practical for my students when replaying the lessons back to extract the drills, exercises and cues.
I knew that working with Nick was going to improve my coaching/lessons. It was a bit unexpected to see this so quickly. It does make sense to check our work on a regular basis, and having a complete video of the lesson makes this possible. (Another good reason to record lessons!).
I can also pull out some of the more esoteric parts, such as haul twist and carried line management, and have specific YouTube videos of these. This will sharpen up the lesson content for a more effective use of everyone’s time. In fact, there already are specific videos on these particular topics.
All very good stuff for the improvement of mankind.
So we are open for students again. Nick is leaving his very exciting sound engineering job and going to coach with me full time here at Sexyloops.
Here are the brief notes that I would normally send out to interested parties:
What I normally do is a ten lesson course which covers all the bases and goes into specifics as well. There are four bases as I see in single handed casting. Distance, Accuracy, Speys and Presentations. Distance helps give us shots in the wind. I also teach the 170 distance cast to all my students, which gives them a backhand shot 80 or more feet. Also into a quartering headwind.
Speys integrate with change of direction shots. And presentation casts gives us fine motor control (I usually liken presentation casts more akin to painting with the line than fly casting!).
The course roughly covers this:
- Accuracy, Open Stance Distance, Hauling
- Roll cast, 3 stops
- Backcast deliveries
- Jump Roll
- Spey Casts
- 170
- Presentation casts
- Presentation Mends
- Rod planes/loop planes
- Wind, all options.
- Line management, quick shots
- Trick casts/steeple cast/change direction/ snaps/ tailing loops
Most of my students are Saltwater taking shots. Me too. I’m all about shots. Snakehead is my current obsession.
Every lesson is filled with drills and exercises. It’s often between the lessons where the magic happens. I ask my students to keep notes of their training. Issues, solutions, scores, epiphanies. Etc. And usually something like 8-10hrs of practise between lessons is about right.
10 lessons takes about a year. It can take longer and it really is at your pace. Life and fishing can sometimes get in the way of training.
All lessons are recorded so you can download afterwards. This is very important because typically we can only remember 3 or 4 things in a lesson. But by watching it again we can take notes, see ourselves cast and importantly I’m not worried about teaching too much because it can be unpicked later.
Then these notes can be whatsapped to me so we can check we are on the same page. Talking of which, any videos that you take of yourself you can also WhatsApp to me. Any questions between lessons and so on.
Only evening I don’t teach is Sat night. Not because I’m out partying but because I have a long indoor bike ride that night. And then Sunday morning is usually out too because I’m recovering!!
I charge $100/lesson. Ideally a ten lesson block is best. You definitely want to plan for 10 because real magic seems to happen somewhere between 8&10. By that point you will be in the top 1% of flycasters.
I haven’t put testimonials up for years now. I can’t deal with a rush of new recruits. Here are some older testimonials
https://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/sexyloops-zoom-coaching
https://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/good-opportunities
Interestingly I still coach all of these folks. Quite a few are now coaches themselves.
I think that’s most of the important information. Ah yes, you will need: a tripod for your phone or tablet, hoops 2’ diameter (eg hula hoops), a tape measure 50 meters /165’ long (100’ is not long enough!). And Bluetooth headset or EarPods etc so that we can talk away from camera.
I’m +60198549552 on WhatsApp. Certainly this is the quickest way to get hold of me. I don’t sleep with my phone so you can message day or night. Any questions please ask!!
Cheers, Paul
What we are in the process of doing now, is making sure that each lesson has the same content – drills, cues and exercises – such that it doesn’t matter who gives the lesson and it will be the same lesson. Not just the same overall 10 lesson content but same individual lesson content (which it largely is +/-).
So if you are interested in developing your flycasting to the next level, then please email or WhatsApp me. Nick and I have made videos on YouTube before and he currently holds the British 5 WT distance record, which he set with the HT5, and is expected to hold until I can return to the UK and set a new one.
Nick and I will be making weekly teaching/flycasting podcasts. I’m looking forward to doing these again. I had to stop making them because I suddenly had too many new students.
In Texas, Andy the Redneck is producing the finest fly rods in the Galaxy. Ok let’s not exaggerate… the finest *known* flyrods in the Galaxy. I agree that it’s possible that somewhere out there in the night sky, that there is another rod maker designing fly rods every bit as good as the Hot Torpedo/Tortuga / Tornado. And I do wonder about that when looking at the stars. “Is there another series of fly rods out there as good as the Tornado?” I ask myself. “Are there Aliens out there planning a trip to Planet Earth in order to purchase a Sexyloops Tornado?” “How will they pay?”
I am prepared to swap one 10WT for a raygun.
Remember, every one of these rods, apart from giving you a lifetime of intergalactic fly fishing pleasure (and a family heirloom), also comes with a Zoom fly casting lesson of your choice and a 1 in 666 chance of becoming a fly fishing pirate for two weeks. The first 25 4/5/6 Tornados have a special collector’s launch edition burl spacer, produced from a tree grown here on Earth.
Again you need to WhatsApp/email me while the new shopping cart is being finalised. Speaking of which: the new website will be finished very soon and almost certainly within the next decade.
Me, I’m totally shattered from that long indoor bike ride I mentioned above. My two IM endurance weekly training sessions are currently a 5hr indoor bike ride on Saturday night and a 21km round-and-around the airfield tropical fun run on Wednesdays. The rest of the week is a mix of bike, weights, swims, fishing, beer and recovery.
Today I’m moving the Battleship to Big Gourami Bay. Last time I was there I saw a gourami the size of a suitcase. I saw termites on the water this morning. This is the perfect combination. It’s all about to happen…
Have a great week!
Cheers, Paul