single hand spey

[mo]

Question from a noob-
I know single hand rods can be spey cast, and with appropriate skill this can be made to work with traditional lines. However, how would one recommend lining a single hand dedicated for spey and not overhand casting? Following analogies of two hand overhead vs spey vs skagit, one would see a progressive increase in grain weight depending upon the style one is using. Does anyone have any guidelines for converting the aftma rating of a rod into a spey rating or if crazy enough to try water loading, a skagit style for single hand application? I.E. would one go up one or two line ratings in a steelhead taper to use for spey? It seems that this approach to fishing might deserve some further exploration and devlopment, especially on smaller creeks and tribs. Thanks mo

[Rick J]

http://www.speypages.com/speyclave/showthread.php?t=24411

check out this link if you want to go skagit with your single hander.

However, if you do not want to go skagit then just your regular single handed line should work fine. One of my favorite lines is the Wulff TT - due to the fine running line you can shoot line like crazy on a standard switch cast or with other more traditional spey casts

[Adam Grace]

The line recommendations depend on your rod and your casting style. I like the triangle taper lines as well. The steelhead line from Rio isn't bad either. I think that a longer belly can be important depending on your casting style. If you want a shooting head style like a Skagit head you might want to go 2 line sizes up with a line with a shorter head.

I am curious to hear what Jeff Putnam says about this topic though.

[mo]

Thanks for your interest and knowledgeable replies - This really helps me get started. Right now I am looking at it for small trout, but a skagit setup may be very useful for swinging in the smaller tribs for our migratory browns and steelhead. Look forward to further opinions on the subject. Thanks Rick for the excellent reference to a thread I missed. Mark

[J.R. Hubbard]

My best suggestion is to refine your casting. I use anything from a 1-6wt rod for trout fishing. A lot of the areas I fish have no space for back casting so using a spey oriented cast works great. For me, it doesn't require a new line or any special equipment, just technique.
If you are going for more distance, then look at a switch rod. Even with a floating line on a switch rod, you can get good distance and then still pop up for overhead casting. Otherwise you could always look at a small spey rod, maybe 5wt. Sage has a killer one!!

You should talk to local guide Bill Lowe. Not only is he a great spey instructor, but he also uses a single hand spey technique with his single hand rods.