SPEY CASTER

[ChickenFoot]

Good mourning all, are there any spey casters out there? I just pick-up a new TFO 15' 10wt for surf fishing. I plan on learning how to use this thing to fish for specks and bull reds in the surf this summer and I need all the help I can get in getting the correct fly line. Any info ya'll may have would be great.
Thanks and have a good day.
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[flygoddess]

[black][size 3]Be sure and get Saltwater Spey line. It is a different taper and different coating for salt (and be sure and wash it off after each use)[/size][/black]
[black][size 3]Spey is a whole new ball game, but there is a lot of info on it on the boards.[/size][/black]
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[Dryrod]

[cool][font "Poor Richard"][#008000][size 3]Hi there Chicken Foot and welcome to the BFT. TubeN2 plays in the salt but not quite sure if he is into spey casting yet. Anyhow he will be along later to fill you in. Thanks for visiting our board. Let us know how things are working out.[/size][/#008000][/font]
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[tubeN2]

Hey there ChickenFoot. Welcome aboard. I'm glad to see another shrimp flipper out there.

I use the spey casting for most of my surf fishing too. It seems to be a better technique because you can change up in the middle of a wave and still have control. It is also helpful to counter some of the offshore breezes that tend to hinder conventional fly casting.

I use a 9 foot 10 weight especially when I am trying to Big Game it with the Salt flies. The Reds sure fall into that category and can use up just about every inch of backbone that you can provide with that weight class of rod.

I hope you stick around for awhile. You are welocome to stay as long as you like.

What kind of flies do you use over there??

I use the Rustic Shrimp in various colors as well as Zonkers, Clousers, Sand Crabs, Ghost Shrimp and special Minnows. It all depends on the species that I am targeting over here on the West Coast.[cool]
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[Tarpon4me]

I know you said there is info in previous posts about spey casting, but give me a quick run down on the difference in that and regular fly casting. []
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[flygoddess]

[black][size 3][/size][/black]
[black][size 3]Spey is great for fishing surf or very large rivers for casting great distance, plus back bone.[/size][/black]
[black][size 3]Spey casting is usually a very long rod (12 foot and longer) and thus the taper of SPEY line is different. Where normal weight forward line is around the 30' range (front taper) a Spey will be around 70'.[/size][/black]
[black][size 3]You will be using both hands and doing more of figure "S" to get the line off the water and recast.[/size][/black]
[black][size 3]Orvis (and I am sure Teeny) have a Multi tip line for spey that cost a fair share but well worth it cause you are getting basically four lines. Shooting head on the multi tips are 59' to 68' and with an overall length of 110' to 114' as aposed to regular line being 90'.[/size][/black]
[black][size 3]There is a new fad on the market now that is called a "Switch Stick" which is a 12' regular fishing rod in like 5wt and up. They do have the double grip also. They are becoming very popular for Tubers.[/size][/black]
[black][size 3]Generally Spey casting gear is 7 wt and up, so now think Switch for the lighter gear.[/size][/black]
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[Tarpon4me]

So, in other words, a set up like that is not for the novice fly angler. It sounds like it would hold a great advantage for a skilled fly angler. However, from the sounds of it, would take a great deal more practice to reach a reasonable skill level to be successful with the rig. Thanks for the info flygoddess! []
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[Dryrod]

[font "Poor Richard"][green][size 3][cool]Why is a form of casting first developed in the mid-1800s the hottest technique on salmon and steelhead rivers? [And you all thought that it was a new fad] Because with a spey rod, you can put a fly in front of a distant fish without wearing your arm out. [/size][/green][/font]
[font "Poor Richard"][green][size 3]The method was first developed on Scotland’s River Spey, where conventional fly casts are made nearly impossible by high banks. Using 15- to 20-foot rods crafted from greenheart and bamboo, salmon fishermen were able to power double-handed casts to salmon lies 100 feet or more away without using a back cast that would snag the brush behind them. [/size][/green][/font]
[font "Poor Richard"][green][size 3]Today, most salmon and steelhead anglers in the Pacific Northwest fish with spey rods, and the approach is also catching on in big-river trout fishing. The resurgence of interest is largely due to modern graphite fibers that can be built into long rods that are extremely light in weight. This leads to one of spey casting’s biggest advantages—less arm fatigue. It is far less taxing on muscles and tendons to cast a long rod using two hands all day than it is to cast a shorter, one-handed rod. [/size][/green][/font]
[font "Poor Richard"][green][size 3]Spey casting offers other distinct advantages for a wading fisherman. First, he can reach distant lies from any spot in the river because he doesn’t have to worry about obstructions at his back. Second, he’s able to mend line and control the drift of his fly at greater ranges than he could with a single-handed rod. [/size][/green][/font]
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[Tarpon4me]

Thanks for the follow up Dryrod! Looks like my scottish relatives had it all figured out. [cool] Now I know fly fishing is in my blood, I shouldn't have any problems. []
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[ChickenFoot]

First off, thanks everyone for the info.
Hey tubeN2, I have been using home rolled salt water flies and a 9' 8wt for the last couple of years. Their are a couple of flies that work very well in the surf for me, one of them I call "speck smak", when specks are schooling up in the surf you can mop-up on them. When I get a chance I'll fire-up the camera and post a few picks.
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[tubeN2]

Sounds cool bro. I can't wait to see them. I use a 9', 9 1/2' and a 13' rod for speying. I prefer the longer rod though unless I really need to finnesse a tide situation.[cool]
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[speyghillie]

Hi Everybody,
I have been looking at the forums on this site for a while, but just signed up.
I work on the river Spey in Scotland as a Ghillie, i would recommend Scott Mackenzie's DVD , for anyone interested in Speycasting it really is the best out there, and Scott is three times world champion, and a Highlander like myself. [cool]
I won't post a link as i am new on the site and not sure if that is allowed.
Thanks
Gordon Macleod

[#ff0000]****I have approved this link for your post*****TN2
http://www.canadianflyfisher.net/dvd.html
[/#ff0000]
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[tubeN2]

Welcome aboard speyghillie and thank you for sharing important information with us.

Thank you for respecting the rules of the forum as well by not posting links prematurely.

Feel free to send me a Private Message with the link that you have. I can review it for you and if it is within the guidlines, I will be glad to add it into your post for you.

If it doesn't meet the guidlines then I will let you know if there is a discrepency.

Welcome once again and we look forward to sharing with you here.[cool]
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[speyghillie]

Thanks for the welcome (tubeN2) Speycaster,
Well thats me bought another rod for my trip to BC , you would think after all these years i would have enough , and i have... but just had to get another one.
I am flying to BC to run a couple of Speycasting classes which is always great fun, hope to do a bit of fishing, and if i'm lucky enough catch a fish or two.
Again thanks for the welcome.
Gordon.
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[tubeN2]

Good luck in BC. I hope all goes well.

I also do more speycasting as opposed to traditional casting. It just seems to be better for me on the Saltwater.[cool]
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[flygoddess]

What grain line do you use, or do you use regular fishing line?
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[macfly55]

he uses an anchor line.. [sly]

MacFly [cool]
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[tubeN2]

I use a few different types of line depending on what I am fishing for, the speed of the depth that I need to reach or the weight of the fly that I intend to use.

The first type that I use for topwater with lighter flies (just under 1/2 oz lol) is the Climax Tropical Saltwater line. It floats so my fly remains a couple feet under the surface. This is a straight floating line in the 7f range.

The second type I use is the Climax Saltwater Ghost tip in a I-WF12F. This one is a floating/intermediate tip and has the same characteristics as a Flourocarbon line. It is best for the fish that like stealth and can be line shy. The 1st 9 feet of this line is practically invisible.

The 3rd type that I use for my Zonkers and superlong/lite streamers is a Climax Boomer line. I use the WF10-I. It has a slow sink and can shoot a half a mile.......almost.
This is a good line for shooting long distances because of the special coating on it.

I did some R&D on this line last year. They did some improvements to it so that the average person with an extreme shooting cast or even the whip cast that I do can easily put the flies at the 120 to 140 foot mark. I can hit a bit farther with my 1oz fly patterns when fishing for Big Game fish.

When I am fishing from the shore, I will use the Boomer line or the Freshwater 225 grain type 6 line. It will descend at 4.5 inches per second. The only thing I don't like too much on this line is that it has a rear taper. I'm just not that kind of guy. lol[cool]
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[tubeN2]

The anchor line comes in handy when I'm in the toon and need to pull a stray tube that didn't read the tide report before going out that day. ha ha.[cool]
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[macfly55]

uuhhhmmm whats a tide report?? heheh

MacFly [cool]
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