Salmon Spey Casting

SPEY CAST

A basic or jump roll cast with a change of direction. Why Spey-cast? Sometimes we may find ourselves on a river with trees, a high bank or other obstacles behind us. To do an overhead cast would be suicidal, add to that a heavy tube fly and a gusting wind we’ve got some serious safety problems.

There are two basic Spey casts; - the single and the double. Each has been developed for different wind conditions on the river. The only thing to go past your body will be a loop of fly-line and this will be downwind of you; the fly will always stay on the water in front of you.

Any Spey cast is made up of a sequence of events or stages, get one wrong and the rest will not follow. The most important one is the first, the lift to 45 degrees, this will give you the same pressure on the rod tip every time when you do the sweep.

SINGLE SPEY

An upstream wind cast off both banks,on the left bank the right hand goes uppermost on the rod (right bank, left hand). Stand square onto the target, on the left bank the line is fished out to the dangle, rod pointing downstream and tip almost touching the water. The arms will now be crossed, the lower hand on the rod going under the upper arm. The accelerating lift to a stop is done with just the right forearm to 45 degrees and slightly in towards your own bank (this will unstick most of the fly-line from the surface). A brief stop and the rod is then swept around in front of you, uncrossing your arms as you do so. As in the jump roll, there is a shallow dip to opposite your shoulder, then accelerating up into the roll cast position (with the rod ending up at 45 degrees behind and almost vertical). A good way to achieve this sweeping dip is to imagine that you are wearing a Mexican sombrero; the rod simply slides around the rim of the hat. As the end of the fly line alights and anchors onto the water the loop is formed behind and in line with the target, the forward delivery begins.

Movements: -

• Lift ___2/3 (and)
• Sweep_ 2/3 (and)
• Deliver_ and drift

DOUBLE SPEY.

No matter which bank you are on, right or left, this is the cast to use when there is a downstream wind. The idea being that the D-loop is formed on the downwind side of yourself. The stronger the wind, the easier this cast goes out. The line acts like a sail and the wind assists the line to unroll out over the water.

If you are on the left bank then the left hand goes uppermost on the rod, or if on the right bank, the right hand. The line is fished out to the dangle. Making sure that there is no slack in the fly line, (pull some in if there is, or roll cast it straight), the angler then faces square on to the target with the left foot pointing to the target. The rod is lifted vertically to 45 degrees in line with the home bank, (unsticking the line from the water). Before the fly-line drops, it is then swept upstream from that position parallel to the water. This is an accelerating motion to 45 degrees upstream and out from you, then stop, it is almost a weak side cast.

This will throw a loop of fly line upstream, as this loop begins to drop, follow it down with the rod tip to within a foot of the surface. At this point, the fly should be a rod length below you or the target line. The loop you have thrown upstream will be the line that will end up making the D loop behind the rod, after the next movement. This movement begins with a slow downstream sweep of the rod, parallel to the water, slowly accelerating keeping the rod tip under tension.

As you reach 45 degrees downstream below you, begin putting a bit more speed into the tip of the rod, and then back up into the roll cast position, so the rod is just off the vertical but back to 45 degrees behind. The loop will then form behind the rod in line with the target. The point at which you make the forward delivery (the basic roll cast) is the exact time the spray or riffle from the fly line ripping off the surface of the water ceases. At that point there is no more line going back into the loop.

Timings for these cast are a slight pause between key movements, or just say stop between each.

Movements: -

• Lift

• Sweep upstream parallel
• Stop and drop the rod tip
• Sweep downstream parallel
• Up into the roll cast position (wait for the spray to stop)
• Deliver forward cast