[Dr. Swing]

So now that 04 is drawing to a close, I figured we could all take a moment to reflect on what the coolest, best, most useful, most helpful or single most fun thing learned this year in terms of speyfishing. It seems the sport itself progressed a lot, not only in equipment, but in the general understanding of the casts themselves. So I guess I am just curious as to what each of you think as the coolest thing you learned, discovered, tried or what ever. Keeping this one vague on purpose. Equipment, technique, I don't give a hoot, just wanna know!

For myself it was probably the discovery of how fun and useful the trout spey rods are when combined with the right lines. Though I have not pushed the envelope nearly as far as it would go, what fishing I did with the rods was eye opening. They did everything I could have asked and a lot I never expected in terms of their fishabilty, flies they would cast with the right lines, fun while playing fish and most of all, fun I had fishing them. There are a lot more situations I would want to be carrying a trout spey now, compared to a year ago and I am sure that more situations will present themselves the more I use the rods.

 

[Sauk River]

coolest thing learned in 04, re Spey Fishing

That there is never enough time to learn all one might want about Spey Fishing, But the Sandy River Spey Clave in the Spring is a GREAT place to start, and the Grand Ronde is a super place to put it into practice.

 

[DGC]

Juro's Lessons

The coolest thing I learned this year was learning how to speycast from Juro at the Catt Speyclave. Second was learning that the Spey rod I built cast as nice as I hoped it would. Third was meeting a bunch of the guys here at the Catt Spey Clave. They were all a great group.
Happy holidays to all.
Don

 

[Philster]

That I cast much better with a 15 foot rod and a longbelly, but I fish much better with a 13 foot rod and a shortbelly. 14 foot with a midbelly makes a happy middle ground.

 

[Flyguy9]

That Aaron's place is only an hour and a quarter from my place.

 

[MJC]

[QUOTE BY KUSH]Never say never, or there is only one way to do something, for as soon as you do someone will prove you wrong. [/QUOTE]

I didn't learn the above in 2004 but in regards to spey fishing/casting it is reinforced on my brain every single day.

 

[Philster]

Aaron's place is 12 minutes from mine... Caring for two kids though, you probably can get there easier and more often than me! :frown:

 

[Carl]

Two things (banner year!)

1. Bob Meiser's blanks and rod building are awesome, and available to meet specific needs that most mfrs haven't even tried to meet.

2. Skagit casting technique changed my approach to many situations.

Carl

 

[prairiespey]

that this board existed))))))))

Will

 

[t_richerzhagen]

Hooking

a Kamloops trout on one of Bob Meiser's 11' 7" for 5/6 and having it jump as high as your head in your float tube.

 

[voodoofly]

my favourite thing in 2004

a lesson from Andy Murray at the Mo' speyclave.

He reminded me to sloooooow down.

Gary

P.S. The next best thing was getting the 4" Bougle'

 

[Moose]

I'd say that the single biggest discovery I made is that there are so many different ways to succesfully and happily throw a spey line. From the Skagit technique to the Hogan style of modified underhand, the true Scandinavian underhand and traditional long belly with either a progressive or regressive rod (2 different strokes and feels). I'll be busy a long while trying to get really good at all of them because they are all enjoyable and have their place in effective two handed rod fishing.

 

[speyflyman]

2 things come to mind

For me, the most enlightening Spey experience was attending the Spey Clave at Henning Park on the MO this past spring. I actually saw what could be accomplished. Made me realize that I had many miles to go... Next good Spey experience was that I found a nice set up in our sub-division to Spey Cast practice on grass. I hit it very hard for several weeks and noticed a clear and definite improvement in my basic casting. Ho, I even began to think that I had become a pretty good Spey Caster and it would be just a short time until I had this whole enchilada wrapped up. Well, then I went up to the Muskegon River for a practice session and I found out that suddenly I lost all the tremendous skill level that I had attained. I still have not gotten all that skill back...know what I mean? Shame on me. I learn most lessons in life the hard way. Best, Stiver

 

[hot chrome]

2 things

1) I discovered that this board existed....
2) I subsequently discovered that 134 (and counting) of its visitors were willing to put their money where their mouth is and keep it going for year(s) to come!!

 

[Jamey McLeod]

To stop high and quick and let the cast open up instead of dumping 10ft in front of me. Sounds all good and peachy sitting here on the couch, but still dump it from time to time. Usually a improvised sorta single spey thing can save the drift.

 

[Salmon Chaser]

what i learned?

I learned the double spey and the snake roll. Irrelevent to spey,,, but totally relevant to me is that i learned that Atlantic Salmon on a perfect cast, at the right depth, and the right speed and swing will "tip their hat" by"showing signs" that they will take the fly!!! I have had it happen in the past where a certain cast will make a salmon behave differently. It happened three times this year and i landed all three salmon. ( A cast of three to four feet ahead and the sink rate and speed of swing were all about the same and the salmon responded by showing signs that they were ready to take long before the fly was near them!!!!) Anyone else see this phenomenon? I was able to hook these salmon like a trout as it was all within sight. The salmon seemed to get excited and "wiggle" as the fly was closing on them. Very cool!!!!!!
As far as "spey",,, The snake roll was it for me,, but the salmons behavior was the kicker in '04.
Salmon Chaser
><)))*>

 

[Grampa Spey]

The Smaller Spey rods can often do the job easier and maybe better.

"For myself it was probably the discovery of how fun and useful the trout spey rods are when combined with the right lines. Though I have not pushed the envelope nearly as far as it would go, what fishing I did with the rods was eye opening. They did everything I could have asked and a lot I never expected in terms of their fishabilty, flies they would cast with the right lines, fun while playing fish and most of all, fun I had fishing them."

I had a similiar awakening with my new Sage 6126. While it is not just a trout rod, it has opened many new doors and made my fishing with a two handed rod even more enjoyable.

My Sage 6126 was bought for Shad fishing and to use during our low flow months for most rivers in N California and SW Oregon for trout, half pounders and summer run steelhead.

It worked great for shad re ease of casting even with a tip compensator and sinking tip. My older MS 7/8 with tips became my first choice. Later I found out with high winds up stream or into my face my old WC 678 with the upgrade with the compensator attached to the upgrade and then a type 8 Rio sinking tip worked great.

With the shorter rod I was able to cast in areas of Putah Creek with brush around me and over me where I couldn't cast any distance with my 7136 or one of Meise's switch rods. I was able to cast streamers 40 to 50' out into parts of Putah creek where good size trout never saw a fly. So instead of indicator fishing with a size 22 fly, I had many good days using a size 4 streamer to catch some nice trout.

Also, I found that I was catching fish that I would have missed with my Grand Spey where I was more intent on seeing how far I could cast.

My MS 7/8 with tips and my 678 WC with tips and a few Rio 15' steelhead leaders with some furled leaders enabled me to have the right line and terminal gear for most fishing conditions. Now I just carry the tips and tip compensator that came with my M/S with tips.

This past October, I went up the Chetco with my wife to get out of the fog at Brookings. It is a place where I have fished before. The water was gin clear, and if you waded out even a couple of steps, you spooked the fish.

There was a downstream wind, and to catch the native trout or steelhead (12 to 16"), I had to cast at least 40 to 50' with a parachute cast with a size 12 dry Caddis fly with a 15' rio steelhead leader and a small tippet weight. I would catch one and would have to move about 50' away because the fish were spooked in the first part. I used my M/S 7/8 with the floating tip for this delicate type of casting.

Towards the end of the day, a couple of spin fishers who were fishing downstream came up and said that Native Cuts were coming to the surface about 65' out and were very spooky. They were frustrated and left.

I went to the spot, and the wind had shifted to up stream and was picking up speed. My casts with the MS were ending 30 to 50 feet upstream when I tried to loft a fly where the cuts were feeding.

So I went to my WC with just a leader attached to the end of the upgrade. That scared the fish. So I attached the floating tip from the MS 7/8, the 15' leader to that and about 3' of low weight tippet. I moved a little down stream from my target area. My first cast had two cuts jumping at the fly and one won. In the next 40 minutes, I caught and released 12 more great, beautiful and wild cuts.

A big spey rod wouldn't have worked and I could never have cast out the distances needed with a one handed rod. The Sage 6126 with me changing lines and tips worked great. I had fun bringing in the fish, and I did it quickly and all when released quickly went back to where they had come from.

This trout/shad/summer steelhead 6126 is the best investment I have ever made. Besides the above, it is an incredible rod with an indicator and sinking fly.

 

[Hammer]

much!

was learned indeed,but i guess the ultimate realization to me is= i cross all boundaries on my home water,having been every kind of angler over the years i've wore many hats,yet still i see no `we',`they',us,them that some seek to `create',,only recreational anglers from all walks of life,i can,do talk to all who approache me bankside,many i've found to suddenly open up and be a wealth of info about my waters,worth more to me than anything considered of value by most,my biggest goal remains as it was nearly ten years back;the Rogue Watershed,so much has transpired in just a few years here,many think that `it's all good',but,i know;each stream is nursery water,every septic,well,water table,hatchery management,water flows,,mmm,,,,,,,,,,,welll,,,,,enough talk lads!,i've work to do!,,MERRY CHRISTMAS :chuckle: