For years, many have bemoaned the lack of any credible standards in the spey casting world. There used to be a standard based on a DT 9 weight line, but that concept seems to have been buried in the "forgotten archives". We see so much around us in this segment of fly fishing that literally screams for some credible standard:
-When Simon Gawesworth, among of the greatest instructors (and all around great guys) the casting world has ever seen has to spend umpteen hours of his valuable time compiling a "compatibility chart" for lines and rods,
-When Sage, producers of some of the finest and most respected fly fishing rods the world has ever seen, has three (or four) different "9 weight" spey rods that actually encompass at least three lines weights difference between them,
-When designers at Scott - in keeping with their hard core compulsive nature - want a standard to design rods around (because of course the rod gets blamed if a purchase line doesn't fit it) and they get laughed at,
-When overhead casters looking at "spey rods" to fish off the beach have to overline these rods by 2, 3, or 4 line weights using current AFTMA single hand line standards,
-When Bruce Richards, one of the very best single hand casters nad instructors in the world, and who's line designing genius and openness has revolutionized modern single hand lines gets stonewalled for the past several years by the industry as a whole for wanting a line standard.
It is fascinating to observe that now such a standard exists - announced by Bruce at last years fly tackle retailer show and after countless hours of work by Simon, Bruce, Tim Rajeff, Al Buhr, and others across the line manufacturing industry - that retailers and spey fishermen across the planet would not rejoice. Finally - a standard across the industry for short, medium, and long belly lines. Finally, something rod designers can design around. Finally, a system like single hand rods, where if you buy a 5 weight rod and a 5 weight line, there's a 90% chance they will complement each other well. Of course, there are outliers - some experts prefer to underline their rods' stated weight, not all rod manufacturers make rods that work in the current system (see the CCS discussion on the Sexyloops site for a real in depth and elegant discussion on rod actions and standards), and not everyone can cast well enough to determine whether a given line actually matches a given rod.
Still, the standards are there, and they are a good start. Nobody in the industry honestly believes it is a panacea. Perhaps there will never be a day when a retailer can sell any 9 weight line with any 9 weight rod and have the customer be perfectly happy. But then again, here is where the customer relies on the special expertise only a knowledgable fly shop owner or employee can provide. Here is where the "sweetheart" combinations are discovered, popularized, and sold. Here is where the customer's ability, desired target fish, and individual tastes are matched to the best products for him or her. You won't get it from a big box chain.
SA has made a major effort to make all of their spey lines compliant with the new standard. Personally, I can tell you it's a whole lot of work. On the other hand, the lines I was responsible for (XLT) were pretty close to the standards anyway, so it was mainly a matter of tweaking what already worked... and an opportunity to design some of the single line weights fron scratch (5, 6, 7 weights). Seredipitously, the ARC and LS2 Scott rods all work great with the single line weights for SA lines; I haven't had a chance to cast other manufacturer's prototypes on the Scotts.
I think these standards will be a major improvement for our little corner of the industry. I applaud the hard work of all involved in making it a reality.
