Trout Tips: The Mirror Effect

Editor's note: The following is exerpted from TU's book, "Trout Tips," available online for overnight delivery. 

Just like it's always shocking to hear your own voice, it can also be surprising to see what you look like when you cast. There's a reason ballet studios and music rooms have large mirrors: this is the way you see and correct mistakes. It's not only that artist-types are narcissists.

So set up a tripod or get a friend to film you (every phone nowadays has a video option). If you sincerely want to improve, have that same friend view the footage with you, analyzing form and identifying what might be holding accuracy and distance back. Then, take that constructive criticsm, fix what's broken, and get back out on the water. Better this time. 

— Erin Block, Boulder, Colo.