[reelstory]

I have a loop 13’ 2” 8 wt. Cross S1 that I have been casting with a SGS 36’ 514 gr Scandi with a poly leader, and a Rio Uni Spey 54’ 540 gr with a 15’+ mono leader. I am comfortable with the Scandi with all casts, but fairly new to the Uni. I can snake roll the Scandi pretty consistently, but can’t seem to get an anchor and delivery with the Uni. I have tried different size circles, and scribed the 9 and e without success in obtaining an anchor. When I try to slow down to get a good anchor, gravity takes control. Also, pulling line into the tip has not helped. It feels like the tip is very light.
I will appreciate any ideas that may help me to master this.
Thanks.

 

[yoda1]

One suggestion would be to take some video of yourself casting the Uni (which some have said is not quickly mastered), then compare your footage to the clip of Simon G's wherein he promotes the Uni-spey. I remember seeing him snake roll cast it in a Rio promotion I viewed on youtube.

 

[Tayside]

Longer line will require more acceleration while going through the bottom of the cast up to the firing position, you may also need to make the cricle larger.


Ian

 

[JDJones]

Slipping the anchor

Easiest & cheapest fix would be to lengthen the leader, perhaps in one foot increments. Another thought would be to make the forward stroke more of a side arm thing, which would compress the loop into a V shape. Start with a slow large circle, end with an accelerated, flattened side arm circle.

 

[troutless]

One suggestion would be to take some video of yourself casting the Uni

This is the best suggestion. So many things can go wrong, internet advice is purely speculation.

Having said that, here is some speculation.

When going from a shorter to longer head, 20' change certainly qualifies, it can be challenging to get the lift, timing, and power application right at first. Even for experienced casters, on the first few casts some adjustment may be needed. The snake roll is a very powerful cast. It is easy with this cast to over-compensate for the longer head, using too long a stroke, too much power, too much lift, and this leads to anchor problems. So you might look for:

-> Lifting too early or too aggressively to come into the key position

-> The backstroke too high across the water

-> Too much power in the back cast, throwing the loop way behind with no hope for an anchor

-> Too much power in the forward cast, blowing the anchor. Unless you are shooting a lot of line, you should just barely tap the forward cast, if you get it right.

 

[reelstory]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will write them down, and put them into practice. As far as the video suggestion, I will need to round up a camera, and a companion to accomplish this. One disadvantage here in the Northeast is the lack of spey participants. They just don't know what they are missing. I mostly ride alone.

 

[yoda1]

As far as "rounding up a camera" goes,

Dang near all modern cell phones will take decent enough video for your purpose--just place a large stick in the water to represent yourself, prop the phone/camera up against a log or whatever is handy on shore, turn it on, frame the shot, take the place of the stick and get 'er done. And do find Simon's Uni-spey demo online, and pay close attention to tempo and rod movement size relative to yours.

Caution: sometimes the stick looks better than me...

 

[Dicosmoecus]

stick people spey fishing,
hmmmmm
there's a concept
:chuckle::chuckle::chuckle:
me

 

[bender]

Lifting slowly to get as much line out of water as possible is the key for Spey casting. In this video 2:10 forward Tellis shows how simple the Snake roll is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHtlLrapkyg