forward cast on spey rod

Irishrover
Irishrover
I have been working on spey rod casting for a while now. It's fun and I enjoy finding new ways to fish. However I just can't seem to get that forward cast down right. I've watched a Simon Gawesworth spey casting video over and over and have even taken it to the river on a portable dvd player. It helps some and he sure makes it look easy. I can get the fly out there but it doesn't look all that great. I'm usuing the Rio Windcutter fly line, the one that states it the easy one for beginers! Any tips would be appreciated;) I know the easy thing would be to go take a lesson but I'm a wee bit stubborn and I want to see if I can get it done without lessons.:rolleyes:
 
R
redhawk50
I personally can't help you, but like you the whole spey fishing thing intrigues me. I have no yet committed to buying and trying yet. NW Spey Days is coming up in March and I am hoping to blast up to that to see what it is all about. If you can hold off till then from the information it seems like you could get a lot of help for pretty much nothing and possibly even catch some fish.
 
A
ArcticAmoeba
How long is your stick, and are you doing the super traditional sweep, or side "swing" before you let loose?

Most likely, if you can cast a single hander, without much headache, you are just not utilizing the full casting potential of the Spey flinger. Don't try to mimic the video persay, just adapt the cast to work for you, in the waters you fish. I found that traditional Spey casts are suited to places where there is plenty of open space surrounding you. I can however, super shoot cast, small flies with a one hander quite easily, but I too have no real, legitimate skill when it comes to two handed casts, in the traditional method. As long as your final presentation is suitable, who cares how it gets out there. Purists will say one thing, but I say another! I also slam fish on very poorly presented Spey casts(fly presents, and sits properly, but the cast looks pretty haggared) for Bull/Brown trout in Montana, but then again, those fish have never seen artificial presentations, so they don't know any better! Good luck with your two handed adventures.

Look into Edward Ward, I have had many oppotunities to fish with him. Although we clean house with bait on the Oly Penn. he will still get into fish with fur, when it is a bait type of day. I don't know if you are familiar with some of the newer methods like "Skagit" casts, and another I forget, but named after an Eastern Russian region..Anyhoo, the more common skagit cast is very interesting, and makes for some very productive presentations, that fish can't not hook themselves when they strike. The only thing I can say about Ed, is that he is a total condition fisherman. When it isn't on fire for bugs he still produces, but he's still a bit off, when an old friend, Angie and I are slowly picking off singles with bait, or terminal. Great theories, and an overly publicizied persona, but still anyone interested in Spey flyin can pickup some good information. And he ties the craziest big bugs you have ever seen. Won't even go ino those big nasties, and where he uses them, but it is very interesting how he fishes none the less. He will never know the true potential of his creations, because he ties them for specific drifts on a specific River. Again, good luck, and don't be fooled that there is only one way to swing your bugs...
 
C
Catch 22
I can probably get you going in the right direction. I'm no expert. But I'm sure I can help you get a running start. I actually got some hands on from Simon in person last year to help me with choosing a skagit line for my spey. He ended up being really cool and helped me work on my snap-t cast. It's amazing how someone can pick out a small flaw and make you 100% better. You couldn't find a video from a better instructor.

A windcutter isn't really the easiest line to cast. For rivers like the Sandy and Clack, we seem to use heavy tips and bigger bugs. So I use a Skagit.

The best thing to do would be to meet up somewhere where we could work on your cast and you could try my rig and see what you think.

I'll PM you my #.

Also, you don't need a lot of room to cast a spey. I cast them under canopies of trees etc. People always say that. Once you have the concept down, you can modify your casts to lots of surroundings.
 
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Irishrover
Irishrover
Redhawk, the spey days soulds like a good idea. They have something similar to that at Oxbow Park. Think I'll hold off and go local. It's in May and looks like fun.

AA, I'm not even close to being a purists I'm just looking for a little more distance. I do allright with a regular fly rod. But this spey thing has become one of those things where I'm going to master it come hell or high water. I'll check out Edward Ward (thanks for the tip). I have a good video that has the Skagit cast and other style. I'm just going to concentrate on a couple of cast and get them down first. My goal is to get the fly out and over to this paticular boulder down at Dodge Park. I just know there is a fish waiting there. I just need to build the distance to get to it. In the attached picture if you look down stream you can see that rock and a few others where a shaddow point to it. It's closer to far bank and I'm going to get there!

As for tying big bugs I'm in on that. There is not much about fishing I don't enjoy and tying is an other enjoyable aspect of the sport.

Thank you all for the imput.:)

C-22 I'll be calling thanks.
 
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Irishrover
Irishrover
AA, I checked out Edward Ward. I ran his name and was checking a few things out and just happened to notice he is on the spey fishing video with Simon Gawesworth that I have been watching over and over. Think Ill get some coffee sit down and watch him, then head for Dodge Park. Might even get that bug out to that bolder. Thanks for the information on him. Oh ya almost forgot the rod I have is a 13.5' St Croix still working on the traditional stuff (Spey cast that is not single malt);)
 
Irishrover
Irishrover
Got it down

Got it down

When to Barton park and met Catch-22 and he got my forward cast working. He also helped me with a few other spey related fishing ideas. Wow old dogs can learn new tricks. He was a wealth of information about fishing and patient to boot. Glad he is here so we can pick his brain. Thanks Jason
 
GraphiteZen
GraphiteZen
Nice job guys! :clap::clap:
 
C
Catch 22
I'm glad I could be of some help. Sometimes it's nice to be able to try some different lines/rods. It was nice meeting you and you'll have to let me know next time you go out. Have fun out there.

Jason
 
Irishrover
Irishrover
I went down to the Northwest Fly Shop and picked up my new Skagit shooting head and running line. Skipped going home and went straight to the Sandy River for a test drive. That stuff is great. Thanks for the advise C-22. It sure loads the rod nice and is a ton of fun to cast!
 
A
ArcticAmoeba
Well set-up Skag gear is pretty fun to cast. I find it loads up an old St. Croix I have pretty well too. And it's drift characteristics are superb too don't you think?
 
Irishrover
Irishrover
It's a blast to cast. When I get off this computer in about five minuts I'm headed down to Dodge Park to practice some more. I'm glad Jason turned me on to this stuff. It's so darn big even I can see it on the water and yes it does drift nice. I'm going to work on anchor placement today. I want to be more consistant with where I place it. I bought that wind cutter line, that is about 54' long, about ten years ago. I needed to catch up with the times.
 
C
Catch 22
Hope you had fun today. You sounded pretty jazzed when you called.
You're life has been forever changed. There's no going back now. (insert hint of evil here)! LOL

Give me a call whenever you want to hit the river.

PS now you just have to learn to text message and you will be completely modernized. :yay:

Jason
 

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