[Speybstrd]

So, the other day I was getting my trout gear organized for the opener here on sat. and came across a line that I bought for a rod I no longer own. For kicks and giggles, I put this Rio Selective trout 6wgt line on a reel, tied on a leader with some yarn, and went to the river behind the house and started speycasting it on my 4wgt Sage XP...wow, was it a ripper at the snap-t and the snake roll :smokin: . In general, I usually put a line wgt one size bigger than than the rod's rating b/c of the wind, but this setup is awesome for speycasting.

Is there anyone out there who spey casts with a single hander alot? If so, what line/rod setup do you use? This setup excites me, because I fish alot of soft hackles on the swing. I love my Sage 6126, but catching a 6" brookie on it is like shooting a mouse with a 12 gauge! The 6126 is great for the bigger rivers and flies but it is overkill on the Boardman. There are some big fish( I could tell you where, but then I would have to call some Guido to whack you :devil: ) in this river, but none that the stout 4wgt XP can't handle.
Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[jjohnson]

I single hand spey cast a lot during the summer. I actually have been single handed spey casting longer then I have been casting two handed rods.

The couple of lines I love to fish this way are:
Single hand windcutter
Airflo Delta single hander (though the taper is perfect the finish sucks and wears off within a day or two)
Rio Grand for trout is a rocket.

Most of my rods are two weight rods like a 7-8 or a 5-6. I usually go with the upper line weight though this last summer I started going with the lower line weight and it was just as good.

The one thing that has helped a lot is the guys at Kaufmann's in Bellevue got me hooked on the Tiemco line cleaner and it is great.

JJ

 

[Bob Pauli]

My trout fishing partner and I were testing lines for Spey casting with a 9-1/2 foot 5/6 weight medium action rod. A standard WF8 line worked OK and a Wulff 10-wt Bass Taper rocketed out of the guides.

Remember that an overhead cast uses the entire head of a fly line to load the rod, while a Spey casts uses less. For overhead casting a line that is many weights above a rod's rating, pull some of the head inside the tip top.

 

[Whistler]

The Loop Opti Stream is the best that I have found.

 

[voodoofly]

hey jon,

i use dt lines rated for the rod. i like to swing soft hackles with a 9' 5wt using a dt5f in the PM as i walk down. mostly i cast single speys with a few doubles if a see something fishy directly across river.

gary

 

[NRK]

The Rio salmon/steelhead taper is a great line for speying with a single hander. A 696 XP lined with a 7wt Rio steelhead has been good to me.

-Nate

 

[ChromeFever]

I am a big fan of spey/skagit casting with one handers. The line that I prefer to use is the RIO Clouser line. Works extremely well wether you are over head casting or some type of spey casting. I usually go one or two line sizes higher than the line wt for a given rod.

 

[Rick J]

I really like the Wulff TT lines - these are hands down my favorite floating line either for traditional casting or spey casting on a single hander - they shoot like crazy

 

[JimT]

Singlehanded Spey Leaders

Hi John,

Good question.

Do you guys adjust your leaders? Make them longer?

Jim T

 

[zail]

I second the 7wt Rio Steelhead Atlantic and Sage 6wt XP combo. Recently purchased the SA Nymph line (the new design based on the XLt) and was very disappointed with it for this application (single hand Spey). Anyone got this line to work? As far as leaders go I'm often swinging small soft hackles for trout so I use leader of 12' (9 foot 4x with 3 feet of 5x FC tippet and occasionally when using size 18-22 midge patterns an addditional 2 feet of 6x.)

 

[Speybstrd]

Leaders and things...

Hi John,

Good question.

Do you guys adjust your leaders? Make them longer?

Jim T

Hey Jim, thanks.
I was just casting a 9' Rio trout leader with 2'-3' of 3x. I will try a spey sized leader(bigger but section) this weekend and see if it is +/- for me. I would think a spey style leader would work better...but what do I know at this point :roll:

I hope all the MI SpeyHeads have a good trout opener this weekend. I am psyched to be able to fish behind the house again. It is kind of anti-climatic though...I love trout, but after a month I start to think about finding/looking for summer steel water...and then I begin to drool thinking about Fall :saevilw:

 

[fredaevans]

Several of the lines I'd recommend (Rio Grande, etc.,) are already listed above so I'll pass on "TMI." That said, I doubt I've made a 'normal' one-hander cast in years with a single hander. Far easier to do a double spey, snake, etc., with a one hander that a traditional cast.

As to leader length, there you can't go over-board on length .. due to the length of the rod. I've pretty much topped out at 12', but a 9 or 10 footer is about the practical limit imho.

 

[Big K1]

Rio Outbound is quite nice.

 

[Etacata]

I love to spey cast singlehanders. I use a T&T 11' 7wt with rio nymph line in a 8wt and have been very pleased.

cb

 

[Benjamin]

Hallo,
my next line for all kind of fishing is the guidline pounch.
I tested it just on a Fising Fair here in Germany and it is in my opinion the best single hand line on the market.
Very good for "speycasts" and for a Wf you can handle a lot of line in the air 18m +.
Greetings from
Germany
Benny

 

[ramjet]

SH Spey-to-go, lines etc

Good thread!!

I travel a lot in my work and try to get to places that I can fish. (or for that matter, Spey-O-Rama this Saturday!!) It's a good exercise in gear selection, too. I can get all the stuff I need (rod, reel, waders, boots, clothing, flies) in my wheelie bag.

I carry a 5 wt, 9 piece rod. It's a bit stiff for my liking, so I overline it with a 6 wt WF line. That's on the heavy side for midges in 11 mile Canyon and a little light for some streamer stuff and heavy winds, but still generally do- able for 90 percent of what I encounter.

For the SPEY part...I need to solve 2 problems, ideally without adding much more gear to an already heavy bag:

1. LINE WEGHT--- I want a heavier line weight than I normally fish the rod with.

2. LENGTH/TAPER---I would like this weight to be in a line about 3 or 4 times the rod length Minimum.

I could carry another reel with a different line, change lines on the same reel, OR--

Carry a head that I just loop onto the end of my current WF line. I can weigh these if anyone's curious, but I bought an assortment of weighted leaders from Cabela's a few years back and for this travelling setup, I just loop one on and have an instant sink-tip line that's about the weight and length I need to do Spey casting. This year ( I have a line scale to weigh with), I plan to experiment with a Floating section to add on as well.

This may not be the perfect setup, and I doubt anyone will win a casting competiton with it, but for my level of ability (or disability!!) of Spey casting, it is fast, easy, cheap, and very time efficient.

Hey SPEYBSTRD.. See you are from TC?? I will be there later this month for a day.. Might get a car and drive to Grayling area to see what's going on with Hendricksons, Black Caddis and the like. Probably too early for sulfurs when I'll be there.

Scott

 

[argos]

air travel and fly tying

Ramjet,

Noticed that you fly a lot, and was wondering if you also bring your fly tying gear along in addition to fishing gear?

If so, do you have any suggestions for what you pack or don't pack: scissors or head-cement? Seems like a productive way to make overnights go by, but I don't want to deal with the TSA taking my bag apart everyday.


Thanks,

Robb

 

[MJC]

This may not be the perfect setup,

The "perfect setup" is the one that works for you and it sounds like you are getting there.
In a past life I traveled extensively and used a system simular to yours. I had one rod, one reel with backing and running line, and a selection of shooting heads from 30' 9wts in several densities down to a 46' 5wt floating head for "creek" fishing.
The head portion of an Airflo Tactical 7 or 8wt (45') should be about right for the length you are after. I think all the different line brands have their line dimensions posted on line so you should be able to get in the ball park. How much weight are you looking for?

 

[Speybstrd]

Let's talk crazy now...

Who fishes tips on the singlehander ? or how about sinking leaders? (I really like the RIO)

I stripped streamers on a 30' 200grain for hawg brownies for about 1/2 an hour the other day, with a wet sock for fly...wow that overhead-single handed casting stuff sucks :tsk_tsk: :tsk_tsk: :tsk_tsk:
I could not take this for long and went to dries...I do love my 4wgt for that. Snake rolls out of the drift boat were awesome for the upstream dry fly cast. As one could imagine, this cast does not lend itself to that great looking spot, under a low hanging tree, in the eddie with thick brush on the bank...nothing beats the old sidearm sling for that!

It's only been 2 weeks since the last spey session...and I am already thinking of summer runs :smokin:
I guess the best part of messing around with the one hander again is that it confirms how much I love Spey-Fishing.

 

[ramjet]

Tips, and Tying...

>>>Who fishes tips on the singlehander ? or how about sinking leaders? (I really like the RIO)
>>>

I have a whole wallet-full of leaders in varying sink rates. I find them to be VERY convenient. I would say the fastest (ie- heaviest) 2 or 3 probably overload the rod little, so the casting stroke has to slow down, but they work well for streamers or soft-hackles. So much more elegant to cast a sinking leader and a lightly weighted streamer than to chuck a big lead-eyed booger!


>>>>Noticed that you fly a lot, and was wondering if you also bring your fly tying gear along in addition to fishing gear?

If so, do you have any suggestions for what you pack or don't pack: scissors or head-cement? Seems like a productive way to make overnights go by, but I don't want to deal with the TSA taking my bag apart everyday.
>>>>

Good question.. I will start a new thread in the fly tying section, since it's probably more on topic there.

Scott