Aug 29thWhy Learn to Spey Cast?

Why learn to spey cast?  Good question.  If you clicked on this page you are obviously interested in steelhead fishing and know what spey casting is and either you are flirting with the idea… or you already took the icy cold plunge into the depths of spey.

We encourage people to learn to spey cast so that they can fish more effectively on foot without a guide and get some cleansing psychotherapy at the same time.  On our guided trips we often row anglers all over the river in boats or rafts and let them fish all the likely spots from up close with single hand rods.  For paying clients this works great!  For the other 90% of you that doesn’t help a bit.  So, to be effective from the shoreline you might consider spey casting.  In addition to some strategic advantages for wade fisherman it has some intrinsic value that is hard to describe.  This part is hard to explain in words and it is impossible to properly do it justice, but spey casting is one of the most relaxing, enjoyable, Zen like, yet exciting activities you can do.  Some anglers get into spey and simply can’t get enough.  After a few strokes with a spey rod they are hooked for life and their trout gear starts collecting dust.  Plus we all need to go through evolutions as anglers otherwise our skill and passion will plateau and eventually die.  If you love fly fishing there will come a time that you need to pick up a spey rod to keep your drive alive.  Maybe that time is now.  There are so many benefits that you can’t even put your finger on.  The amount of “game” that it will give your single handed casting is unreal.  You will learn to tee up roll casts with your one handed rod that you never would have even dreamt possible.  There are a few fundamentals that you learn with two-handed rods that you will carry over to your single handed approach.  You won’t even have to think about it, or even try.  You’ll just do them.  I once thought a 50′ roll cast with a one handed rod impossilbe.  Now, not that tough.  There is hardly a cast that you can’t make with a one handed rod and some honed spey technique.

Spey casting offers an enjoyable, efficient, and productive advantage to wade fisherman.  The nice thing is that other than a rod, reel, and line there isn’t much tackle that goes along with it.  The simplicity is a dream.  With single handed casting you are often taking your fly out of the tree behind you, there are strike indicators, a bunch of various tippets, beads, hooks, nymphs, glo bugs, plus you get to snag up on the bottom at no extra charge!  Sounds fun.

With a spey rod a 50-60′ cast is effortless and with little no no backcast you can stalk the shoreline without the frustration of snagging your backcast every few minutes.  You can use one size of tippet and a dozen flies is plenty to pack around for most rivers and seasons.  If you are toying with idea of getting started, try it on a guided trip sometime and see if you like it.  We sell lots of spey rods, reels, and lines in various configurations as well as some prebuilt packages.  Give our friendly staff a call at 509.933.2300 or an e-mail at info@redsflyshop.comand we will help make getting started in spey casting simple, easy, and affordable.  We promise that any call into our shop will be fun, enjoyable, and educational with no buying pressure – just quality advice.  We enjoy chatting with beginners and salty veterans alike so don’t hesitate.  If you are interested in assembling a custom spey package, contact our retail shop manager directly at roger@redsflyshop.comor try him at the fly shop!