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BWO Dry Flies
The Wooden Boat
Spey Casting

Spey Casting for Steelhead and Salmon: 
An introduction to Gear and Techniques. (Part-5)

Way Yin, M.D.
Continued from: 03/30/03 "Insider"

Cardinal Rule of Spey Casting #2: 
The Spey cast is performed with a “Quiet” upper body.

Once you have mastered the basic power stroke:

·         Once the proper mechanics of the power stroke have been ingrained, you should practice leading the cast with your pelvis.  The pelvis should slide forward to start the forward cast.  Remember to keep your upper body and head quiet, and not to flex at the waist.  The subtle forward slide of the pelvis is one of the secrets to effortless long casts and casting a tight loop into the wind, and is employed by all good Spey casters.  As we will soon see, the forward slide of the pelvis is also a crucial timing mark for the forward cast.

Once mastered, you will see that the forward casting motion, or power stroke, will be identical for all of your right handed (right hand up) casts.  It is vital that you strive to perfect this motion.

Having mastered the basic forward casting motion, it is now time to learn the “Switch Cast”, or “Live Roll Cast”, which turns a dull, lifeless roll cast into a dynamic cast capable of throwing tremendous amounts of line.  The Switch Cast is the fundamental building block for the Single Spey Cast, which is the most dynamic and energetic of the Spey casts.  Key concepts we’ll cover in this section include the Lift, the Loop, and the Grip, or Anchor Point.

·         To animate the forward roll cast, continue facing downstream, and strip out an additional 20 feet of line, so you now have about 60 feet of line dangling, or on the “hand down” in front of you.  If you try to roll cast this amount of line, you will find that the end of the line will not likely ever clear the water.  We must now learn to aerialize the line with a Spey “backcast” (also known as an “underhand throw”) to form a dynamic loop of line which we will use to execute the forward cast.  From this point forward, all the Spey moves we will perform must be performed with the line under tension.  Any sudden loss of tension in the line will result in a poor cast; indeed we will look at any loss of line tension during the cast as an indication of a problem.

·         Beginning with the Switch cast, you will begin to appreciate one of the fundamental differences between the Spey cast and the overhead single hand cast: the Spey cast is performed with the line under constant tension.  Potential energy stored in the rod during the Spey movements is balanced by energy stored in the line.  This potential energy is put to use and converted to kinetic energy during the power stroke you just learned.

The Lift

To facilitate clearing the line during the Loop, or backcast, the “Lift” is performed.  The Lift is a relatively simple motion, but vital to casting well.  In Spey casting, an ineffective or jerky Lift will result in the development of slack in the line during the cast, effectively destroying the cast before it is begun.

·         To perform the Lift, it is vital that the rod be lifted towards the sky as horizontally as possible.  The Lift must not involve hinging of the wrists, which will result in an exaggerated “È” shaped belly or loop of line generated on the backcast, loss of tension, and an excessively large, messy, and tangled Grip.  A “È” shaped loop will ultimately result in a messy Grip, severe frustration, and fouled leaders.

·         The Lift is performed by simply raising the rod as horizontally as possible towards the sky, with the rod tip angled skyward slightly.  Both arms must participate in the lift, and there must be no hinging.  The motion is very similar to that which you would use raising a shotgun to your right shoulder, cross–handed.  The Lift may be performed as slowly as you would like, and must never be rushed.

The Backcast, or Loop (also known as the “Underhanded Throw”)

The Spey backcast, or Loop, is probably one of the more difficult Spey casting skills to master, as it relies considerably on the development of “feel”.  The Loop is directly affected by a number of variables, including the speed of the current, the presence of a sinking tip, the length of line on the dangle, and a particular rod’s action and stiffness, but is well worth leaning well.  Once mastered, the Loop move will be used on a great many types of Spey casts, including the switch cast, the single Spey, the square cut, the double Spey, the circle cast, and the snap “T”.

·         The goal of the Loop, or Spey backcast, is to make the end of the line (and thus the fly) “jump” from the end of the downstream dangle to a spot just off the right shoulder (the Grip).  A loop of line is thus formed, and anchored by the Grip; its shape will have a major impact on the success or failure of the resulting cast.

[Tip: Before describing the Loop, I think the following imagery is very helpful.  Imagine you are a waiter in a restaurant.  You are holding, with your right hand, a tray full of drinks balanced directly in front of you, held out with a straight arm, at eye level.  Your goal is to bring the tray to a position just behind your right ear in one smooth motion, as fast as the drinks will let you, without spilling a drop, or causing any of the drink glasses to fall.  If you practice this without the rod, you will find that the path taken by your right arm will have to swing out, then up, with your right wrist tilting the tray slightly towards you as it swings from in front to the behind your right ear.  I know of no better analogy that quite matches the feel of the right hand.]

[Tip: To initially practice the Loop: following the Lift, take your left (lower) hand off the butt cap of the rod, and hold the rod butt cap against the right center of your chest, without dropping the rod tip.  With your right hand only, swing the rod out laterally as you bring your right hand to its firing position behind your right ear.  If done properly, you will notice that the butt cap of the rod will lose contact with your chest only at the end of the Loop, as the right hand finally reaches the firing position.  The butt cap will not be very far from your chest; this is the correct position of the butt cap at the end of the loop.  Simply grasp the butt cap at this position, and you should be in the ideal firing position. ]

·         During the Loop, the rod tip will appear to dip between the Lift and its destination at the firing position; as viewed from the side, this is really an optical illusion, as the rod tip describes an arc laterally away from you, then rises to the firing position.  The right hand doesn’t really drop during the formation of the Loop!