Here's a pic of me being instructed at a Spey fishing clinic on the Sacramento. This was in the fall of 2020
Its really popular up here in BC on the big rivers. I've never tried it but I have buddies that fish it.
Cheers:
todd
Seawolf,
Don't know where you live, BUTT...
There is an annual Spey Casting 3-day clinic in Golden Gate Park, on the west end of San Francisco.
Check it out:
https://www.ggacc.org/spey-o-rama
I attend this function in 2012 with my sons and a couple of fishing buddies, man it make for a great day.
What got my attention was many of the Spey Flycasters were casting EASILY to 150 feet. WOW!!! Try THAT with a single-hand fly rod!!!! :o
Check out these Spey Casting Distance Records:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spey_casting#:~:text=World%20records,-Learn%20more&text=The%20world's%20longest%2015%20ft,cast%2C%20at%20the%20same%20event.
215 feet to 252 feet LONG CASTS!!! Try throwing a fly line loop that far - Seriously that is impressive.
Wayne
Yeah, looks like something really hard to master, but well worth it. Must be the best way to fly-fish for Salmon and Steelhead on big ol' rivers.
Quote from: Gfish on May 23, 2023, 04:01:08 PMYeah, looks like something really hard to master, but well worth it. Must be the best way to fly-fish for Salmon and Steelhead on big ol' rivers.
I wouldn't say best, but sometimes more effective. It really is a specialized tool, and for some folk a quasi-religious experience :) Nowadays, some river lodge locations pretty much mandate spey outfits.
Some other benefits: a long cast without much clearance on the backcast, which is always nice for fishing in rivers and streams. Plus more height to muck with the mends on moving water.
I never could get myself too enthused about any of the two-hand casting styles. You can't make that accurate pin-point cast, can't effectively cast from a boat, and the fun really stops for me once you hook something. Just trading off too much of things that I like about fly fishing to be able to do what is more or less a long distance roll cast. One caveat is that shorter two-hand overheaders can be a workaround for folks with shoulder or elbow issues. They really take a load off.
I have only three or four two handers at this point (all over-headers- I'm a salty fisher), and all mostly just collect dust. Maybe if I spent more time on wide rivers chasing salmon and steelhead, but it would be grudgingly. They ain't gonna make me a convert :)
-J
I steelhead fish on the Trinity once in a while. My wife and I are going to drive the Alaska highway in the next couple of years. I want to cover a lot of different options as far as fishing. Spey fishing is slower, you don't cover as much water, but hooking up on one of those long rods would be fun.