Spey casting has many shapes and forms, from the more traditional style to all its modern adaptations. But regardless of style, it’s all Spey casting and there are crucial elements that need to be considered in order to create a successful cast. We all struggle sometimes, and we all make mistakes, but knowing what they are and how to fix them is the key to improving. That’s why we teamed up with the team from Guideline, to put together a cheat sheet for essential, tips, techniques, and gear for bringing your spey casting ability from average to extraordinary.
Over the years of practicing and analyzing, both myself and others, I have found that there are certain things that reoccur as “standard problems”. These problems can be crucial, and even if minor adjustments need to be made very often, the improvement in outcome can be huge. But first, here is a little bit of background on just what exactly “Spey Casting” is all about…
As I briefly mentioned, there are several styles of Spey casting. Some might prefer to separate them and call them different names, but in the end, they all fall into the category of Spey casting with the same fundamentals. Traditional Spey, Scandi style, “Underhand cast” or Skagit, they all contain a sweep that creates a D or V-loop, there is an anchor and there is a change of direction, which many times is addressed as “the alignment”. Regardless of what you want to call it, these so-called “building blocks” are still there and these need to be somewhat correct for the cast to work. Even though these different styles often are referred to due to certain line setups, you can make all the different types of Spey casts with any line you want. A Single Spey can be made with a Skagit head, as well as a Snap-T can be made with a full 70´ Spey line.
So, from that perspective, without focusing on a specific style or line type, there are certain key elements in the cast that we all seem to struggle with.
Line Tension
You know the feeling of emptiness? When you clearly feel that the rod is NOT loading, and the effect is often powerless? In these scenarios, we often turn to more power, in desperation that it will “load more”. Almost every time this happens we are talking about some sort of slack in our system, the lack of line tension. This is a crucial element for all fly casting, as well as in Spey casting. By being inconsistent, aggressive, or “jerky” in our movement, we will most likely introduce slack and unevenness into our fly line, creating the feeling of an empty rod. When we have a line full of slack, what will happen is that most of the casting stroke will just be wasted on stretching that line without actually moving it. Try to be smooth, relaxed, and think about the whole cast as a rhythmic dance rather than jerking and punching the line out. Always try to feel that line tension, which actually is what people are often talking about when they try to explain “the load”. I started saying this to myself and my clients many years ago, “If you can feel the line, you can move it”. Which in a way means, if you can’t feel it, you have some sort of slack.
The Lift and Set Up for the Sweep
Fly casting, like any other sport, is about getting consistency. And to be able to give ourselves the best possible chance of that is to always try and recreate the same thing, over and over again. Here is just one of those crucial things I have noticed over the years. People, including myself, starting the casting in different heights and angles for each single cast. This is bound to make our lives more difficult. As an example, if I in one back cast find myself not giving enough acceleration to get the anchor to where I want, I will automatically think, “Give more speed in the next one!”. But, if I am at the same time also lifting a bit higher before the sweep AND adding more speed, that fly and anchor will end up far into the bushes. What I have found over the years of casting is that if we give the lift our full attention, the rest of the cast will become much easier to execute. It is also easier to find out what has gone wrong somewhere in the cast if I am always starting with the same movement. So, try to start with your rod tip close to the surface and gently, but steadily, start lifting that line out of the water and gradually move into the sweep backward. Regardless of style, you will find that starting with your rod tip low and without any slack, will give good line tension already from the start, and that is key, to get the full line tension throughout the whole movement.
The Sweep
As we are now moving further into the sweep, which will create our D or V-loop, it is important that this movement is smooth with a small acceleration. If I midway start to hesitate, or adding jerky movements, I will directly give the line waves which many time results in slack or uncontrolled directions of energy. In general, there are two ways to go wrong here (with many variations of course!). If I try to just add power and literally rip the line out, chances are that the only effect will be that the rod just bends, without actually moving the line, and it will still just be stuck on the water. It almost gives you the feeling that the line gets “glued” to the water. This is also something that can happen if your acceleration is too abrupt, the rod bends without moving the line. That’s why it is so important to gradually lift the line out and smoothly add acceleration as I move backward. On the opposite side, we can also be TOO careful, resulting in no real acceleration and we are literally just dragging the line and anchor backward. This is what we normally do for a roll cast but for Spey, we need a bit more acceleration to get the line to where I want it for my change of direction. Remember, in a Single Spey, the line SHOULD be airborne and then land again with only the leader and tip section of the line. In short, the sweeping motion should give you the feeling that the line is just swinging underneath the rod tip and backward. If you see and feel that the line wants to climb over your rod tip, you are making the sweep in a vertical plane which is what we do when we overhead cast. Think of the sweep more as a horizontal swing than the forward cast, which is then much more vertical.
Anchor and Alignment
The difference as well between an overhead cast and an anchored cast (Spey) is that we are working with two parallel casts instead of one lineal. The back cast (sweep) is made on the “outside”, with the line passing under the rod. The forward cast is made parallel to that, which is the “inside” and the line passes over the rod tip. If you do a Double Spey, your anchor will be downstream of your forward cast, and with Single Spey the anchor is upstream. This means that you’re always doing the forward cast on the “inside”, parallel to the anchor. Why this is important to know is because the anchor in a way tells you in what direction you are allowed to cast, parallel to it never over it, because this will make the fly snag your line or hit your rod. The second and equally important thing is to get the actual loop behind you to align toward your target. Think of it like this, the mass (your fly line) must align with your target in what we call the 180-degree principle. Have you ever felt that the fly line wants to hit you when you make your forward cast? The reason for that is most likely because the D-loop is actually aimed in a different direction than your forward cast. Another way of thinking of all this is to imagine the back and forward cast to be a mirror image of each other. Where is the line when behind me, and where do I want to put it?
Choosing Gear
Depending on where, when and what you want to swing flies, there are options to what tackle to choose. My personal favorite for Sea trout, Steelhead, and light Salmon is definitely the lighter DH rods or Switch rods in the LPX Chrome range. The 12´6” 6pc #7/8 DH or 11´7” 4pc #6/7 Switch are just wonderful rods that give you fantastic performance at a great price. Good line weights for the #6/7 370-400 grains for Scandi/Spey and 390-420 for Skagit (total weight) For the #7/8 I use 430-480 grains (total weight including tip) is Scandi/Spey casting and for Skagit 460-500 grains.
As a great “overall salmon rod” that gives you that “little bit of extra” is the NT11 13´ #8/9 6pc Fast Full Flex. The deeper, full flexing rod suits any angler and gives a tremendous launch without needing to apply a lot of power or speed. I use 490-600 grains (total weight including tip) where Scandi lines in the lower to middle spann is a great choice and Skagit and longer Spey head in the higher weights.
Thanks so much to Guideline for sharing these tips and tricks with us! Now available all across the U.S., Guideline offers an amazing assortment of rods, reels, and more to fit all pursuits. To check out their Double Hand rods, Click HERE.
Article written by: Tellis Katsogiannos
