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Some years ago I wrote a piece about the definition of Skagit casting. In it I presented the advice that anglers new to the Speycasting scene should pick one style of casting and then become THOROUGHLY familiar with it before trying other alternative styles of Speycasting, because of the subtle yet key differences in methodology between the different casting methods. One of the responses generated by my commentary stated in effect that I had no business telling anyone to restrict their casting repertoire to just one style. This response was in fact the result of total misconstruance on the intent of my statement, but it still has pertinence to circumstances present in the current Speycasting scene.
Loomis recently introduced a series of Speyrods known as "Dredgers", rods specifically tailored to the Skagit casting style. They have now had enough exposure to start generating some industry commentary. Some of the feedback that I have received so far has been that the rods are "soft" or "whippy" "noodle rods". These conclusions are in fact misinterpretations of the rods actions resulting from unfamiliarity with Skagit casting, and/or a lack of understanding in casting fundamentals for shootingheads. Basically what's happening is the attempted application of "longline" casting techniques onto a rod that has been designed expressly for sustained anchor/sustained load casting concepts using shootingheads (Skagit casting). The Dredger rods are in fact of a medium-fast action, and if the rod is loaded up correctly BEFORE the casting stroke (not during), and then that load is CARRIED THROUGH to the casting stroke so that MINIMAL power is required to conduct the casting stroke itself, THEN in fact one can feel that these rods cast off of the tip section of the rod like a medium-fast action rod should. An illustration to keep in mind is that a correctly conducted Skagit cast will require no more effort during the casting stroke than a medium velocity pingpong ball serve! And this seemingly small application of power will result in a cast having line speeds that are not so easily duplicated by other casting styles. These rods have been designed to create a load during the "sweep" of the casting process and then sustain it through to the casting stroke, thus obviating the need to "power through" the casting stroke - driving into, or punching the rod during the casting stroke is in essence adding power to an already fully- loaded rod which will obviously completely overload the whole process. This is one of those "little subtleties" that differentiates one casting style from another, exactly one of the points that I was inferring in my Skagit casting article - a seemingly small action that has huge consequences.
Loomis recently introduced a series of Speyrods known as "Dredgers", rods specifically tailored to the Skagit casting style. They have now had enough exposure to start generating some industry commentary. Some of the feedback that I have received so far has been that the rods are "soft" or "whippy" "noodle rods". These conclusions are in fact misinterpretations of the rods actions resulting from unfamiliarity with Skagit casting, and/or a lack of understanding in casting fundamentals for shootingheads. Basically what's happening is the attempted application of "longline" casting techniques onto a rod that has been designed expressly for sustained anchor/sustained load casting concepts using shootingheads (Skagit casting). The Dredger rods are in fact of a medium-fast action, and if the rod is loaded up correctly BEFORE the casting stroke (not during), and then that load is CARRIED THROUGH to the casting stroke so that MINIMAL power is required to conduct the casting stroke itself, THEN in fact one can feel that these rods cast off of the tip section of the rod like a medium-fast action rod should. An illustration to keep in mind is that a correctly conducted Skagit cast will require no more effort during the casting stroke than a medium velocity pingpong ball serve! And this seemingly small application of power will result in a cast having line speeds that are not so easily duplicated by other casting styles. These rods have been designed to create a load during the "sweep" of the casting process and then sustain it through to the casting stroke, thus obviating the need to "power through" the casting stroke - driving into, or punching the rod during the casting stroke is in essence adding power to an already fully- loaded rod which will obviously completely overload the whole process. This is one of those "little subtleties" that differentiates one casting style from another, exactly one of the points that I was inferring in my Skagit casting article - a seemingly small action that has huge consequences.