[Whoozat]

I have never fished with a Spey rod however I'm considering giving it a try. My fishing is for Salmon mostly on Quebec's north shore rivers. Weather conditions can be brutal in June, particularly at a sea-pool but that's the best time. My normal rig is a 9 foot 9-10 wt but when the wind is full in your face, even a low angle sidearm cast doesn't always make it where you want to go. The guides and locals don't seem to know two-handed fly rods so you never see any in action. My question is this: Does an 8 wt Spey rod have better "ballistics" to get you into places, such as I describe, as opposed to a good stiff single-handed 10 wt?

 

[Whistler]

W-you have mail.

 

[Steve_sullivan]

redfly

I have never fished with a Spey rod however I'm considering giving it a try. My fishing is for Salmon mostly on Quebec's north shore rivers. Weather conditions can be brutal in June, particularly at a sea-pool but that's the best time. My normal rig is a 9 foot 9-10 wt but when the wind is full in your face, even a low angle sidearm cast doesn't always make it where you want to go. The guides and locals don't seem to know two-handed fly rods so you never see any in action. My question is this: Does an 8 wt Spey rod have better "ballistics" to get you into places, such as I describe, as opposed to a good stiff single-handed 10 wt?

I think getting a redington redfly 9 weight from cabelas for $150 would be a good bet

 

[Dana]

I think a two-hander could help in the situations you describe, though rod action and casting skill will make the real difference. A faster action rod combined with sharp skills will allow you to cast tight loops with high line speed, both of which will be helpful in a headwind. The fast action 10 wt you mention could do this, but I think it would be really tiring after a while. Would you be overhead casting or spey casting with this rod?

 

[Whoozat]

The situation I described is normally overhead casting but with the combination of wind and non-weighted flies, you are forced to use a low sidearm 'skitter' so that the fly gets no chance for altitude - if it does, you get it back in the face! As you suggest a 10 wt fast action, single hand, does get very tiring.
I was wondering if a fast action, 13-14 foot rod, Spey cast, would be able to deliver a lighter-smaller line (say, 8 wt) with greater success. I'm guessing it comes down to technique but also, I'm thinking a lighter line with less wind resistance and higher initial velocity will have a better chance to get there.

 

[Grampa Spey]

You might want to contact Bob Meiser and get one of his 9/10 or 10/11 two handed 10' 6" switch rods for the brutal casting you describe. You can overhand cast, under hand cast and do a fair spey cast with that rod.

If you are casting into deep pools, the Rio Striper 350 grain with the built in 26 DC head should work. This is Ken Hanley's favorite line for Salmon fishing in estuaries and on the coast for West Coast Salmon.

If you are fishing from a boat, 10' 6" is as long of a rod that you want and can handle safely in a boat.

I use Meise's 9/10 - 10' 6" switch Rod with the Rio 350 Grain Striper line as my main rod and line for striper fishing in N California. With a big striper fly, I can cast into the wind 50' to 80' feet from a boat.

Contact Bob by email or by phone and talk to him about your needs.

 

[Salar-1]

Salut Whooz'
You mentioned North Shore rivers. If you're fishing the lower Moisie, ya'll still need a boat :smokin: I'' So I'll use the pool on the Escoumins just above rte.138 as an example..
One can stand in one spot with a 2 hander (even an olde Sage 7136) and cover the entire pool AND MORE IMPORTANTLY CONTROL THE DRIFT of the fly without taking a step to move down through the pool. I'm talking Speycasting here and NOT overhead as you'll easliy put your fly on the bank on the other side of the river !
"I'm familiar with the Godbout( the pool below the falls on the sector contigente is another ideal example) and Riviere aux Rochers and you'll be fine on their lower sectors with an 8 wt such as the Sage 7141 or an Loomis IMX of similar lenght and line wt.
Cheers

 

[Whoozat]

Thanks for the reponse. Aguanus is the river, I'm talking about. You have to fish the sea pool from a boat. As tide ebbs, you position the boat just upstream of a rocky underwater break that traverses the river at the spot where it meets the estuary. At high slack, this rock has the river flowing east-west on the bottom but n-south on the surface. As it ebbs, increased surface rapids appear, oygenation picks up and fish move. The wind is normally onshore S to N at 15-20 knots.
I know most of the North Shore rivers from Sept Iles to Natashquan and you're right; there's some nice fishing just off the highway bridges downstream. You can easily reach most pools with a 9-10 wt single hand overhead cast.
Back to the Aguanus; using a sinking tip has its advantages in some of these waters but in this particular place, there are far too many closely stacked boulders at the 6-10ft depth and the current exceeds 7-8 knots in late Spring. The fish lie along the transverse rock outcrop in back-eddys waiting for the tide.
So here's the picture. You're in a boat that's anchored about 30 feet upstream of the transverse rocks. The boat is streaming downriver. You're in the stern and the wind is blowing right at you. You cast 45 degrees east about 40 feet away and the current carries the fly westward along the rocky break. You increase length one or two feet per cast until you have about 60 feet out. It is desirable to get that fly in more or less the same position relative to it's sweep every time...... That's the part that's hard, and due mainly to the wind gusting. What happens is you end up making two or three casts to get one where you want it. All that adds up to a lot of casts for one full sweep of the pool.
Sorry to be so windy. It's a difficult situation to describe.