Fly Fishing - Most Practical Spey Casts To Learn And Get Good At?

Shaq

Hey guys, what a great idea for an addition to the F&F community. I will use this thread as my own personal rambling spot and we can learn together.

When I first learned to fish with a spey rod, I wanted to learn all the casts, I wanted to tie all the flies and I wanted to fish all the rivers. As you can imagine, the first year was a disaster. I will try and walk you through my learning curve and hopefully I can help somebody else.

Right off the bat, I found I had 1 major thing working against me: I knew how to catch steelhead with a single hander which totally led to 3 major flaws in the beginning.

#1 I had the wrong rod
#2 I had the wrong line
#3 I had the wrong spots on the river.

#1 Wrong rod: When I started thinking I NEEDED a spey rod, I thought to myself, I want a spey for steelhead, I use a 7weight for steelhead, I would like a seven weight for a spey...Sounded logical to me, probably sound it to you too. Here are the things I screwed up on. With the thought processes I was going through, I was thinking pure enjoyment of hooking steelhead on 7weights. I didn't take into consideration the enjoyment that I would have just fishing, how I would be fishing, and what conditions I would be fishing. I bought the lightest 13 foot 7wt I could find and started to learn to cast. It was wippy and I learned from a video. Then I hit the river, put a sink tip on and the entire rod folded right in the middle. I didn't consider that fall and winter flows in the rivers I fish were heavy and I would need to cast sinking tips to effectively swing flies for steelhead. So I overlined and overpowered the rod and picked up some bad habits. Plus, about 4 months into it the rod imploded while I was thigh deep in a winter flow, throwing a rabbit strip streamer and a 200 grain tip. My 3 piece rod turned into a 5 piece, mid powerstroke.
So, think about this when buying a spey...Where am I fishing? Am I fishing small rivers for small fish? Big river for big fish? Beach? How many spey rods will I be able to afford if I really like it?

Side point: Spey rods, because of the extra length, bend forever. I have had smallmouth bass put major bends into my 9 weight while practicing. Spey rods are designed to cast grain weights and the weight numbers on them should just be used as a guideline. That's why some spey lines are rated for 7,8,9 rods, it's just what they can handle...more on that later. So while smaller weights are more fun, you have to get the fly to the fish.

What am I going to be casting. I have two rods now. One is a 13 foot 7 and the other is a 14 foot 9. I use the 7 for low flows, and dry lines (No or small sink tips) and smaller flies. I use the 9 wt for higher water and sink tip work with bigger flies.

same river, 2 situations.
Salmon River NY, flow 335cfs. Fall, 13 foot 7 weight with a 3 inch per second 7 foot leader, marabou fly plastic tube...2 steelhead on the swing, 2 backing sightings...rod worked because the fly was 2 foot from the surface max and the 13 foot light rod could pull the small tip out of the water...
Same river 2000cfs 14 foot 9 weight, using a 10 foot section of T-14, 10 inch/sec sink rate tip with mlarge rabbit streamer, 1 steelhead, backing sighting. the longer heavier rod helped pull the tip out of the water so I could perform the casts. This would have been impossible with the 7wt as the fly was 6-8 feet under water.

#2 Wrong line: I went with a shops recomendation for the line even though I didn't buy the rod there. I had a 7weight, I bought a 7weight spey line. I didn''t consider that I would be adding grain weights to the line for fishing. So my rod was designed to cast 200-300 grains in a line. well, I had a 250 grain weight line but kept adding 200-400 grains in a tip. So, I was casting 400-600 grains with the 7weight...result: Broken spey rod. then I bought the big rod and a new 7. Now, when I knew I was going to add heavy tips, I had the tool to get the fly to the fish. And that is all a spey is really, a tool to get the fly to the fish. So when researching a rod, ask the questions from #1 again...what am I going to be doing and how will this rod/line set-up help me to get that done. Now for the beaches, speys can cast overhead and shooting line systems and you should take into consideration the grain weights of those as well.

#3 Wrong spots: I would say to myself, I will use the spey for acouple hours, but by noon, I'd be picking the seams with my trusty single hander. Here is the rub. I knew where the fish were from experience, and I stood with my double hander in the same spots, put some line aout and missed the fish entirely. Spey rods are designed for covering vast amounts of water compared to single handers with relative ease, It's just that there is usually 50 feet minimum from you to the fly. So if you are trying to catch a fish, you need to stand 50 feet from where you were. The easest way to do that is to stand at the top of a run, not right at the head but up in the next riffle maybe, so that your first swings come right into the head of the pool. Then cast 2x and take a step downstream...cast 2x and step covering all the water until your fly is through the tail of the pool and done. This way you have shown your fly to the most fish and maybe...you have shown it to the fish that will take. This is the classic steelhead swing and what I have found to be most effective for me. The days of walking up to what I know is the best part of the seem and picking it apart with a nymph or egg are for the most part over when I use my spey. Also, when fishing with a single hander, I used to enjoy fishing pockets and long pools were tough. A spey rod makes it easier to cover water in a pool and pockets are the weak link except with an indicator Spey rods are also effective nymphing tools with the ability to cast an indicator rig far with no back-cast and mend 13-15 feet of line at a time.

Hopefully I have given you guys interested in spey something to think about and as I know more, You will also.

Shaq

flyaddict · Newbie Joined: Oct 13, 2006 Posts: 10

That is very informative in my quest to find a spey. One question. Do you tape your farrels? I have heared of guys doing this because of the twisting motions they go through.

mike holt · Newbie Joined: Jun 26, 2003 Posts: 17

Shaq,
I wish I had read your post about 4 years ago Laughing

it sure would have saved me some learning curve. I've settled out with much the same gear as you have.

I have a 12 1/2', 7-weight and a 14', 9-weight for my go to Spey Rods. Love to cast and fish both of them but asking a 7-weight to handle T-14 tips is just asking to much.

I end up using the lighter rod for Browns and Landlocked Salmon and my heavier rod for Stripers in the lower sections of the river where I have to deal with normal flows and tide action combined. If I want to get down in that flow I've got to use T-14 tips and the 7-weight just won't do it and really shouldn't be asked too - but it took me awhile to learn that. Wink

I gues that just shows that Spey on not they are still 7-weights.

What are you using for a line on your 14', 9-weight rod before adding the tips?

Shaq · Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 7:27 pm Post subject:

Taping ferruls? Much too much work for my liking. booo!!!

when looking for a spey, look for one that has unfinished ferrel male ends. the ones that have lacqur on them will twist badly and need taping (I know a guy who sands them down and roughs them up). My 2 speys have unfinished ferruls and will, every once in a while drift to the right or left but not too bad.

LInes, I am still in the process of looking for the perfect tip line. I have gone to the Airflo Delta spey which is ok. but any line right off the shelf has a front taper. to really throw tips, the first 20 feet should be cut off, a loop formed and then the tip can be looped from there. but it takes a bit of doing to cut a $65 line out of the box no? If you throw T-14 off the delta, the front taper will drop mid-cast however once the tip gets beyond, the line will be ripped forward as the tip runs out the length of the cast. Not pretty but effective.

I agree with the other points as well MIke. OPtimum would be uisinmg the 7 weight for our spring SHad run but the tips required on the hudson require that I use the 14 footer just to get the fly to the fish. I am going to rambl;e about lines next...

SS-280 · Newbie Joined: Nov 09, 2006 Posts: 24 Location: New Jersey