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After spending much of the fall either fishing with or observing a number of accomplished spey casters, I can’t help but reflect on how many widely varying casting styles can produce similar results. Nobuo Nodera keeps his bottom hand almost stationary and does virtually everything with his top hand, and even incorporates an inward twist of the wrist at the end of his upper arm extension. He tells me that this method is effortless, and it makes very easy work of very long lines. Tyler Kushnir combines top and bottom hand in his casts, with an emphasis on the top hand that produces tremendous snake rolls and downright scary reverse snakes. Steve Choate’s style is similar to Tyler’s, but with a more explosive extension of the upper arm; his spiral single is a study in fluidity and grace. These days I use the underhand cast with long lines, and I am really surprised by the ease and economy of motion the underhand brings to extended belly lines (and originally I wasn’t sure that this method would work with such lines). All of these methods produce very long casts, and my observations have reinforced for me once again the basics of fly casting: the deceptively simple process of loading and unloading (or bending and unbending) a rod, the subtleties of timing and acceleration.
Many roads lead to the same destination.
Many roads lead to the same destination.