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Basic Double Handed Spey Video

I started out learning the basics of spey casting from my friend Mike Holt on a single handed fly rod. Then, I watched spey casting how-to videos and read books and talked with fly fishermen on line about spey casting with single and double handed rods. I scoured internet documentation, spey forums and dived right into the history of spey casting. I analyzed spey DVD's frame by frame and, like a sponge, absorbed everything I could about all the different styles of spey casting and the various techniques and spey casting methods. I found myself making casting motions while sitting in front of my laptop and then it hit me. I said to myself, "Jeremy, why don't you go fishing with your double handed spey rod?" I replied to myself, "Because I don't have a double handed spey rod and returned the one I was borrowing from Greg." So, I bit the bullet, called Mike and said, "Hey Mike, I wanna get a 12'6" double handed rod for spey casting. How about I come up to your shop, you set me up with something affordable and we shoot some video of me and you doing the 4 spey casts that you taught me on the single handed rod?" Mike replied, "Come on up." So, I met Mike at the Shawmut section of the Kennebec River, only a

mile or so up from his fly shop. Certainly, the shear size of the Kennebec River warrants the use of a spey rod. So, Mike and I picked a spot and started going through the 4 spey casts that I have been practicing (snake roll, double spey, circle spey/snap T and the single spey). Mike would take the rod, explain the dynamics of the cast and then do the cast. I would then take the rod and give it a shot. Mike would analyze my casts and give me pointers. This exercise was extremely helpful to me and answered allot of questions that were easier to understand while on the water with Mike. For me, certain casts and concepts came easier than others but towards the end I felt relatively comfortable casting the double handed rod and more importantly I felt that I understood each cast and its objective more clearly. Mike did not know this, or maybe he did, but the entire time we were practicing I had only one thing on my mind. Fish! Greg had told me there was a bunch of trout and salmon just up the road and I was chomping at the bit to take the new spey rod, or any rod for that matter, and try my luck at catching a few fish. So, I made some disastrous casts and some good ones during my time on the water with Mike. I think that I was able to do at least 1 semi-decent cast for each of the casts I had been practicing. Heck, even if they were not "good" from an execution standpoint, they were "good" from a conceptual standpoint. For me, I feel much more confident in my practicing if I believe that I have a firm understanding of exactly what it is I am trying to do. So, I certainly feel confident that my time fishing with the double handed spey rod will be spent effectively and efficiently and while practicing spey casts while fishing I will feel confident that I am at least on the right track. So, we went back to the shop and Mike spun some spey line on a spare reel that I had kicking around. I paid for the line and rod and I within no time at all I was spey casting to and catching all sorts of trout and salmon with my new spey rod. All of the tips in books, advice on forum posts, instructional DVD examples and Mike yelling at me (just kidding Mike) seemed to vanish. Many of the questions and over thinking disappeared. I stood on the Kennebec River spey casting to trout and Salmon with a Simple Fly pattern that Boz tied and watched as all sorts of trout and salmon swiped at the fly during the swing. An hour or so passed and I though to myself, "Wow, I have been spey casting this entire time. Some casts good, some bad. Some casts have a technical name like double this or snake that and others I think I created out of need." And, at that moment I realized that spey casting was infact invented to fulfill a need. It was invented by fly fishermen who wanted to catch fish in an area that presented some problems with steep banks, lots of water and no room for back casting. But, the bottom line is they wanted to catch fish. And, for me, much of the spey casting made sense when I could apply all of the things I learned through people, books, online and DVD's and implement them in a fly fishing environment. So, am I a great spey caster? No. Might I be someday? Who knows? Do I have allot to learn? Certainly. Will I use a double handed rod all the time? No. Will I use the double handed rod during times when it will provide me with an advantage and will help me to achieve my goal of catching fish? Absolutely. So, thank you Mike for taking the time to show me these 4 spey casts on the double handed rod. I would like to mention that if anyone out there watches this video that neither Mike nor I are claiming that this is the way to learn spey casting or that it is exactly correct. This is simply one friend helping another and the context of the casts is unique to my learning perspective. As with all things, everyone views and interprets things differently. The casts and interpretations in the video are simply my interpretations of the casts based on where we were standing and what I wanted to do. Maybe this video will help others, maybe not. But, just for the record, it is by no means meant to be a right vs. wrong type thing and is merely a reflection of Mike Holt helping me to apply 4 fundamental spey casts to my new double handed rod.

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