Need Help in Up-State N Y

I live in upstate NY and know where you are coming from. Both of the above mentioned shops are nice shops but are probably not the place to start if you are serious about spey casting. They tend to have very limited oppurtunities to try different rods or different styles of casting. If I know what I want and the local shops carry it I certainly suport them, but they are not the greatest place to go if you are starting out. Unfortunately spey casting is not yet popular enough in this area for the shops to be able to justify carrying a wide selection.

Claves are an excellent way to put multiple manufacturers rods in your hands. I don't know of any area ones coming up. You mentioned Cape Cod. If you get out that way Hunters Angling in Mass probably has one of the best selctions of spey rods in the NE. Juro from CND is also out that way and I'm sure he would be happy to put CND rods in your hand.

Some of the west coast dealers, Red Shed and Meiser come to mind, will send you a rod to try which is another alternative. If you have any opputunity to get to the west coast that is certainly where you will have the most oppurtunities.

I'm in your neck of the woods, PM me if you have more questions.

Gillie

Greg, actually Oak Orchard Fly Shop does carry spey rods. I just picked up a T&T from them a month ago after a test drive. Nick Pionessa is the manager there and was one of the group that put the Cattaraugus Clave together.

Since you'll be heading to the Cape for first usage you'll definitely want to enlist Juro on day 1 of your trip. He's EXCELLENT and you'll get a lot out of spending a day with him at the beginning of your trip. I met him at the Catt Clave and was impressed.

There is a pretty good crew in Buffalo as far as spey casting and fishing goes. Charlie (on this group) is one of the best tiers I know and can cast a very good line, Brian Slavinski is as smooth as they come and a heck of a fisherman, and Nick himself are all excellent resources. I also understand that Rick Kustich is quite a good caster as well. You should be able to enlist those any of these nice folks to further your cause.

Also, the Grand River in Ontario is another hour past Buffalo (sans border crossing). I'm sure you'll find resources there through Peter-s-c and Rick Whorwood.

-Chris

Popnesetbay -

(one of my favorite little spots on the south cape shore if I am not mistaken!)

Coincidentally I guide thru the season right down the road in Chatham, and I am a FFF certified Two-handed (Spey) casting instructor. Realizing lately that folks sometimes have difficulty understanding someone wearing a lot of hats, I am hesitant to mention that I am also a Spey rod rep, so I can bring rods for demonstration and exploration of the fine art of spey casting and overhead casting with two-hands.

I recently organized a Cattaraugus Spey Clave with the guys in the Buffalo area where Topher Browne and I made presentations and answered questions in between. Brian Slavinski and Charlie had a phenomenal slide show to offer Sat night after dinner. I held a spey class on Saturday morning, great group and lots of progress made.

Oak Orchard and Buffalo Outfitters were in attendance. Nick Pionessa brought a truckload of rods. As I understand it from conversations they are both committed to supporting spey in the area in the seasons to come.

I am sure Greg's right in that the spey thing hasn't gone ablaze around the Buffallo scene quite yet but there are definitely folks fanning the fire and you can expect a lot more in the next few weeks / months.

Here is the link to the thread:

http://www.flyfishingforum.com/flytalk4/showthread.php?t=17915

Definitely attend next years Catt clave, and if you are looking for instruction or advice in the mean time drop me a PM.

truthful info on spey's in buffalo

hey Greg, get your facts straight before you post misinformation. the Oak Orchard Fly Shop, that i manage, carries spey rods from t&t , sage and winston. we have by far the best selection in the area, hand picked for our water by myself and many other well informed speyheads. we have been carrying at least 6 rods for over five years now. we were also the first shop in the area to carry ANY two handed rods, largely because Rick was one of the first in the gl to use them on our fish. if you haven't been in the shop for six months then all the two handers are not on display in the summer to make room for more trout rods on our rack. anyone who truly knows us knows of our commitment to traditional techniques and trying to throw off the "glo-bug" logic so prevelant in the gl. i am insulted. thanks to the folks who came to our defense in my absence. anyone who wants more info can feel free to pm me anytime or call the shop 716-626-1323, Greg's info is simply wrong. thanks for the plug, brother.

Nick Pionessa
Manager OOFS

take a look for yourself at:

www.oakorchardflyshop.com

Not to turn this thread into an argument but for those out there looking for information on spey rods ion NY I have to clarify a few things from my perspective. I like the oak orchard fly shop a lot. They have a lot of knowledge regarding steelhead in the great lakes and do practice newer techniques including using spey rods for swinging wets.

However, as Peter said I have rarely seen more than 1 or 2 spey rods on the rack while there. This is understandable considering the limited demand for them in NY. Even if all 6 that Nick was talking about were out on the shelf it is still a very limited selection. If there are three manufacturers then that is only 2 from each line. Nick mentioned that they are rods chosen to fit the local waters. That is the real problem with shopping for spey rods in NY. Shop managers and owners have chosen a few rods that they think are appropriate. That usually leads to similair sizes and actions. Not really a lot of true selection.

The best way for someone in this area to try different rods is through claves and other gatherings where reps have the rods or contact manufacturers like CND and Meiser directly who will ship you a trial rod. Certainly if you find a rod you like at a clave and your local shop can get it for you, you should support local business. I would love it if a local shop made the move to stock a large inventory of speys, and I think Oak Orchard would be a great place to do it. But I also know that it would be a financial gamble.

The only other point I have to address is Nick's claim to be the first shop to carry ANY spey rods. Be careful with such broad claims. I bought my first spey rod from Carl Coleman when the Oak Orchard Fly Shop was still owned by Jerry Senecal and at an entirley different location. Kustich has been a forerunner in great lakes spey fishing but there were some of us doing it before he started writing about it.

Gillie

Gillie,
i appreciate your praise of our shop. i won't argue who was first, this is pointless. i admittadly got irritated at the previous posts and probably went too far. my appologies. we are all living in the present and the past doesn't amount to a hill of beans.
on to the present line up of two handers first off we only have one winston, a pre china ibis because that's all there is. the new ones are on the way as soon as winston gets them done. t&t 11-7, 13-7, 12-8, 13-8, 14-9, sage 126-6, 126-8 and the addition of the 14-9 and the tcr 123-8 which are on their way. i didn't even count the ibis or the b2x 11-7. show me a better line up in the area. this i will argue and defend. T&t will send us rods to demo anytime if some one wants to test drive. sage and winston aren't as good about loaners but can be demo cast anytime. i'm sure cnd would be happy to send out rods for test drives as well if someone were interested. we have lines on hand to cast any of our line up.
don't get me wrong, we have room to improve. there is a lot i have done in the past six months, but there is still, always room to improve. we are making the comitment to this type of fishing for our steelhead and we apreciate your support and business. tell us what you would like to see. we will listen. we fish where you fish, you will see us out there and probably have. come in and talk about spey fishing or steelhead in general or politics for that matter. we will always, gladly, sell you whatever you really want not just what we have in stock.

Nick Pionessa
Manager OOFS