Spey casting is a casting technique used in fly fishing and can be accomplished with either a single handed fly rod, or a double-handed fly rod, often called a Spey rod. Spey rods can also be used for traditional overhead casting.
Spey casting is used for fishing large rivers for salmon, large trout such as steelhead and sea trout. The spey casting technique is also used in saltwater surf casting. Spey casting allows the angler to cast the fly avoiding obstacles like trees and high banks on the river bank. The two-handed Spey technique allows more powerful casts with more distance to be achieved often on larger rivers.
Spey casting originated in both Wales and Scotland in the mid-1800s. Before the name Spey cast was popularised in the late 1800s, named after river Spey in Scotland. This style of casting originally went by the name of the Welsh throw and under-handed casting. Therefore, the Spey cast was developed so one could successfully cast on a large rivers such as the Spey and the Wye and avoid any potential obstacles on the river bank that could not be managed using the over-head casting technique. When Spey casting was introduced, 22-foot (6.7 m) long rods were used. These rods were made of greenheart, a heavy wood imported from British Guyana, today, rods are only 12 to 15 feet (3.7 to 4.6 m) in length, so a proficient fly caster can cast a line up to 80-90 feet (24-27m).
There are two groups of Spey casts, the "air borne anchor" and the "waterborne anchor". The air borne anchor casts contain a backstroke that is in most part in the air. The line then falls to the water, and the forward cast starts as soon as the tip of the line touches the water (touch and go). The waterborne anchor casts are different, as they contain a backcast that stays on the water (a sustained anchor). In these types of cast, there is no requirement to achieve perfect timing in order to create the forward cast.
While there are many variations of the Spey cast, the basic technique is broken down into a few simple actions. With the fly line floating directly downstream on the dangle, with the line in tension, the angler first lifts the line off the water by raising the tip of the rod. The angler then sweeps the line backwards just above the water, and allows just the fly and leader to "anchor" the cast by touching the water, one to two rod lengths away. This back-cast is often referred to as the "D-loop", from the curving shape of the line between the anchor and the tip of the rod. While swinging the "D-loop", it is important to make one continuous, deliberate motion with the rod tip climbing at a 45-degree angle off the water. It’s important not to over power this part off the cast otherwise you will not achieve an anchor, this is known as ‘blowing the anchor’. As the D-loop comes around, the cast is completed by moving the rod forward (forward stroke) with a two-handed "push-pull" motion on rod handle while making an abrupt stop about 10 o’clock with the rod tip at the end of the forward cast. The cast is most easily compared to a roll cast, although by using the fly as an anchor, a Spey cast allows a greater loading of the rod and thus achieves greater distance than a roll cast.
The two most commonly used styles of Spey casting are the "Single Spey" and the "Double Spey". Mastering both the Single Spey and the Double Spey cast technique is essential if the fly angler is to be able to cast from either bank of the river in whatever type of wind that may be present.
Single Spey Cast
The Single Spey cast may be considered better by some, as one can usually cast the line further, and it can be used with winds blowing upstream. This Single Spey cast is part of the "air borne anchor" (or touch & Go) group of casts.
Double Spey Cast
The Double Spey cast is considered to be easier to perform than the Single Spey, but only because this cast can be performed more slowly and deliberately, and corrections made more easily during the break-down elements of the cast. It’s a sustained (waterborne) anchor casts in that some of the fly line stays in contact with the water at all times until the final forward casting is made. The Double Spey cast is useful in downstream winds. Other spey casts include the Snake Roll, Circle-C, Snap-T, Perry Poke etc.
6 сен 2024
