Skaget casting with Mike McCune

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I learned a lot of things about Skaget casting from Mike last week while floating, fishing, camping, eating and BSing on the Grand Ronde River in Washington.

Mike likes your the total head length of your line to be 3 to 3.5 times the length of your rod. If you try to keep it that length no matter what combination you use, it will make your stroke more consitant.

For maximum distance Mike cuts off the running line and uses Rio Slick Shooter flat mono shooting line. He uses 35# on small Spey rods (4,5,6) and 50# on larger rods.

Mike only uses old Hardy ratchet reels (click and pawl drag) and after using his I can see why. With that big rod you don't need much drag for steelhead and the sound is lovely.

Mike and Scott O'Donnell guide people on the Grand Ronde in Oct and Nov. It is a bargain because you get Skaget Spey casting lessons as well as guiding, camping and food.

They use Spey rods in Alaska now on big rivers for big Rainbows.

They also guide the Oregon coast for big winter steelhead.

People come from all over to go with these guys.


http://www.scottodonnell.com/

[matt johnson]

Bill,

Glad you had such a powerful introduction to casting and fishing with spey poles. With all of that line control at your disposal, you can really set up a tantilizing swing!

I am really interested in the Slick Shooter concept. How does Mike attach the Slick Shooter to the head? Does he attach it right to the fat part of the head, or is there a little bit of taper coming off the back of the head that the slick shooter is attached to?

Thanks, Matt.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Matt,

They leave some taper and then attach a small braided loop that they cover with AquaSeal.

I am not remembering how they attached the Slick Shooter flat mono to the braided loop though. Spider hitch? Surgeon's loop? Bimini? It shoots like crazy.

They really like your little Sage 6126 with the WC 11/12/13 back end plus any 15' tip.

Mike McCune, Scott O'Donnell and Ed Ward only swing flies for steelhead.

I call them the "Skaget Commandos".

[Jasonh]

Bill, do you know how far they cut these lines back? I am thinking of trying this with my anderson 1204 but am not exactly sure what to do? I really want to throw tips with this rod but have not found a good line for doing so yet.

Jason Hartwick

[Rick J]

Re the connection, I think Scott put a loop in the slick shooter but Mike just slipped a mono loop over the slick shooter and whipped it at the end. Mike indicated that Scott was going to switch over to this method.

Jason for the Anderson 1204 use either a WC 9/10/11 or 10/11/12. I liked the heavier one a bit more. Just get the belly section of the line without tips 1 and 2. If you want to use slick shooter, I would cut the running line leaving maybe a foot or less and loop it.

The Anderson rod rocks with this line set up. I was thrwoing a type 3 tip and a size 2 cone head leech with a small weighted trailer fly and the rod blew it out there with no trouble!

I think Mike may be down in Sacramento area this winter for some time and Bill will try to set up a mini skagit clave which will be a blast!

[Jasonh]

That would be really cool. I hope i am in town if we have a nini skagit clave. Looks like i will give this set up a try when i get back in town next week.

Jason Hartwick

[sculpin]

For those of you who wish to get some instruction on Skaget type of casting Mike Kinney who originally developed this method ,if I'm not wrong,gives classes in Medford. I think he will be back down mid winter ,contact Meiser for dates.
Here is a link for the recommended lines for different rods.
http://www.rioproducts.com/pages/speyrecs.asp
I took Mike's class last year and we went over making Skaget lines out of Windcutter butt sections. Basically starting with a Windcutter butt 2 sizes larger than what full Windcutter worked well on the rod.Then weighed both with tips and cut back the big butt to match if necessary.I don't think all that would need to be done with the Skaget lines that have come out since then.
I bought a 650grn Skaget from Gary Anderson for a trip to BC Jbird and I just returned from(will report soon) for a off the wall 10/11 14' rod I have. It worked great and I would see no reason to replace the running line ,but that's me. Actually I wouldn't worry about overlining a little for tight conditions either

Mark