[BeBop]

I spent most of last week fishing a small local stream for steelhead. It has lots of canyon water and steep bushy banks-- no room at all for back casts. Of course I started spey casting. It took a little practice to overcome a tendency to roll my shoulder into the cast, but after I got the hang of it, it was surprisingly effective. I was using a WF line on a fairly soft 8wt rod. It think that a DT line may be a better choice. Any thoughts on this.

 

[watersprite]

Kinda funny, seems to have been the case for most of my fishing this summer - spey casting the single hander. Pretty much the same reason, restrictions in casting room. Found the spey casts with my #7 10', with the extended butt, worked out swell with much better coverage. Really added a new trick to my arsenal.

ws

 

[SpeyFitter]

I have a 7 wt SA STeelhead Taper on my 6 wt 10 foot RPL+ and it spey casts quite nicely. It's an extended belly Weight forward line for single handers (the SH Taper). Sort of gives you the best of both worlds in some effect (WF and DT).

 

[SSPey]

As long as you don't cast beyond the belly, then WF and DT are quite similar. If the belly of the line gets out of the tip top, then roll and spey casts become quite difficult. Hard to use the running line to turn over anything as it transfers virtually no force due to lack of mass.

Personally I use DT lines on all my single handers up to 8 wt, and see little advantage with any WF lines, except for shooting quick casts into the wind in saltwater (lines 9 and greater).

 

[Nooksack Mac]

I first tried it on the Yakima River in the Canyon, but there are places like that on streams everywhere: a fine band of soft water next to a bank thick with thorny high brush. Using my 9-foot rod and WF6F line, I double spey cast down its length, with two nymphs and split shot. I picked up several good trout in a 50-yard section, and never touched the thicket behind. A DT line would have worked better. Since then I've used spey casts whenever there was no room for a backcast, even on Silver Creek with a 8' 3" midge rod.

 

[NrthFrk16]

This summer, I spent a large amount of time focusing on single hand Spey casting as I fish the NF Stilly which is a river desingned perfectly for the single handed Spey...It is a river that I would rather cover with a single handed rod then a two-hander.

I had a great time working some smaller summer-run rivers with a floating line, damp fly and single-handed Spey...it was truly a blast when I got into the rythm and had my technique down cold!!

Anyways...I found my single handed Spey technique to be much more clean then my typical two-handed Spey...I believe it is due to the fact that my lower hand is not involved (I have a bad case of the Flying Butt Syndrome which is due to me bringing my lower hand way the Hell out there on a two-handed cast).

A note on lines...up until this summer I was a SA Steelhead Taper lover/belieaver...IMHO this was the greatest line ever developed for floating line apps.

But this summer I began fishing with Rio's Atlantic Salmon/Steelhead line. This line throws a single handed Spey and roll cast much easier and farther then the Steelhead Taper due to I believe, its longer belly.

But next summer, I will delve into the Old Skool and try my hand with a DT...I know few people that will be very proud. :hehe:

I am curious if Simon has his own recipes for single-handed Spey techniques as I know he has been the largest promoter of this technique.

...would love to comebine our collective ideas and design the ultimate single-handed Speyline that would fish rods from #4's to #10's. How about it??

 

[wrke]

NrthFrk
I'm curious, have you ever used a Wulff TT? I've never used the Rio, but used many other lines and for quite a few years now have used TTs exclusively (single handed). For salmon and steelhead single hand rods I wouldn't want to use anything else.
Bill

 

[SparseHairHackl]

(I have a bad case of the Flying Butt Syndrome which is due to me bringing my lower hand way the Hell out there on a two-handed cast).

NrthFrk16,

Thanks for posting this. I don't feel quite so ashamed now. I thought I was the only one on this esteemed board with experienced spey casters who suffered from this malady. I previously could only admit it to myself, or those who saw me on the river.

There is hope for us, I think. My last trip I actually got in a groove on a classic cast, step, cast, step run, where I could think and work on both of my 2 major casting problems simultaneously. (Usually I'm fishing small holes, or spots with only a couple casting stations, and can never get into a good rythm.)

I, too, find my single-hand spey casting much more consistent than my 2-handed, and I love it for trout fishing. I use a DT on all my single-hand rods. Since the front tapers on standard WF and DT are typically the same, I generally don't see an advantage to WF, either, and the ability to flip ends of a DT as it starts to wear is a big advantage for people like myself who are pinching
pennies to help pay for my kids' equipment, among other things. (My 12-yr-old daughter has a pretty nice double-spey with a 10.5 foot 9 wt. 2 hander!) I believe a line with a longer front taper (such as a TT) would be better for single-hand spey casting, but I haven't tried it.

--Bill

 

[NrthFrk16]

Bill1, Bill2-
I fished a TT on a single handed rod but I never really liked it...never got the hang of throwing and hated the turnover (or lack thereof) when throwing big indicators and heavy flies.

 

[ChromeFever]

Guilty

I have to admit that I have been doing a lot of spey casting the last couple of years with the single handed rods. It is just so easy to use a singel spey or a snap T to make a cast on a small tight stream. Whether it be fishing indicators or streamers for trout or smallies. I find myself doing it all the time?

 

[SpeyFitter]

See?

It all goes to show you, Spey casting is more so about the methods and casts used and less so about the rods.

 

[AlexK]

Hi there!

This year I've tried to speycast with singlehander (Winston BL-5 #8 9') with different lines: TT Steelhead #8 and #9, Windcutter Spey #6/7/8 w/tips, Mastery Distance #8 and Mastery Steelhead #8. Mastery lines gives very satisfactory results with small flies and mono or intermediate leaders, windcutter flew like a rocket with midsize flies and all of its sinktips, but TT seems to me totally unuseable in conditions where I've fished: it couldn't take off the fly of size 7 on double salar hook. I'm not a good caster, but all other lines works well enough in my hands in very same conditions.

BL-5 wondering me once again!

 

[FlyFishAR]

I'm a little confused by some terminology here. Is "switch casting" an overhead cast or a modified single spey? We were casting in Denver and some of the Euro guys kept talking about switch casting. I was unfamiliar with the term.

By the way tere were several people throwing to the end of the 100 foot pool with single hand spey techniques with standard distance tapers and fast action rods. I was suprised at the ability of the fast rods to develop loops and the shorter taper lines to carry that kind of distance.

John

 

[SpeyFitter]

Switch casting is basically the single spey, only with no change of direction. INstead of changing direction 45 degrees with the single spey cast, you just cast it back to where it came from with the switch cast.

 

[FlyFishAR]

Well there you go. One of the tips that a guy from Germany was saying was that he uses full fluro leaders and it helps the load during the switch cast. I thought I was a pretty fair caster but he was hitting 100+ with a single hand switch cast. Pretty impressive considering it was the first time any of us had ever picked up these rods.

John

 

[wrke]

AlexK
I completely agree with your experience with the TT "steelhead" line. I've fished the regular TT8 (used to be called 8/9) for years and still feel it's the finest singlehanded line for salmon/steelhead. I tried the TT 8 "steelhead" line this year and think it's totally worthless. I think it's a huge mistake they should remove from the market. If you ever get a chance to try the regular line it will be a completely different experience.
Bill

 

[flytyer]

I've been using spey casting with a single hand rod for about 13 years. In fact, that is the casting technique I taught my kids when they were 5 years old because it allowed them to cast 40 or so feet without breaking flies off or getting wind knots too often.

My favorite lines for this is either the RIO Salmon/Steelhead, the RIO distance taper, or the RIO single hand Windcutter. The SA Steelhead taper works well too.

I fish the Samish river at times during the winter and I use my 11 foot 8/9 G.Loomis IMX (wish they still made it) with a single hand Windcutter with custom tips. It is a pleasure to spey cast this rod on a river that is only about 40 feet at its widest part with lots of brush behind you.

 

[Rick J]

I would second the Wulff TT line. If it does not turn over well, you can cut off a foot or so of the long front taper. With a single handed rod, you really are somewhat limited in how much line you can spey cast without shooting. I have found not better line for shooting line on a switch cast and can often get 70 to 80 feet by shooting. Something I would be unable to do with a DT line. And with a 9.5 to 10.5' rod you can quite easily mend this lighter running line after the cast.

There are many places on the N Umpqua where you are limited to spey techniques and can get a skater out there a long ways with the TT

 

[AlexK]

Rick J

I've cutted TT Steelhead, but that action gives no result... And, in a strong forward wind I need to do one single spey to change direction (first, shortening line up to the head) then make 2, 3, 4 or 5 switches to achieve appropriate distance WITHOUT ANY sinking or eiter intermediate leaders. Windcutter spey allows me to cast the same distance with one single spey or snake roll (with a little single haul). WC is not a best, but the easiest in casting and mending, and it really cut the wind.

I use this tackle fishing for atlantic salmon and some russian freshwater species in very tight casting situations.

 

[wrke]

AlexK
That's the 8 wt TT, not the 8 wt steelhead TT. I think the steelhead TT is a bad line.
Bill