[Andy T]

Finally broke down and bought a copy of "International Spey Casting" last week. Felt like a kid on Christmas Day during the drive home from the tackle shop as I just couldn't wait to watch the video. :chuckle:

I also have a copy of Derek Brown's Spey MasterClass which I bought a few years ago. Both of these masters show the Snake Roll in their program.

I noticed a small difference between the two Snake Rolls as executed by Simon Gawesworth and Derek Brown. In the instructions in the tapes Simon's Snake Roll traces a much bigger circle during the setup while Derek's traces a much smaller circle during the "flip".

It might have been the single malt when I was watching the tapes :hehe: but I've at least learned not to discount small detail in the pursue of the art of fly fishing.

So does any of you noticed that small difference? and what are your preferred method of "flipping the egg" during your Snake Roll? Big circle or small, quick flip?

Regards,
Andy

 

[beau purvis]

I watch the Simon snake and had trouble when I tried it as I saw it. Then I watched a guide ( not on tape, live) who learned it from Simon. When I saw him my first reaction was that his circle was much smaller. I tried that and it worked much better for me.

 

[silverdoc]

big circle/small circle

I tend to throw a big circle with DT lines, smaller with heads.
FWIW

 

[Rick J]

Not sure if you subscribe to Dana's news letter but he had a great article on the snake roll. The first set up loop sorta depends on the length of line and whether you are using sink tips. Longer line and sink tips require a bigger loop to get things going. The really critical point is the second loop - it should not be a big open loop but needs to be much flatter going back with a flip up right at the end in order to acheive a good high energy pointed D loop

 

[SpeyFitter]

Whether you use big loops or small loops, I think the trick with this cast is to make sure you, like you would with any sport, watch what you are hitting. When you are snake rolling watch when the anchor touches down and then hit it with your power stroke. This simple look right, or look left (on offhand casts) has made me much much more consistent with my casts.

 

[SpeyFitter]

Just something to try I guess...hope I can explain it well enough..

I was farting around while casting a while ago and I came up with what I could coin a Snake Roll variation. It started with me first fishing close water. I was Snap "c"ing without even doing the power stroke and just letting the anchor land and I'd make one big mend and I was immediately fishing close water with just the lift and snap of the Snap C, no powerstroke as I just mentioned.

And then I realized that when when the line crashes over top of my rod when I do the Snap C, that I had a D loop setting me up for a cast that was almost 180 degrees upstream, although I was left with the question in my mind "HOw do I hit this cast," so I started farting around even more. What ended up happening was the following.

I am a right handed (right hand being on top of the rod) caster.
River flowing from Right to left. I lift the rod up as if to do the Snap C, but instead of completing the C, I would semi circle the rod back to the firing position on the off hand shoulder (or left hand shoulder) kind of like a snake roll, but instead of doing all the rolling downstream of me, I am doing the middle part of the roll in front of me. What would happen is then the line would land in this incredibly wicked energetic D loop, and not only that, but somehow the motions of the rod put me into this high, and powerful off hand firing position which all I had to do was hit with the powerstroke and it sent anything sailing (including a sink tip and failry heavily weighted fly at the same time). The only issue with this cast, other then the fact you can change quite a wide degree of direction with it, is you almost wear the D loop sometimes as it lands just about right beside you automatically, but I didn't have problems bungling many casts at all really doing this, and I think the fact that the D loop more behind the rod, then beside it, gave the rod a lot of tension to pull on.
Hope my explanation at least gives some of you an idea...probably would be better shown in person. Anyone, if they recognize this cast, ever done this? Does it have a name maybe?

And when I do do the "regular" snake roll, I usually form a 9, which means a tighter loop although I have heard that some of the better casters who use this cast often do use a wider loop. All in all this is a wicked cast for many fishing situations and quite fun to do in that!

 

[Andy T]

The cast that you described sounded like an aerialized back-handed double-spey. I'm gonna give it a try next time I'm on the river and hopefully not whack myself with the loop. :eyecrazy:

This will be a good cast for dead-drifting close in. I imagine casting back upstream like this will probably give you a very long drift.

Do you have problem placing the anchor during this cast?

 

[SpeyFitter]

The anchor is pretty hard to miss in all honesty as it lands pretty much right beside you, but setting it isn't really the problem. The trick is to make sure you don't get to zealous with your setup for the D loop/anchor or you'll fire and the line will cross over itself and you'll have a tailing loop that collides with itself in mid air. Take the first part slow and easy like you would with either the Snap C, or the Snake roll and then finish with the quick pull back and voila, you have this wicked D loop to hammer.

 

[Dana]

confession time!

Used to HATE the snake--hate it-hate it- HATE IT!!! I would come forward to early, or too late, or make my loops too big or too small...really, I was a brutal snake roller. Then like Scott suggests I started watching my loops, and that was the answer. Once I was able to get the feel for the cast by using my eyes to judge my timing, I had it. It is still a cast I have to think a little about sometimes, and if I haven't snaked for a while I'll still keep an eye on my line, but I force myself to use it a lot now so I'm getting better.

I vary my loop sizes and shapes depending on the situation and how lazy or tired I am, but I've had my best results with the technique RickJ describes above.