Getting Started with Spey Casting
by
Randy Kadish
Perhaps you’re in the same fly casting bind I was in. You often don’t have enough room to make back casts,
and at your age casting a 7-weight fly rod for three or four hours leaves you exhausted and sore. Spey casting,
you read, will save you a lot of energy and ibuprofen.
So, you wonder, should you delve into your pockets and shell out the big bucks for a spey rod and line?
Eventually, I did, and then I immersed myself in spey casting articles and DVDs, until I felt ready to give spey
casting a go.
I headed to my local park, and plunged in—right into an incoming disaster.
I couldn’t set up an anchor. My forward casts, therefore, died before they were born. I felt I just needed more
practice—a lot more—but instead of relief in sight, I saw blown anchors and stillborn casts.
I didn’t need the grief, but I couldn’t let go.
Finally, after about two fishing seasons of practicing and experimenting with spey casting techniques, my
predicament came to a resolution, and I saw myself as a competent spey caster. So, to spare you a tsunami of
frustration, I’d like to share what I learned. What follows, however, is not an in-depth analysis of spey casting,
but rather a starting point.
SPEY RODS, LINES AND LEADERS: It’s vital that we match them to each other, and to our fishing situation. I
believe that we should start by choosing the right line. Here are our basic choices: 1. Long-belly lines are, for
most anglers, the hardest lines to learn how to cast. Their advantages are they allow us to make long casts,
without having to then retrieve much, if any, line—great if we’re fishing a wide river and want to pick up and cast
as soon as our fly finishes its drift. We will, however, need enough room behind us so that we can form a long D
loop. Also, these lines, as well as mid-belly lines, are not designed for casting sinking flies. 2. Mid-belly lines are
easier and less tiring to cast than long-bellies, so they’re a better choice for fishing smaller rivers, especially
when we have less room behind us. 3: Skagit lines are short-belly lines that make it easier for us to cast sinking
lines and heavy flies. (With a 6/7 Skagit line, for example, we can cast up to about size 2 flies.) These lines are
also great when we have limited casting room behind us. Because these lines are heavy, they’re good for
casting into a strong wind. Some casters, however, feel that Skagit lines are a bit noisy on the water. Also, we’ll
often have to retrieve a considerable amount of line after each cast—a plus if we’re fishing stillwater. (For short
spey rods—11½ feet or so—there are now short Skagit lines.) On the front of a Skagit line we’ll have to add a
floating or sinking tip and a monofilament or a fluorocarbon leader. We also might have to add a Skagit
Cheater. (The longer the spey rod, the longer the cheater.) 4: Scandinavian lines are light short-belly lines that
are quiet on the water, but somewhat limited to casting smaller flies, about a size 6 with a 6/7 line. On the front
of a Scandi line we’ll have to add, along with monofilament or flourocarbon, a polyleader: 10 foot leaders for
rods shorter than 14 feet (most Scandi rods), 15 foot leaders for longer rods.
We can also use polyleaders as part of our overall leaders when we’re casting a mid- or long-belly line.
We have to experiment to find what length leaders work for us. Here's some general rules for mid-, long belly
and Skagit lines: If we’re casting a floating line, our leader—including the tip if we’re casting a Skagit line—could
be up to about 1.5 times the length of our spey rod. If, however, we’re casting a Scandinavian line, our leader
could be up to 2 times the length of our spey rod. If we’re using a sinking polyleader or casting a heavy fly, we
should shorten our leader. If our leader is too short our anchor will probably land too far behind us and be too
short. If our leader is too long, we’ll have trouble lifting the fly off the water during our back swing—more about
that later—and our anchor will be too long. An anchor that is too short will not have enough water tension to
load our spey rod at the start of our forward cast. An anchor that is too long will have too much tension and grip
the spey line. In either case, our cast will be underpowered.
Now that we’ve chosen our line, we must choose our rod. Some spey casters use the rule of 5, meaning that the
length of our spey rod shouldn’t be more than 5 times the length of the belly of our line. I, however, prefer a
little over 4 times. For example: If my spey rod is 12 ½ feet, the maximum length of the belly will be about 52 feet.
Finally, we must choose a reel. Because spey lines are thicker than traditional fly lines, we must use much
larger reels. For my 6/7 Scandinavian line, I use 8/9 large arbor reel. Before buying a reel, I suggest trying on
the line.
Now that we’ve chosen our line, rod and reel, we must turn to the techniques of spey casting. Yes, there are
many spey casts: Single Spey, Double Spey, Perry Poke, Snap-T, etc. I believe all of them become, to some
extent, dependent on being able to correctly execute a Single Spey (often referred to as a Switch Cast if we’re
not changing casting directions).
To make my casting descriptions clearer, I’ll assume we’re casting right-handed, with our right hand on top. Let
me begin by saying that there are many different opinions about spey casting techniques. In the end, therefore,
we’ll have to experiment and see what works best for us.
THE STANCE AND GRIP: Most right-handed (right hand on top) spey casters begin with their right foot forward.
This closed stance helps prevent us from rotating our hips too far during the back swing. If we put our right foot
too far forward, however, we will lock our hips during the forward cast and make it impossible for us to generate
maximum casting power. I like to cast with the front of my left foot in-line with the front of my right heel. I slightly
bend my knees and shift my weight to my front foot. (The longer the belly of my line, the more weight I’ll shift.)
We hold the rod lightly with our top hand near the top or the middle of the rod grip. When casting shorter rods
some casters hold the bottom grip with just their thumb and their index and middle fingers. Our elbows are close
to our body. We point the rod parallel to the water or slightly downward, with the rod tip close to the water. We
tightly hold the line against the rod grip with our index and middle fingers, or with all four fingers.
THE LIFT: It doesn’t start until we retrieve all slack from the line; then the key is to use our arms, not our wrists,
and execute the lift vertically, slowly and smoothly. If we want to execute a long back swing and form a long,
narrow D loop, we lift the spey rod to about 9:30. For a shorter back swing and D loop, we lift the rod to 10:30.
If we have a lot of line tension because of fast moving water, we must apply more power early in the lift. As more
line clears the water and line tension decreases, we apply less power.
After we finish our lift we immediately begin our back swing.
THE BACK SWING: Generally, the more line we have outside our rod tip the longer (and faster) our back swing
and forward cast must be. I think one of the keys is to executing a back swing is to think of our lower wrist and
our top elbow as swivels. This will prevent us from breaking our top wrist and sliding our elbows sideways, and
therefore ending our swing too far back. This casting defect might land our fly in a tree or bush behind me: a
dreadful calamity called a “blown anchor.”
We begin the swing by gently rocking back, and slightly rotating our hips and shoulders, and then shifting our
weight to our back foot. This rocking back will help us lift the fly off the water, energize our D loop, and help us
finish our back swing in position so that we can make a powerful forward cast. If, however, we rock or rotate too
far we might again blow our anchor. Also, it’s important that we move the rod in-sync with our weight shift and
body rotation. If we instead begin the swing by moving the rod we will probably over rotate it and land our
anchor directly behind us. Our fly might then hit us or the rod tip on our forward cast.
As we shift our weight, we keep our top elbow in place, and move our upper forearm in a circular motion, and
pretend that we’re using our rod tip to draw a big half-circle in the sky. We draw in one of two ways: 1.We move
the rod tip parallel to the water. 2. If we're casting a long- or mid-belly line, we slowly dip, then raising the tip so
that it moves in the path of a hanging clothesline. Either way, we finish drawing the half-circle by slightly raising
the spey rod, without changing its angle. This raising, often called an up-kick, will aerialize our fly, leader, and
line when we’re executing a single spey. (Unless we’re casting a Skagit line or executing other spey casts like
the Double Spey or Snap-T, we ideally want to aerialize our fly and leader and set up what is called an airborne
anchor.)
If we raise the rod too much, we will widen and weaken our D loop Also, our anchor might not land flat. (After I
begin my swing I like to watch my fly, that way once it comes off the water I
stop raising the rod.
To add energy to our D loop we should slightly accelerate our up-kick.
Six casting defects, however, will cause us to lower, instead of raise,
the rod tip during or at the end of our swing, and then to prevent us from
lifting our fly, leader, and line off the water. Also, we might land the anchor
too far behind us. 1. Rocking our back shoulder down at the end of the swing.
2. Moving our left elbow and forearm away from our body during the swing.
(Keep in mind: The lower we execute our lift and swing, the farther away from
our body our elbow and forearm will be at the start of the swing.) 3. Breaking
our top wrist. 4. Executing our up-kick by moving our bottom arm before we
move our top one, or by moving our bottom elbow farther way from our body.
(These defects will force our top wrist to break.) 5. Breaking our wrists during
the lift. 6. Lowering our top elbow. (This often happens at the end of our swing.)
Finally, we end the swing when we have finished drawing a half-circle.If we
don’t quite finish the swing, or swing too far, our anchor might not land in a
straight line. Also, we might execute our forward cast by changing planes. These two defects will cause the top
of our loop to swing and prevent our fly from turning over properly.
Even worse, our fly might collide with our line.
At the end of the swing our top forearm points to between 12 o’clock and 12:30 in the plane we are going to
execute our forward cast. Our knees should still be bent. If they’re not, we won’t be able to fully use our legs to
rotate and to generate power on our forward cast.
Next, we must watch our anchor land without turning our shoulders any farther. The front of the fly line should
be in-line with us or a little in front. If our anchor is too long, we probably swung back too slowly. If it’s too short,
or blow, we probably swung too quickly.
THE FORWARD CAST. After we complete our back swing we usually pause a split second—unless we’re
casting a Skagit line—to allow our D loop to form. (Some casters will argue that there no pause.) Ideally, we
want our floating line, leader, and fly to land flat and kiss the water. Pausing too long will cause our D loop to
start to collapse and weaken, and our anchor to get stuck on the water. To avoid this when casting long- or mid-
belly lines, we can begin our forward cast just before our anchor touches down.
We begin the forward cast by rotating our hips, and shifting our weight forward. Aiming inside the fly, and
applying about half the power with each hand, we slowly tighten our top-hand grip and begin our forward cast.
(What plane should we execute our forward cast? Some casters execute it with the spey rod pointed slightly
outward—not quite vertical. Other casters, however, execute the cast in the same plane they executed their
back swing. Experiment and see what works best for you.)
We increase acceleration. Finally, we abruptly stop the rod, let go of the line and loosen our top-hand grip,
without lowering the rod tip from the target line. If we stop the rod too late, it will prematurely unload, and our
cast will not have enough power.
One of the most common faults is “creeping” our hands and arms forward before we begin the forward cast.
Another common fault is not aiming the cast parallel to the water or slightly upward. If we aim too low, we’ll lower
our elbows and the rod tip and weaken our D loop.
TO CHANGE CASTING DIRECTIONS: Before we begin our lift, we turn our body and point our front foot at the
target. That way when we finish our swing our anchor will point a little to the right of the target. When changing
directions, some casters find it helpful to finish their lift a little higher.
CASTING SINKING FLIES: Spey lines, except Skagit lines, are not ideally suited for casting them though we still
can as long as the fly and tippet, especially after they absorb water, are not too far underwater, and therefore
cause a lot of water tension at the start of our forward cast. (Our fly will then lag and cause our loop to badly
tail.) So, if we’re executing an airborne anchor cast, we’ll begin our lift with a mini-snake roll, and then we’ll
begin our forward cast before the fly touches the water. If we’re executing a sustained anchor cast, we’ll
increase the acceleration of our swing and the height of our up-kick, forming a high D loop with a short anchor.
In either case, it’s important that we don’t lower our elbows and the rod tip at the start of the cast and allow the
fly to sink.
SCANDINAVIAN LINES: With these light lines we want to execute a shorter, faster forward cast, applying about
70 percent of the power with our lower hand. To help us do this, we place our top hand in the middle of the rod
grip—this is often called underhand spey casting—we begin our forward cast with our bottom hand and then
stop our cast with our top hand.
Because these lines are light and short, they’re prone to blown anchors, so during our back swing we make
sure to keep our hip and shoulder rotation to a minimum and our bottom elbow close to our body. (When
executing a Scandinavian Cast, most of the circle we draw in the sky will be ahead of us. Also, if we are blowing
our anchors or just landing them too far behind us, we can try: 1. Executing a lower lift and then having more
line on the water at the start of the back swing. 2. Drawing a smaller circle in the sky. In either solution we will
slightly raise the rod tip during the back swing so we don't finish the swing with the rod pointing too low.)
Finally, many Scandinavian casters keep the fly and part of the leader on the water during their back swing.
While this will help prevent them from blowing their anchor, it will also prevent them from executing the longest
possible cast.
MID- AND LONG-BELLY LINES: Based on our skill level and/or the length and action of our spey rod, we might
want to begin our lift with some of the belly inside the rod tip. The longer the belly of our line the more we’ll have
to rotate our hips and shoulders to generate more power on our back swing. To do this, some right-handed
casters start with their left foot slightly forward. (This is called an open stance.)
SKAGIT LINES: With these heavy lines we want to execute a continuous, waterborne cast, which means that up
to half our sinking- or floating-tip maintains contact with the water during our swing. This is often called a
sustained anchor. Because there’s less chance of blowing a sustained anchor, many Skagit casters also use
open stances.
IN CLOSING: Please wear sunglasses and read up on wading and spey casting safety before you go.
FOR FURTHER READING AND VIEWING:
Fly Fishing for Striped Bass, by Rich Murphy: Wild River Press, 2007.
Fly Casting Scandinavian Style by Henrik Mortensen: Stackpole Books, 2010.
Spey Casting by Simon Gawesworth: Stackpole Books, 2007.
Two-Handed Fly Casting: Spey Casting Techniques by Al Buhr: Frank Amato Publications, 2006.
Rio’s Modern Spey Casting DVD.
Skagit Master Featuring Ed Ward DVD.
Scott MacKenzie’s Spey Casting Masterclass DVD
Andrew Moy Spey Nation 2010 (Youtube)
The Closed Stance Start Position
The Lift to 10:30
The Position At the End of
the Back Swing and Up-kick
the Back Swing and Up-kick
The Presentation Cast Finish Position