To spey or not to spey

Yep! Spey rods are the way to go on the Deschutes. I was hesitant to go over to the "dark side" but after 2 days of Deschutes fly fishing I'm sold I'm not a very good spey caster but even with my feeble skills I could still outdistance my efforts with a single hand fly rod.I even hooked a fish!!!!! :shocked:
Love that Sage 9140 14' for a 9 weight with a Lamson reel!
I'm sure there are going to be those who disagree but for me it's Spey for the Deschutes.

[ 08-06-2003, 05:16 PM: Message edited by: Stew ]

[Mojo]

The first time I fished the "D" I thought "this is the river that Spey casting was invented for". Anyplace you have a lot of brush and trees along the bank, and limited wading, is Spey country. I also like the idea of better drift control and easy mending.

[corkyking]

Spey is,without doubt, the best way to keep the bait in front of the fish. Even spey casting with a 9-10' flyrod is twice as fast as with a levelwind or spincast system.

Spey awey-

"He told us about Christ's disciples being fisherman, and we
were left to assume...that all great fishermen on the Sea of
Galilee were fly fisherman and that John, the favorite, was a
dry-fly fisherman."
Norman Maclean-A River Runs Through It

[gimmeumpqua]

Frankly, I hate spey rods....while you can cast farther, the rods are so big that catching the fish might as well be done on a Tuna stick. Nothing like a 10# summer steelie on a 6wt.

Kurt

[Steelheader69]

You don't need a huge spey for summerrun fishing. Go down to a 7wt. They aren't that bad. I actually prefer them. It's more the ease of casting. I've done a revised spey cast with my one handers, and they are nowhere near as friendly as the actual two handers. A quick D loop and toss away. You keep your line in the water longer. I agree, it's as fast as a baitcaster. But thats if you're running a longer bellied line (mid or grand spey).

Glad you like that 9140 Stew. That was my baby. But was told I would be put into better rods once I'm healed up. I can't wait to see these rods. That 9140 was a cannon. You can see why I hated selling her. But luckily you'll use her well. But she was my winterrun rod, or my OlyPen rod. I never used it for most of my summerrun fishing.

[Mad Mikey]

I'm with Gimmeumpqua for the most part. Spey rod too much stick for steelhead, even the 6wt seems like a sturgeon rod.
Some runs are best suited for looong casts but I still hook 90% of my fish a stones toss from the bank.
Learning a spey and double spey cast has improved my rod handling threefold with the single hander. You'll rarely see me back casting anymore unless I have to.