You probably know by now that I’m a big advocate of spey casting and spey rods, and that, right now, that’s what gets me jacked-up when I think about fishing. And it is winter steelhead season, as I mentioned in the most recent post. So, on that same angle, I thought I would offer a little more education for those of you just getting into throwing the big sticks, and a reminder for those of you who already know what you are doing. Little things make a giant difference in spey casting and, at first, you’ll need to mentally run down a checklist before each cast, unless you’re a natural, which I am not. So, here are a couple great, great tips from our friends at Deneki Outdoors where you can learn lots about spey. Check them out and book a trip to the Dean River or Alaska and those boys will teach you right.
Skagit Casting – Keep Your Hands Close
When you’re making spey casts in the Skagit style, try to keep your hands as close to your body as possible!
Ed Ward, long-time guide at Alaska West and one of the fathers of Skagit-style spey casting, has been called “the man who can spey cast inside a phone booth”. That’s a bit of an overstatement, but the point is well taken – Ed’s casting stroke is super compact, and his hands stay really close to his body at all times.
This point really only applies to short heads like we use in the Pacific Northwest. If you’re casting a 15 foot rod and a long belly line, your sweep needs to be big enough to get that big belly up and into the D-loop – and you just can’t do that with your hands close. In Skagit casting these days, we’re using rods mostly in the 11 to 13 1/2 foot range, and heads in the 18 to 27 foot range – and with those kinds of setups you can make great casts with a really compact stroke.
Why You Should Keep Your Hands Close
It’s much more efficient. The physics is pretty simple if you think about it – your body is rotating throughout a spey cast, and it takes less force to control a mass that’s closer to the center of rotation. Keeping the rod close to you makes better use of power generated from your hips. It also loads the butt section of your rod more, and we all know that’s the easiest way to generate more power with less effort.
It’s easier on your shoulders. Putting load on your arms when they’re extended way out in front of you, or way up above you, is much harder on your shoulders. If you can cast with your hands and elbows close to your body, your shoulders will thank you! [NOTE: your fearless editor has terrible shoulders and physically can’t cast any other way]
It makes you use your bottom hand more. The only way to generate significant power when your hands are close is to pull hard on your bottom hand – trying to punch your top hand exerts force way up the lever and you get a lot less bang for your buck! The bottom hand is the key to powerful Skagit casts, so why not cast in a way that makes you use your bottom hand more?
Use Your Bottom Hand Throughout The Stroke
Today we’ve got a great nugget of casting wisdom from Brian Styskal. Brian has been part of our ridiculously deep spey casting talent at Alaska West for the past couple of years now; his third place finish at this year’s Spey-O-Rama is one of many feathers in his cap. He’s a super guide and spends lots of his fall around the Klickitat River.
Anyhow, when learning to spey cast, a lot of anglers have a hard time using their bottom hand properly. Early on, the focus tends to be on using the bottom hand during the forward stroke. In today’s video, Brian takes things one step further and talks about using the bottom hand in every part of your spey cast.
- Use it on the lift and when placing your anchor.
- Use it to drive power into the sweep.
- Think of the bottom hand as the source of power and the top hand as the fulcrum – during every part of your cast.
Have a look!