Gmstuart1 wrote:I'm curious what you think about single handed spey. I've had some well known guides tell me it's completely useless and the Rio single handed spey line "Solves a problem that doesn't exist". I don't agree with them, but I didn't have the best answers for them either....change direction?, keep your fly in the water more?, It's fun? The other obvious reasons for any type of roll cast? The argument from the guide was that if you want to spey cast get a spey rod.
I had a discussion with Morsie when he was fishing on our boat in Exmouth last year. He asked me what I thought of the new SH Spey requirements in the upcoming MCI exam. At the time I thought there were probably better things they could be testing if they were changing the MCI test. I was naive .... (I still am!
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I'm studying to do that exam now so I'm spending quite a bit of time performing the SH spey casts. They were foreign to me, being a predominantly SW fly guy. I have little need for most "freshwater" techniques (e.g. most mends, curve casts, slack line presentations, etc) and I had never even tried the SH Spey stuff until they were included in the exam.
They have transformed the way I fish. Far from being a set of esoteric casts used only in certain circumstances, I am finding times to use some of them on nearly every journey to the salt. They are very efficient change of direction casts, so if I'm fishing a flat or a line of snags, I've now got the ability to rapidly present my fly to fish in almost any location with minimal (fish-spooking) false casts.
Of course, I must change the way I think about cast selection from the traditional frames of reference (e.g. "downstream wind, left bank" or "upstream wind, right bank") because that doesn't work on a windy flat with fish coming from any direction and no current, but doing so actually simplifies the cast selection process for me. (I think in terms of "upstring" or "downstring" winds, the string direction being where the fly line is before initiating the next cast.)
I somewhat agree with the guide, but not for the same reasons he cites. The SH Spey line from Rio isn't needed to make a spey cast. A standard DT line and many WF lines will work unless they are "front loaded", like those marketed as "loading modern rods quickly". The SH Spey line from Rio only solves a problem for people who don't want to invest time practicing with their current line.
I now think the SH Spey casts being included in the MCI exam is vital. I think some of them (e.g. the L & R snake rolls) should also be in the CCI exam because they are just so useful for most fishing we do.
BTW, If there's an argument against a 7wt rod being used in the exam, it's because the Hot Torpedo doesn't come in that line weight ....
Cheers,
Graeme
