I am very interested in the concept of single handed spey casting as I feel it would be an added benefit when fishing rivers with limited back cast.

i was after help in answering the following questions?

1. Can you use your existing fly rod to perform the spey casts?
2. Do I need to change to a fly line with more weight in the head?
3. What action of rod is best suited for single handed spey casting?

Thanks in advanced.

speyuk

1) Yes
2) No
3) Harder with very fast rods, but still possible

Thanks for the quick reply.

Kind Regards
speyuk

I should have added that you will need a weight forward rather than a double taper, but just a normal WF will do (hope that makes sense!)

Thanks once again.

I currently use a WF 4 wt floating fly line.

Would the length of rod be a governing factor? e.g. longer rod an advantage?

Kind Regards
speyuk

There will be a length that feels most comfortable for you, but the best way would be just to have a go with your current set up and see how you get on. I only occasionally use a single hand spey cast so for me there is no point changing my set up to make spey casting easier as it would make my overhead casting more difficult. Unless you are going to be doing lots and lots of spey casting I would stick with what you have in the first place rather than buying a whole new outfit that you might not use much.

Can you spey cast with a double hander?

I have not used a double handed rod.

The river I currently fish has very limited back cast space. Approximately 40% of the river is not fished by anglers because of the limited back cast so learning to spey cast would certainly open up more of the river. The wise fish seem to know whether the fisherman can't catch them.

Kind Regards
speyuk

I would advise getting a lesson or 2 from an instructor in that case as I think it would be very difficult to teach yourself to spey cast with a single handed rod. I leaned to spey cast with a double hander and then taught myself to single hand spey cast, the timing, structure of the cast etc is quite difficult with a single hander (well it was for me) and I think a couple of lessons would save you time and frustration!

Thanks for the advice.

Kind Regards
speyuk

Need a WF ????? Must have been doing it wrong for the last 20 years then !
Have over the years spey type cast rods from 6 foot up to 16 foot ,the mechanics are very similar ,a longer rod gives a bigger loop which equates to more distance ,many of us older folks grew up using DT lines solely for roll and spey casts ,now us all kinds of lines from DT through to scandi heads and standard DTs via long bellies from Barrio and Wulf ,yet to try a Skagit ,but guess its only a matter of time there.

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