After trout fishing for the last two years, I finally decided I needed to give Spey casting for steelhead a shot and learn some new skills.
Fly fishing for Steelhead was always the goal when I started fly fishing two years ago but I was intimated by two handed casting.
I had this idea in my head that if I couldn’t shoot a 100+ foot cast I’d look like a fool. Turns out, you don’t need a long cast to catch fish. If you can learn how to properly mend your line and control your swing, you can catch fish with a short cast. The fish just have to be there.
Be there in fishable summer run numbers around me they are not. Gone are the good old days on my local fisheries I read about in books from Enos Bradner, Bob Arnold, and Steve Raymond.
This led me to head South East a bit to Oregon for a weekend trip. I took a quick 1.5 hour casting lesson from Dave over at EWA and off I went.
I somehow ended up landing 3/4 and had a few other little plucks here and there.
Bad photos and sorry for the grip and grin glory shots but I was excited I was lucky enough to come into contact with a steelhead on the swing let alone land 3 on my first weekend trip. Granted, I drove 4 hours to probably the best summer run river around.
Last one was a real bruiser buck definitely in the teens weight wise. First two on a scandi and last on a skagit.
Lots of work to do to dial in my casts but to any other beginners out there if you’re intimated by the casting, don’t be. It’s really not that difficult and pretty easy to get a fishable cast out there.
A short scandi line and off shoulder double speys and reverse snap t’s are my favorite casts. Not digging the skagit heads yet. All of my casts still suck but what a pleasure it is when it all clicks together and you send a rocket out there and the running line comes tight and clicks the reel a bit.
Fly fishing for Steelhead was always the goal when I started fly fishing two years ago but I was intimated by two handed casting.
I had this idea in my head that if I couldn’t shoot a 100+ foot cast I’d look like a fool. Turns out, you don’t need a long cast to catch fish. If you can learn how to properly mend your line and control your swing, you can catch fish with a short cast. The fish just have to be there.
Be there in fishable summer run numbers around me they are not. Gone are the good old days on my local fisheries I read about in books from Enos Bradner, Bob Arnold, and Steve Raymond.
This led me to head South East a bit to Oregon for a weekend trip. I took a quick 1.5 hour casting lesson from Dave over at EWA and off I went.
I somehow ended up landing 3/4 and had a few other little plucks here and there.
Bad photos and sorry for the grip and grin glory shots but I was excited I was lucky enough to come into contact with a steelhead on the swing let alone land 3 on my first weekend trip. Granted, I drove 4 hours to probably the best summer run river around.
Last one was a real bruiser buck definitely in the teens weight wise. First two on a scandi and last on a skagit.
Lots of work to do to dial in my casts but to any other beginners out there if you’re intimated by the casting, don’t be. It’s really not that difficult and pretty easy to get a fishable cast out there.
A short scandi line and off shoulder double speys and reverse snap t’s are my favorite casts. Not digging the skagit heads yet. All of my casts still suck but what a pleasure it is when it all clicks together and you send a rocket out there and the running line comes tight and clicks the reel a bit.
Last edited:
