[fredtrout]

I´m getting an itch to get a Grand Spey full floater to go with my B&W 15´9/10. At the beat I´m fishing in Norway this summer, there are a few wide pools which would be perfect for some serious distance casting. Just have a few questions, since this line in many ways is a bit intimidating....

As I understand it, to fully make use of the long head, I should go with a 8/9 Grand Spey for my 15´9/10? I´m comfortably casting the 10-12 WC with that rod. I feel that the weight of the 9/10 Grand Spey is way too much (close to 80 grams compared to the WC´s 48 grams). I read a test of it in Trout & Salmon where they tried to cast a 10/11 Grand Spey with 10/11 rods, which none of the testers managed...

What is the required technique to cast this line? Is it a must to shift your body weight during the cast a la classic long line casting or is it possible to stay with a more updated way of casting where you mostly use your arms and using the lower hand as much as the top hand?

You expert casters, do you manage to shoot the entire running line? For truly mega distances, isn´t it a good idea to splice some additional length of running line to it (since the 8/9 is *only* 36 meters)?

Does it cast tight loops or does it produce mainly wide open loops?

Does fishing with it require lots and lots of room to form the loop?

Is it possible at all to cast it with the full head outside the rod? If not, how much of the rear taper should you keep inside the top ring?

Does it also cast well at mid distances, say 50-80 feet?

Any other quirks and features?

I know this line has been discussed extensively before but I wasn´t interested in it until recently...

 

[t_richerzhagen]

Search the Board

and you will get a lot of information rather easily. You might also, PM Fllytyer as he uses grandspey lines a lot.

 

[flytyer]

Fredtrout,

The GrandSpey is my "to go" line for nearly all of my fishing with a 2-hander because it has such dynamic turnover characteristics either as a floater of an interchangeable sink tip line.

I use my 8/9 GrandSpey on a 1510-3 T&T because the 9/10 GrandSpey felt very heavy on it and the rod felt overloaded with the 9/10. The 8/9 GrandSpey is a wonderful line on my 1510-3 T&T and it should work equally well on your 15' 9/10 B&W. As you already mentioned, the GrandSpey weighs a lot; but if you drop the line size, it doesn't feel heavy at all.

It cast either open or tight loops depending on whether you want tight or more open loops, just like any other line. The loop openess depends on your technique.

I don't shift my body around. I stand up straight and use a very powerful application of power with both bottom and top hands simitaneously. This allows you to put a lot of power into a cast without the need to go through body contortions. It does take more energy being put into a cast to move the line to from a D Loop than shorter lines; but once the D Loop is properly formed (I use both top and bottom hands to form my D Loop too), you simply power out the forward spey. Naturally, you apply more power the longer the amount of line you are casting.

Never put the belly and back taper out the tip with the GrandSpey or you will not be able to get enough energy imparted to the belly of the line and the cast will collapse only 20-30 feet from the rod tip. The best way to cast the GrandSpey for distance I have found is to have the color change in your fingers or even a little below your fingers. In other words, you need to have all of the back taper and a little of the belly in the rod for the energy transmission to the belly occur. Once you get used to casting with the color change in your hands, the GrandSpey will astound you with its ability to cast distance.

I cast and fish all of my GrandSpeys (I own all 4 of them; but don't use the 10/11 anymore because I've not found a rod that it doesn't feel heavy on. I think the ideal rod for the 10/11 GrandSpey would be an 11/12 moderately stiff to stiff, fast recovering, powerful rod of 16'-18', and I'm unaware of one currently on the market.) from 50' (this includes leader) to well over 100'. The line performs well throughout that whole range of distances.

You can cast the whole running line section of the line out the rod. However, remember that having the whole 130' of line plus another 15'-18' of leader equals a cast of 145'-148'. That is a long way out in the river and it becomes increasingly difficult to control your cast as you go beyond 115'. Although it is possible to cast the GrandSpey and have all of its running line out the rod, why bother since it is nearly impossible to control a cast of over 145'?

You need a little more room for the D Loop formation with the extended belly lines like the GrandSpey and XLT; however, keep in mind that only about 1/2 of the line out the rod (around 40' if you are casting with the color change in your fingers as you should) so you really don't need that much room behind you to cast it.

Don't forget to aim your cast high when casting over 75' or 80' in order for the line to unroll and turnover before it hits the water. Also, I've found that the classic double and single spey casts work best when I am casting the GrandSpey beyond 80' because they take less energy to aerialize when the fly is downstream on the dangle. And keep your anchor in the normal 1 rod length away from you. You just have to move more line upstream and then down and back into the D Loop for the double spey and more line up and back for the single spey than with shorter lines.

There is a very big difference between casting the GrandSpey or other extended belly lines like the XLT and the short belly lines like the Windcutter. Remember the 9/10 Windcutter has a belly of around 55', while the 8/9 GrandSpey has a belly of about 95 feet. That is a huge difference and it takes a rather large adjustment in casting to transition from one to the other.

Hope this helps you and any others who are thinking about trying a GrandSpey. I love the line and use it for 95% of my steelhead fishing.

 

[Lohi]

Hej fredtrout,

I have some experience with GS 8/9 and a 15´B&W Norway Speycaster (both 9/10 and 10/11). IMHO the 8/9 GS is quite heavy even for the stiffer of the B&W:s. It works nicely until about 3 - 4 m of the belly is on the reel, when there is roughly 20m line outside the rod tip. After that, the casting gets more and more difficult, and the rod is very easily overpowered. This is a fault of a caster (me) that is for sure, but the difference between a MidSpey 9/10 and GS 8/9 is quite noticeable, so some of the problems must come from the line. As in my opinion the GS cannot easily be cast with the belly outside the tip, but rather with the end of the belly at hands, the rods length of the line is "wasted", and the effective difference between the GS 8/9 and MS 9/10 belly lengths is only about 3 m.

So, as it quite easy to pick up and cast any cast with the MS, the whole head out, and shoot the additional distance, if required, I am at the moment inclined for the MS 9/10 for my 9/10 Norway.

The performance of the 8/9 GS is quite good with the shorter distances, and I dont think that there is a fly made by man that it couldn't turn over. However, also the MS is quite good at shorter distances as well.

So I guess that this merely reveals my level as a speycaster, but at least for me and my 15´ rods the GS 8/9 is too much at the moment.

 

[fredtrout]

Thanks flytyer and kiitos Lohi!

How about the tips version of the Grand Spey? Equally good?

 

[flytyer]

Fredtrout,

In a word, yes.

the difference between the full floater and the tips version is so slight that I don't think it is worth having two of them (one the full floater and one the tips version) and two reels or reel spools to carry them with you. The only real difference you will notice is the casting loop is very slightly more open with the tips version; but the diiference in casting loop size is very small and not worth worrying about.