Two fisted fishing

[briansII]

Not a subject you see here very often. Time for you swingers to come out of the closet.

Anybody out there fishing with spey or switch rods. I wish I had more free time to devote to it, but I don't. What little time I spend doing it, is a blast. Much different, but not completely different, than fishing a single hand rod. It puts some spice back into my trout fishing, and adds a challenging dimension to steelhead fishing.....as if I need anymore challenge to steelhead.

Pretty places, faces, fish, and spey.

briansII

[FlyinFish]

Droool.... soon, very soon...

After my first day of trying out the spey casting I looked back at years of energy wasted double hauling. It is so much smoother, so much easier, so much more technical, and so much more powerful. I love it. Also working my way into a switch setup for trout. I've yet to have time to make a significant effort to chase steel, but I'll be trying for it this winter.

[Sasha]

It is still really slow out here at the moment. With the * weather, I'm going to wait until things pick up a bit before the two fister comes out. In the mean time I got plenty of other water to fish and hopefully the cold will keep some of the people home... Hopefully it does pick up because if it doesn’t, I am not going to even bother until next year. Besides I need to get a better "best" fish than I did last year

[meb]

I kind of took a year or so off from trout fishing and spent the time learning to cast a spey rod. I took a two day class with guru Simon Gawesworth and have spent a lot of time at various city ponds, city lakes and the LBCC casting ponds learning to cast with the two handed rods. Last year I fished for steelhead on two trips and for shad on one trip.

I enjoy the casting part of it and caught steelhead each time swinging or waking flies. I haven't used a spey for trout, but I would love to on the right water. The first place that comes to mind would be the Kern at the beginning of summer when some of the lake fish move towards the cooler water of the river. I've caught some large fish swinging streamers doing that, and a spey rod would be perfect. I'm game for other places if anyone has any ideas.

Mark

[Dry Fly Rie]

Holy Smokes!!! That last fish was amazing.

[beachbum]

The first big salmon I hooked and landed on a 13' 6' two hander convinced me there was something to this spey fishing. Not just effortless long casts, but the ability of the long rod in fighting big fish are really assets. Now, if I can just get time to use it this fall and winter...

[briansII]

I kind of took a year or so off from trout fishing and spent the time learning to cast a spey rod. I took a two day class with guru Simon Gawesworth and have spent a lot of time at various city ponds, city lakes and the LBCC casting ponds learning to cast with the two handed rods. Last year I fished for steelhead on two trips and for shad on one trip.

I enjoy the casting part of it and caught steelhead each time swinging or waking flies. I haven't used a spey for trout, but I would love to on the right water. The first place that comes to mind would be the Kern at the beginning of summer when some of the lake fish move towards the cooler water of the river. I've caught some large fish swinging streamers doing that, and a spey rod would be perfect. I'm game for other places if anyone has any ideas.

Mark

Sounds like you caught the bug! Awesome you had lessons from Simon. Caught steelhead BOTH times out swinging. You're way ahead of the game. Question for you. When practicing in stillwater, do you need to make adjustments when fishing/practicing in moving water?

I swing for trout on a single or double hand rod, more than I fish nymphs or dries. I really don't think there is a right or wrong river to use a two hand rod......not counting small creeks and streams. Maybe not a lot of Eastside streams, but a ton of Westslope and north water to swing. Which is to say, I bought a "trout" spey.

Unfortunately, trout and steelhead have taken a backseat to a couple warmwater species. I will get back to the longer rods soon..........hopefully.

briansII

[meb]

Lessons from Simon were great, but I wish I could take them now that I've spent some time with spey rods.

Yes, you do have to make adjustments. One adjustment is that in moving water everything happens much quicker. When practicing in a pond, you can let the line lay there on the water and think about how you want to swing the rod or make your D loop. However, I think you can develop some good habits and muscle memory on still waters. Plus when you're fishing it's hard to concentrate on your casting.

The other thing is that on the river you may have trees right behind you or you may be standing in a dicey spot. I fished this summer up on the N. Umpqua and much of the time I needed to make some serious adjustments while standing on rocks a few feet above the water with little room for forming loops. When I got home, I tried to recreate the situation on my local ponds.

I, too, bought a smaller 5wt spey that would be fun for trout, but so far I've only caught shad on it. And, I too, have been fishing warm water fish the last month or so. I'd like to swing some for some westside trout.

Mark

[flychunker2255]

I mess around with switch rods, but I've never cast a true spey rod. I'd like to learn some day, but I'm sure I'd be horrible at it. Plus not a lot of streams in my area that will work for it. Looks pretty cool though.