Spey Tips that Actually Helped

[JayB]

Any tips that actually helped your casting? My casting is still very much a work in progress, but I think the one tip that's helped me more than any other was Travis Johnson's suggestion (in the vid below) to keep your thumbs on both hands in line with the reel. I'm not sure why, but I this made it much easier for me to generate force by pulling with the lower hand than pushing with the upper hand, which is something that I'd been struggling with since I started. Anyone else have a tip that made a big difference for them?

 

[Merle]

"The rod always RISES into the firing position." - Derek Browne in his Spey Masterclass video.

His video is all old school traditional speycasting methods, but I have found remembering that one thing has helped me when I'm having a bad casting session on the river, regardless of the style I'm using at the moment.

-andy

 

[DoesItFloat]

"Aim higher and stop quicker." - Meiz's response to my frustration with my Highlander CX after I'd been fishing a Highlander S for a few years.

Turns out, he was right. Who knew?!

 

[_WW_]

Slow down.
It's a two handed rod.
Aim for the top of the trees.

 

[JayB]

When you say aim for the top of the trees - what does that mean in terms of what you're doing with your hands, etc?

 

[Rob Allen]

For casting.. slow down and use less power... I literally try to make my casts with as little force as possible. I try to cast as lazily as I can.

 

[Merle]

For casting.. slow down and use less power... I literally try to make my casts with as little force as possible. I try to cast as lazily as I can.

This for sure. Because when thing start to go south, and the caster gets frustrated, the first instinct is to start hitting it faster and harder, which only makes things worse. Sometimes it’s good to just stop for 5 minutes and calm down, then try again, in slow motion.

Come to think of it, the same could also be said for SH casting when trying to get a really long cast. Punching it hard with an audible grunt can often collapse the rod tip and throw a tailing loop.

At least that’s been my experience!

Andy

 

[PhilR]

When you say aim for the top of the trees - what does that mean in terms of what you're doing with your hands, etc?

Think like you’re flicking mud off the end of your rod and trying to get it in the trees. You start slow and stop hard. And you stop high, so the mud goes towards the top of the trees.

 

[SculpinSwinger]

Always watch your anchor.

 

[bennysbuddy]

This for sure. Because when thing start to go south, and the caster gets frustrated, the first instinct is to start hitting it faster and harder, which only makes things worse. Sometimes it’s good to just stop for 5 minutes and calm down, then try again, in slow motion.

Come to think of it, the same could also be said for SH casting when trying to get a really long cast. Punching it hard with an audible grunt can often collapse the rod tip and throw a tailing loop.

At least that’s been my experience!

Andy

a perry poke is a way to salvage a bad cast & still look like you know what your doing

 

[Russell]

15’ T14

 

[PhilR]

15’ T14

Yep. 12 ft of t11 can disguise a lot of sins

One other thing, the fish aren’t always out in the middle of the river. Short casts covering the slower bank water catch fish too.

 

[Bob Rankin]

I purchased a video by John and Amy Hazel a long ass time ago (introduction to spey casting).

I watched it hundreds of times! Then pretty much taught myself to spey cast. I also had a couple casting lessons with John Farrar back in the day.

Now I just pick up things here and there. YouTube has also been great. I’ve found that if my casting turns to ass, I’m usually fishing out past my comfort zone, it’s best for me to shorten up my cast so that when it’s touches down Its fishing instantly, or close to it

 

[honer]

Less is more! Keep your hands in front of you in the box for short head casting. For tighter loops remember "high rod stop, more underhand power."

 

[_WW_]

When you say aim for the top of the trees - what does that mean in terms of what you're doing with your hands, etc?

This is just a simple carryover from single hand casting. Height = distance was drilled into me to keep me from staring at the spot on the water I was casting at. If you stare at the water you will throw your tip at the water and never hit that spot. Identify the spot you want to hit, then lift your eyes straight up to a target in the trees on the other side. On the Skagit, the best aim is at the top of the trees on the other side. Keep in mind this is in the context of the large bars guys like to fish from. Smaller streams and trying to get under branches will take some creativity.

What are my hands doing? Top hand guides and bottom hand provides power. I'm a lefty on the bottom and righty on top. When I pull the bottom hand it is usually coming towards the right breast/armpit area - but it kind of depends on how much clothing I'm wearing.

What usually causes my casting to slip is over powering. Thankfully after a long hiatus from spey casting, @kerrys managed to spot this years ago and point it out to me. Of course, as soon as it was mentioned, it was obvious and brought back some of the things I'd learned over the years. One of which is to try and find the bare minimum of force required to cast the amount of line I was working with. A great exercise to keep you from "He-maning" your casts.

 

[O' Clarkii Lewisi]

The initial lift dictates how the rest of the cast will go.

 

[Dogsnfish]

-Get a lesson
-Keep your hands out in front of you
-Lift to target on the single
-Point to target on the initial forward motion with a snake
-Always keep tension on the line
-Start with short-belly lines (45 to 55') to get your technique down. Starting with scandi's can lead to bad habits.

Those are some things I was told for summer runs on the Clearwater, Snake, and Ronde. Not sure if this applies to skagit setups as I have never cast one.

 

[JayB]

This is just a simple carryover from single hand casting. Height = distance was drilled into me to keep me from staring at the spot on the water I was casting at. If you stare at the water you will throw your tip at the water and never hit that spot. Identify the spot you want to hit, then lift your eyes straight up to a target in the trees on the other side. On the Skagit, the best aim is at the top of the trees on the other side. Keep in mind this is in the context of the large bars guys like to fish from. Smaller streams and trying to get under branches will take some creativity.

What are my hands doing? Top hand guides and bottom hand provides power. I'm a lefty on the bottom and righty on top. When I pull the bottom hand it is usually coming towards the right breast/armpit area - but it kind of depends on how much clothing I'm wearing.

What usually causes my casting to slip is over powering. Thankfully after a long hiatus from spey casting, @kerrys managed to spot this years ago and point it out to me. Of course, as soon as it was mentioned, it was obvious and brought back some of the things I'd learned over the years. One of which is to try and find the bare minimum of force required to cast the amount of line I was working with. A great exercise to keep you from "He-maning" your casts.

Thanks for the extra explanation. Makes sense. Trying to use the minimum force necessary for a given cast also sounds like a great exercise.

 

[Long_Rod_Silvers]

Less casting related and more fishing related:

Don't mend just because. Mend with a purpose.

Use your rod tip to control the speed of the swing.

Don't always just cast down and across (quartered downstream). It's a good general rule, but some spots require thinking outside of the box to get the fly down to depth and to get a good swing. I remember watching a video (might have been Scott Howell) and saw the guy casting up stream and watched how he was using the slack line from casting up stream (along with some down stream mends) to get his fly down to depth at the start of his swing thru a narrow slot. Light bulb moment.

 

[Maltmstr]

Common knowledge in single hand casting is that the back cast is just as important as the forward cast, this is where you get your rod to load and hence the power. If you cast more double hand than single hand, this can be easy to forget.
When forming the D loop, make sure you have some power in the proverbial 'back cast', i.e., your rod is fully loaded on the D loop. This was pointed out to me by an excellent spey fisherman, and really helped me with distance and turn over. When forming the D loop, a slight 'flick' opposite of the target, if space allows, drives this home.