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I'm one of those who is a newbee in Spey Casting or two handed rod casting. Most of the rivers I fish are river right. So my river left casts never really got to the point of being even halfway decent and consistant. In fact, this past summer/fall, I found myself avoiding river left casting situations/opportunitities.
Last week, I tuned/cut down the Scandinavian Shooting Head, our gift from SpeyBro, to fit the reel and new shooting head for my Meiser 9/10 Switch Rod. When I got through I practiced dry casting River Right with just the butt section that is the handles and reel with no line out.
It felt good and had a good balance. Then, for some reason I decided to try practicing the Double Spey and Snake Roll Cast with river left. To my surprise after a few dry casts, both casts felt good. Then, I decided to try the same dry casts with my 7141 butt section with a Loop 4 and the loaner GS 7/8. That felt good too.
So the next day I took both rods to fly casting hell, our local Napa River, where I couldn't wade, had tidal flows and winds that shifted around constantly with zero room behind for any backcast or a long D Loop. My Meiser rod worked well until the tide dropped and I was snagging up with the shooting head. Nothing wrong with the casts.
So I went to my 7141 with the Grand Spey floater. At least 80 % of my river left casts were good and most were going out to the color change at the reel.
Two days later I bought a Grand Spey 7/8 with tips. I returned to fly casters hell to try the new line. The floating head with a fifteen foot furled leader was going out 80% of the time to the color change at the reel. It, also, worked well with the Aqua Lux tip and the tip compensator borrowed from my GS 7/8. No tip compensator comes with the Grand Spey 7/8, another question for Spey Bro, like why not?
So Dry practicing with just the butt section and the reel and line with no line out appears to be a great way to practice when you can't get to the river. Also, you avoid breaking vases, ripping pictures and really getting into trouble that can happen with the long rods beside breaking the tips off.
Last week, I tuned/cut down the Scandinavian Shooting Head, our gift from SpeyBro, to fit the reel and new shooting head for my Meiser 9/10 Switch Rod. When I got through I practiced dry casting River Right with just the butt section that is the handles and reel with no line out.
It felt good and had a good balance. Then, for some reason I decided to try practicing the Double Spey and Snake Roll Cast with river left. To my surprise after a few dry casts, both casts felt good. Then, I decided to try the same dry casts with my 7141 butt section with a Loop 4 and the loaner GS 7/8. That felt good too.
So the next day I took both rods to fly casting hell, our local Napa River, where I couldn't wade, had tidal flows and winds that shifted around constantly with zero room behind for any backcast or a long D Loop. My Meiser rod worked well until the tide dropped and I was snagging up with the shooting head. Nothing wrong with the casts.
So I went to my 7141 with the Grand Spey floater. At least 80 % of my river left casts were good and most were going out to the color change at the reel.
Two days later I bought a Grand Spey 7/8 with tips. I returned to fly casters hell to try the new line. The floating head with a fifteen foot furled leader was going out 80% of the time to the color change at the reel. It, also, worked well with the Aqua Lux tip and the tip compensator borrowed from my GS 7/8. No tip compensator comes with the Grand Spey 7/8, another question for Spey Bro, like why not?
So Dry practicing with just the butt section and the reel and line with no line out appears to be a great way to practice when you can't get to the river. Also, you avoid breaking vases, ripping pictures and really getting into trouble that can happen with the long rods beside breaking the tips off.