90 degree change Single Spey

[Paul Arden]

One of my favourite casts! http://www.sexyloops.com/flycast/single-spey-90/

[jarmo]

Greetings Paul.

What exactly is the role of "cutting in" (crescent lift) in this cast?

• Is it to create slack in the line which is then easier to reposition into the correct plane (the D-loop plane) during the early stages of the sweep?
• Or is the purpose to create slack which will avoid sending the anchor too far upstream during the early part of the sweep? (That is, decrease tension during early part of the sweep.)
• Or are the two alternatives above actually one and the same thing?
• Or is it about something completely different?

As you can see, I am very confused.

[Paul Arden]

Hi Jarmo,

that's an excellent question.

Firstly it's very difficult - not impossible - to turn the anchor around 90 degrees with the pick-up and Sweep that you would use with narrow angle changes. "Cutting in" allows the anchor to roll out across the stream before sweeping it into position, which in turn makes these wider angle changes easier to execute. You can actually turn the anchor around through more than 90 degrees with this technique - and with a long length of line that is exceptionally difficult to do otherwise. One way of looking at it, is that you are repositioning the dangle into the air, in front of you, across the river - that's a more extreme version, but it's what is happening on a smaller scale.

I think that there are other advantages too. With a long lift, and then turning the line without the in-bank cut, there is not very much upward movement left to form the D. If you cut in however, afterwards on the initial Sweep around you can dip the rod tip, which in turn allows for a more upward angle later on when forming the D - or alternatively, more speed to really fire back the D/V-loop.

Finally, with the cut-in and wide Sweep around, there is more tension (not slack - there is only slack if you pause) which you can really feel during this cast. More tension results in more feel and a more dynamic D.

I'd be interested to know how others see it. Over the 25 years I've been teaching the Single Spey it's changed from always cutting-in, to never cutting-in and now back to cutting-in for wide angle changes. So ultimately what it really comes down to is what works best for you.

In a practical sense, how do you find the differences between cutting in and not cutting in with both 45 and 90 degree angle changes?

Cheers,
Paul

[jarmo]

Firstly it's very difficult - not impossible - to turn the anchor around 90 degrees with the pick-up and Sweep that you would use with narrow angle changes. "Cutting in" allows the anchor to roll out across the stream before sweeping it into position, which in turn makes these wider angle changes easier to execute. You can actually turn the anchor around through more than 90 degrees with this technique - and with a long length of line that is exceptionally difficult to do otherwise. One way of looking at it, is that you are repositioning the dangle into the air, in front of you, across the river - that's a more extreme version, but it's what is happening on a smaller scale.

This reminds me of the advanced version of the double spey where - instead of doing a circular white mouse move - you first kick a loop out from the bank before sweeping into the D-loop.

I think that there are other advantages too. With a long lift, and then turning the line without the in-bank cut, there is not very much upward movement left to form the D.

Or, you need to dip deep, in which case you risk a crashed anchor.

If you cut in however, afterwards on the initial Sweep around you can dip the rod tip, which in turn allows for a more upward angle later on when forming the D - or alternatively, more speed to really fire back the D/V-loop.

Ok, so you can dip less than in a high lift because of the lower lift? Have I understood this correctly?

Finally, with the cut-in and wide Sweep around, there is more tension (not slack - there is only slack if you pause) which you can really feel during this cast. More tension results in more feel and a more dynamic D.

Slack was an incorrect term. As you said above, you are pulling line from the dangle into air. From my perspective this means that you are increasing the amount of line you can reposition without creating a lot of tension. If you try to reposition the line that is in the dangle, there will be so much tension that the anchor will end up too high.

Having said that, after doing some research on this I found a video by Andrew Toft where he is excplicitly creating slack (by letting the line sag) for a wide angle change. The language is a wee bit difficult for me to follow, though.



BTW, great answer, as always.

[Paul Arden]

Hi Jarmo,

Lucky for you then that I moved to England when I was 10. I had a much broader Scottish accent than Andrew

At the very end of Andrew’s clip you have a more extreme version of cutting in as I mentioned here -

One way of looking at it, is that you are repositioning the dangle into the air, in front of you, across the river - that's a more extreme version, but it's what is happening on a smaller scale.

I’m not sure about the change in the height of the Lift as Andrew discusses. I would say that with smaller changes of angle you can get away with certain things, such as starting the Sweep with more line on the water, in which case you begin the Sweep with a wave shape at the end of the line which actually becomes the anchor. There are two ways of forming the anchor as I see it, one is that method with the rod tip constantly rising during the Sweep, and the other is to start with an almost straight line after the lift (a higher lift) and then make a flat spot during the Sweep. This flat spot sends a wave down the line which becomes the anchor on the 45 degree angle change.

to dip deep, in which case you risk a crashed anchor.

Dipping only crashes the anchor if you don’t accelerate with a long enough tip path afterwards in the second half of the Sweep. If you really want to fire the line back into an aggressive V-loop the best way is to dip first, otherwise it’s most likely that the anchor is blown. I’m an strong advocate of dipping for sure, but only after the basics have been mastered. When I first teach the Single Spey I teach to 45 degrees with no dip. I’m happy to introduce the dip with 90 degree angle changes.

so you can dip less than in a high lift because of the lower lift? Have I understood this correctly?

A better way of looking at it as having more space. Instead of only having 90 degrees to make the adjustments to turn the line around, cutting in gives you 135 degrees to play with.

If you try to reposition the line that is in the dangle, there will be so much tension that the anchor will end up too high.

We have two things going on during the Sweep: we have line that has momentum and it is being pulled by the line in front, which in turn is being pulled by the line in front of that and ultimately by the rod tip. In order to turn the very end of the line it has to have been pulled into place by the line that is forming the D-loop. I would argue that the longer the distance we can move the rod tip during the Sweep the more control we have with all the line.

One final thought: with short Spey tapers you are turning less line around. Cutting in still helps and it’s nice and smooth and rhythmical. Where I find it becomes essential is when picking up longer line lengths. For example ~20m of flyline outside the tip on a 9ft Rod. This is the head of a MED. I can’t turn that through 90 without cutting in. With cutting in it’s easy.

It’s nice to be discussing Spey Casts!

Thanks,
Paul

[Will]

Hi Paul

It’d be brilliant if you could get some video of your 90 deg. single Spey with 65ft of MED out of the tip. I’d love to learn how to do it.

I struggle to do that with a 65ft head and a 15ft rod!

Cheers

Will

[Paul Arden]

Yep it’s wont be fully 20m, Will, but a few metres less than this. I pick up from the 18m mark for Overhead. I’ll measure up and see what the exact length is.

Actually this could be a good monthly challenge. Maximum length of line pickup for a 90 degree Single Spey with a 9’ rod

Cheers, Paul

[Will]

Cool!

[Lasse Karlsson]

Yep it’s wont be fully 20m, Will, but a few metres less than this. I pick up from the 18m mark for Overhead. I’ll measure up and see what the exact length is.

Actually this could be a good monthly challenge. Maximum length of line pickup for a 90 degree Single Spey with a 9’ rod

Cheers, Paul

As soon as you complete the March challenge, we'll move on to August

Cheers
Lasse

[Paul Arden]