Part doux.....Wallis ' I did it my way
William Bailey inproved the "trent cast" further by imparting spinning in the spool to gain distance over other competitors in casting competions (held to see who's style was best notts trent (& bailey's) sheffields {s.yorksire loop cast) southern anglers using the themes cast "drop cast" [also described by bickerdyke] Bailey won hands down ,and was all england champion ,but was soon ,neglected from competitions so he taught "bendigo johnson" All england barenuckle champion [And a nottingham ladd]his cast who went on to win many casting championships [who would argue with him!] but after there time & bickerdykes days {late victorian} things went down hill in the centrepin fishing world and what with the first & later second world wars a lot of skilled anglers where lost and the different styles merged & the lines between them became blurred Loop & trent cast become sernominusas theNottingham cast ,Baileys Nottingham castbecame a reativley forgotton style as did the thames cast "Drop cast"which is the oldest cast of the lot.
F.W.K Wallis Knew the Bailey nottingham cast ,but obviousley knew it could be improved upon ,so he did just that he added to it ,making it more efficiant by gripping the bulk or lower weight (as in side casting a stickfloat from a open faced reel) and putting a little tention in the rod tip to act as a spring to prepell the light tackle outwards ,and added the follow through to guide the flowing line upto the botton rod eye and a twist of the rod hand to return the reel from the horizontal to the vertical position to void wrap around of the line over the backplate .He also had his handles facing to the right to prevent them tangling the line.He couldn't call it the modern nottingham cast as the loopcast was now widely known as "the nottingham Cast" {rightly or wrongly the name stuck} .So he called it "The Modern Light Float cast from the reel, nottingham style" but that was bit off a mouth full and it simply became known as "The Wallis cast" to definitiate it from the "nottingham cast" {loop cast} .there are now many versions of the "Wallis" cast ,some more Akin to baileys spinning trent cast with line just hanging loose from the rod tip and different fingers being used to pull the line from the ubiquitous crooked thumb "n" hooked over the line to it being a bent index finger to the line being pinched (just like the static trent cast) but in the end its which ever way your comfortable doing it.
I hope this helps clear up any confusions ,then maybe I've just added too them .Don't dwell on it too much just get out there and cast how it suites you.
