How did you learn . . .

[Salmo_g]

to Spey cast?

I putzed around with the long rod for 10 years with no instruction, and it showed. Not that the fish cared, but it was more novelty than function, except for roll casting when fishing along high stream banks.

I attended the Skykomish Spey Clave a couple years ago, and that helped. Then I attended a couple Saturdays at Aaron's in Carnation, and that helped even more. Then last month I took a couple lessons from Buckner, who's a certified instructor, and that helped quite a lot more. I'm getting downright snazzy with the Spey rod now. I had my most satisfying outing yet, Friday while fishing the Cowlitz. Of course, I need a lot more practice to be really stylin'.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

[Big Tuna]

I watched a Simon Gawesworth video...a bunch of times. I also watched a Derek Brown video. I think lessons would definitely be the way to go. Two of my brothers took lessons and it helped considerably.

[Panhandle]

I'm certainly not one to give advice on the subject. However, learn the double and single spey and practice your ass off. People I have spent time with who are proficient- practice, practice, practice. It's probably best to get a lesson before you develop bad habits and down load muscle memory that's hard to reverse.

[Steelie Mike]

Steve Buckner

[JRSly]

Mike Kinney gave me a quick demo and some intructions back when he used to work at Creekside. It got me started, but I am not good at it. I miss that guy, I haven't talked to him for a while.

Sly

[doublespey]

I was lucky - I realized it would shorten the learning curve considerably, so I took a class with John Hazel and John Farrar on the NF Sky many moons ago.

Then I was lucky enough to spend quite a bit of time fishing with some truely exceptional casters in the following years. It's a lot easier to pick up some of the refinements to the various speycasts when you're able to watch them repeated over and over when you're following a proficient caster thru a run.

Finally, learn to be your own analyst. Taking the time to understand the fundamentals of the speycast will pay dividends when your casting goes south (and it does for everyone, even the best casters) so you can make adjustments for yourself.

And, as SalmoG and Steve Buckner have mentioned . . . Practice!! Many seem adverse to practicing their casting, and I've also been guilty of poking a bit of fun at the wannabe "Spey Gods", but the plain and simple fact is that if you want to enjoy your fishing and not have to fight your casting all day the best way is to put in some dedicated practice time.

My .02,

Brian

[cnaka]

I went out with Mike Kinney for a day about 10 years ago when he was at Creekside. I also fished alot with friend, who's very good with a double hander. Unfortunately, fishing with my friend screwed me up big time. He used a long belly and I used a WC modified into what are now called skagit heads. Neither of us knew the finer points of long belly, short belly, etc and the rationale for each system. He was by far the better caster and I tried emulating him. In short, I was a mess until more info started coming out about short, medium, long heads and the philosophies around each. I've done 1-day seminars with other notable spey casters, each one of whom can mess you up if you aren't aware that they are probably teaching you THEIR style. I think lessons are the way to go, but like consultants, they need to be managed. Beware too many teachers. Learn one style, understand it very well, then branch out.

[KerryS]

I am fortunate to live on the Skagit and to have started with a spey rod in ‘90 or ‘91. Many of the spey notables of the area were still learning at that time and I got to fish with and learn from many of them. Although to this day I will honestly say that I have not broaden my spey horizons much beyond a few basic workable casts. I don’t have the need for much more then the basics; single spey, double spey, perry poke, I might be able to perform one or two more. Can’t do the circle spey worth beans but really never had much need to.

[Will Atlas]

I just started earlier this summer, but with a clinic from mike kinney which happens every weekend free, and a few times through the rio video, plus just going fishing, my casting is coming along quite nicely. Its mostly about going fishing...

[miyawaki]

I have been speycasting for steelhead for a little over 6 years and have had the good fortune to fish with some terrific casters that are also my good friends.

I fish mostly with Brian Lencho, "doublespey" on this board, and Ryan "Sparky" Petzold, the manager at Kaufmann's Bellevue, and Michael Mathis, a guide and absolute gonzo steelheader on the Snake and Clearwater rivers. Brian is a really good caster with a very distinctive style, that is very different from anyone else I've seen cast. Brian has most recently been working with TFO on their two-handed rods. Ryan is a left-handed caster which is something I have been trying to learn rather than reversing my casts. When I fish with the two of them, I feel like I'm on a morning radio show with "Ryan and Brian."

I have also spent many days on the river with Juro Mukai, the first US distributor of CND rods and Nobuo Nodera, the designer and owner of CND. I have also fished with Mike Kinney and always make it a point to see him at the claves. John Farrar and I are very good friends and spend a lot of time together in the winter on the Skagit. I'm pretty much self-taught and have learned almost everything I know from these guys. I have never hesitated to ask questions and, most importantly, I don't squander their generosity by not practicing.

Leland.

[Charles Sullivan]

I gave a nice man a can of Copenhagen. He gave me a one hour tutorial. Of course, I don't cast all that well.
Go Pats,
cds

[Ringlee]

Read Mike Maxwell's The Art and Science of Spey Fishing after I bought my 1st loomis two hander over 10 years ago. Rob Endsley helped me take my casting to actually fishing and cathing steelhead on the fly.

I also recieved some tips from Simon Gawesworth who helped me at the fly fishing shows. I became the little kid that could cast the whole pond and hit people hanging out at the end. Kerry Burkheimer was the only person that would let me test out two handed rods. G Loomis, T&T, Sage, and others said I was too young until they saw me cast.

Steve Buckner has helped me the last two years to get rid of my bad habits.

[Zen Piscator]

Steve Buckner

[Matt Burke]

George Cook. After that it was whom ever I met at the spey claves willing to answer a question. Mostly it's been 100 plus days a year fishing for steelhead for the last five years. I'm not a demo guy, but I can swing a fly.

[Luv2flyfish]

Steve Buckner -

Most everything I have learned about anadromous fish came from Steve. He took me under his wing shortly after I moved to WA going on 4 years ago. I started the 2-handers 3 years ago. I have spent a bit of time casting with Juro. At a few of the claves, Tyler Kushnir, Dana Sturn from the other board, Russ of Skagit fame gave me a couple additional tips as well as Way Yin. Also, Gene Oswald has been an influence as well. Its fun to watch him cast past the boats on the other side of the Cowlitz (he will deny this, but I have been witness)! Gene also helped me in my schooling path as well. But, 99% has been with Steve as with 99% of all of my fishing over the last few years (excluding guiding in alaska summer 05). I certainly spent a few mornings, afternoons, and evenings out practicing with Steve while he was preparing for the Two-Handed Certification.....Well, he was practicing and I was getting SCHOOLED! Come to think of it, Steve is usually on my case about something or another pretty much all the time! :beer2:

Practice is KEY! PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!! That goes for single handed casting as well if you ever want to get "good" let alone achieve the levels of the people named in these posts! And, from personal experience if you get a job and go to school and find yourself sucked into the toilet of "responsible adulthood" your casting will leave you much much MUCH faster than it took you to gain, as well as fishing time and subsequent success while fishing.

BOTTOM LINE: Flyfishing, steelheading and non-fishing jobs ARE NOT COMPATABLE! Slightly off subject, but relevant.

Watch your D-Loop!

[Scott Behn]

George Cook and his posse'...epecially the little guy they named the "wombat" after.

:cool:

[pescador do mosca]

Bought Rio's first video and my first rod and attempted to teach myself, didn't work to well. The rods sat for a bit and then attended a class by Simon G. and my whole game turned on. I am hooked and will never look back. I got the bug, I'm infected, I have been lost to the darkside!!!

To second the other posters, practice time cannot be understated!!! You must practice the right way though and if you are getting frustrated, take a break, then hit it again.

Remember, it's supposed to be fun, you are not supposed to get tired, you are supposed to laugh when you blow a cast, casting in itself is fun besides catching fish, the list could go on...

:thumb:

[FlyShopKristin]

Mike Kinney.

I've been heading down to Aaron's for the last few years where i have been lucky to cast with Mike. Even better....Mike now works at AATF. :D Between Mike, Aaron and others, I have learned an amazing amount about spey casting and fishing. I've also been fortunate to have a number of people share their knowledge regarding lines, grain weights, etc... (thanks Bert!)

Getting some basic instruction (before bad habits form) is helpful. And - practice, practice, practice.

People in the Northwest are extremely fortunate to have great opportunities to learn to Spey cast. In this area there are so many spey events, great instructors, and weekly 'days on the river' - both in Carnation and Monroe.

[Coach Duff]

George Cook gave me a course first. I borrowed a buddy's Bruce and Walker and tried to incorporate Mike Maxwell's stuff without being smart enough to go learn from Mike Maxwell. That's probably a good thing for both of us. ;) I could have won some jousting contests in Old England with that giant piece of hickory. Plus I had no idea what I was doing. Should have listened to George a little closer huh? So that was the end for awile. I refused to drop my one handers and 7 thousand spools of lines, head and tips. When I picked one up again I had forgotten everything. (I still do that from time to time now for 20 minutes or so.:D ) I mean everything. Scott O'Donnel gave me the basic course again. This time I actually pulled my head out of my butt and kept practicing and fishing the spey. Those were Sage brown 9140 days. That was "the" rod when it came out. Then I got into Scott Arcs when they came out and windcutters. Then I got into heads, slick shooter type running lines and Mesiers MKS rods and haven't looked back since in winter. I'll stick with that setup for a few years at the very least. I don't have the money or time to stay "cutting edge" these days. I'm sure something "better" will come out tomorrow morning, but I'm passing for some years. I like the rods, style and system I've got now and will stick with it. It works well for me in winter and spring. In the summer I still prefer the smaller hike in rivers where trout and char and incidental catch stuff keeps it interesting with lighter one handers, but I'll spey a full floater or lighter tip on the Sky and the Cowlitz and all the other hatchery highways for summer runs. I caught fish before the spey, but not nowhere as many with one. That's a fact in my fishing world. Now because of coaching, I'll hit anywhere the fish are supposed to be from California to BC if the window opens. Depends on time, money, if I'm in the state, you know the factors. I even bought a C&D Tracker 5/6 for trout spey-rodding last year. I'm done, I surrendered to the spey gods with the head down and the white flag up years ago. Coach

[Ringlee]

George Cook and his posse'...epecially the little guy they named the "wombat" after.

:cool:

The Wombat is a bad ass Cast! I do it all the time after watching the Rio Video.

[Skilly]

Struggled on my own when I lived in Prinevill, when I moved to Winlock and the Cow one of the local guys ( Spey God) Gene Gene the casting machine felt sorry for me and took me under his wing. Now I can fling this thing.:thumb:

Skilly

[gbeeman]

Dec Hogan. I took a guided trip with him on the Skagit several years ago with the express purpose of learning to spey cast. He was a very good teacher. I since have followed up with guided trips with Ed Ward and Brian Silvey. Evereytime I fish with one of these guys my casting gets better. Other than that it's just time on the water.

GBeeman

[Ed D]

Took a class through Puget Sound Fly Co. Great investment! I'd hate to go through that learning curve w/out some more formal help
-Ed

[PT]

Self taught. Too proud to admit that I don't know it all and get a lesson.;)

I did fish with JD Love and he helped out a bit. But, I think he realized my bad habits were etched in stone so he kept saying nice cast.

First rod was a Loomis I bought quite a few years ago from Mike at Ted's. After wasting money on "a few lines" I finally got it lined properly. Again, too proud to ask someone that could have dialed me in the first time. Lots of trial and error on rods and lines. Lucky enough to spend 100+ days a year on the water flailing away. I'd consider myself a better fisherman than I am caster and that's ok with me. A couple different casts is all I need to get my fly where I want it to be.

Having said all that, I think it's time for a couple lessons. My joints aren't getting any younger and the easier I can make things the better off I'll be.:thumb:

[John Hicks]

Steve Buckner

Jim Rusher

James Mello ( :p )

Simon Gawsworths Modern Spey Casting DVD

Steve took me aside last year on the O.P. and spent time showing me the ropes on his rod. I fell in love with the two hander that moment. I don't know if it was Steves cute butt in his Simms waders or the 14 foot rod. :p :p :p

[Panhandle]

Whoa guy! :eek:

[Gldr1]

Took semi-private lessons from Aaron, he is dedicated to producing competent Spey casters, plus offers a variety of rods to train upon. I feel I benefited from these lessons in a relatively short time to a point of competence where I could feel comfortable on both banks of the river using the Skagit system.

GT

[fredaevans]

I guess I really am the 'old greying guy' around here. Back in the mid-1950's from "Mr. Coles" on a green heart rod. If you've never used one, trust me, they're just as heavy as you think (but at 10 or 12 anything would be 'heavy':hmmm: ). Silk line and all.

Second introduction was Sage's intro of the 9wt "Brownie" back about 1984-1985. Purchased the rod direct from Sage as no one carried (or would order for that matter) in California. Gather it was #4 in the open production run. From that point on it was 'self taught' with a good dose of real instruction from Steve Choate and Way Yin at the Charity Spey Casting Clinics.

[Hal Eckert]

I guess I really am the 'old greying guy' around here. Back in the mid-1950's from "Mr. Coles" on a green heart rod. If you've never used one, trust me, they're just as heavy as you think (but at 10 or 12 anything would be 'heavy':hmmm: ). Silk line and all.

Second introduction was Sage's intro of the 9wt "Brownie" back about 1984-1985. Purchased the rod direct from Sage as no one carried (or would order for that matter) in California. Gather it was #4 in the open production run. From that point on it was 'self taught' with a good dose of real instruction from Steve Choate and Way Yin at the Charity Spey Casting Clinics.

Yep your the oldest for sureiagree :p

Started in 2001 with spey rods, but was doing some basic spey casts with single hander in the 90s. Took one lesson in 2002 at a spey clave since then all books, video, internet sites, and self teaching.

:beer1:

BG

[fredaevans]

Thanks Hal, I appreciate your support; that said, 'dirt is older,' but not by much.

[solduc]

Salmo
Never had the attention span to watch the videos or read the books. Mostly self taught through watching others and spending a lifetime on the river.

Late 70's ran into a guy on Lower Sol Duc toting an 18 ft carbon fiber rod he'd picked up in the U.K.. I'm sure you know him. Knapsack had a tape player and he'd hit the play button whenever he hooked a fish.. music of Mozart on a late Spring morning led me to Eric and his long rod. Anyway wasn't impressed with the big cumbersome rod, except when he finished a run , he'd often strap an ambassadeuor 5000 to his rod and refish the drift with float and spin n glo.

Early 80's I was a spending lots of time on Snake and Grande Ronde. One October morning a VW van pulls up to Hellers Bar. Jimmy Green and another fellow (I can't recall his name) stepped out and assembled some 16 ft rods that Jim had designed. Still too much rod for me, but more impressed this time, and within the year picked up the long rod and made serious attempts and learning to cast. Still learning, but have had the occasion to watch and fish with some of the spey casting luminaries in the years since.

[Salmo_g]

Solduc,

I did know Eric. He worked on the OP for Jeff Cedarholm in 79 and 80 and found his true religion on the Duc. I know that he had a 12' Sharpes that he picked up when he was in the UK and a 12' Fenwick that was made mostly for the European market. I saw him fishing those rods on the NF Stilly when I first met him. I never saw the 18 footer.

My first Spey rod was one of Jimmy's 16' prototype blanks. I called it the thunderstick. The first steelhead I caught on it was a 6# hatchery dink. I was roll casting along a brushy bank and had no place to land the fish. So I reeled it up to within a few feet of the rod tip, and like it was a little tiddler, I picked up the rod with steelhead dangling below the tip, and derricked it over the streamside brush and layed the fish on the bank behind the brush. I set the rod down and then walked up the bank and around the brush to retrieve the fish. I knew then and there it was more rod than I wanted to fish with on a regular basis.

Small world.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.