Could I learn to speycast by just fishing or must I do a little practice casting on the side? Being an efficient soul I would like to get a little fishing time while perfecting my stroke. While fishing I can get in about 30 casts or so per hour. When I just practice casting I can get in more casts per hour. Then it comes down to the proper technique. I can cast all day for weeks on end repeating poor technique and not improve my casting ability. How about you really good casters out there? Do you need to practice once in a while? Since I am fortunate to live on the river, I keep my rod rigged up all the time and try to practice about a half hour or so every day. Some days I feel "on" and the load of the rod is just right. If the timing is off that is the time to work on it. Sometime I can correct myself and sometimes I must wait for another day. I also like to change lines and rods each week or so. Try the long line one week and the wincutter type another week. When I want to build up my ego a little I can use long long heads and floating line and try to send it out there. With all this I am still in the learning phase of spey casting. Jerry