Single spey sequence

[Lou Bruno]

I begin my cast with the rod pointing downstream, towards the fly.
As I sweep the rod upstream, to place my anchor, I do not dip the tip.
I place my left foot forward.

Should I point the rod at the new target as I begin my cast?
Should I dip the tip when placing my anchor?
Does it matter what foot I have forward?

[Paul Arden]

Hi Lou,

The standard is to put your casting foot forward. Ie right shoulder, right handed, right foot forwards. This blocks the torso from rotating too far. Sometimes it's reversed for opposite shoulder to block, however the cross-body already does this so to open up slightly the thinking is to keep the same foot forward. Ie left shoulder, right hand, right foot forwards.

Dipping can cause a crashed anchor, you can dip particularly with the 90 change, but you need to accelerate at the end of the sweep to pull the line end into place.

How is your anchor coming in? If it skips you need a flat tip path at some point in your sweep. This puts a small wave down the line which creates your anchor section.

Make sure that you are facing your target at the beginning and then twist your body so that you are facing downstream.

This cast is the most difficult Spey cast and needs lots of practise. Particularly off shoulder. I'd recommend just practising the anchor time and time again!

Cheers, Paul

[Paul Arden]

Did this help or was it gobbledegook?

[VGB]

All reads fine to me except the bit about the flat tip path, I can't follow that.

Regards

Vince

[Paul Arden]

Ok when you sweep flat it sends a wave down the line, the length of this flat stroke being the length of the anchor (unless you pull some out).

I could draw a picture but that wouldn't help.

Cheers, Paul

[VGB]

Not if you draw the picture on the sand

What I think you are saying is that you start a climbing sweep, flatten the climb for a while, then resume the climb to complete the sweep. Is this it?

Regards

Vince

[Paul Arden]

Yes.

But there are other ways! You can dip for example and pull out, but that's best with 90. If you don't dip or go flat then I think you need to finish the lift earlier.

Cheers, Paul

[VGB]

Cheers Paul, I'll give it a go.

Regards

Vince

[Lou Bruno]

Did this help or was it gobbledegook?

Paul....yes. Wanted to see how the single spey with a single handed rod compared with a two handed.
I've noticed that the dip, depending on the source, can be included and not. It's nice to understand why "to dip or not."

[Paul Arden]

OK this is how I see the three ways to make anchors.

1) Finish the lift slightly too early and there is a small dog leg in the line. Because there is very little tension at the line end the dog leg can stay at the line end and form your anchor. I don't like this method because I find it a little bit unreliable. You can get very good at it with a fixed length of line.

2) Pick off so that the line is perfectly straight, introduce a horizontal path in the tip and then raise again. This sets up a flat wave in the line which you can watch run down the line and form the anchor. I like this method, particularly with smaller any changes.

3) pick off and then dip and sweep up with significant acceleration. If you don't accelerate you get a crashed anchor. With the acceleration the wave runs all the way through the line and the line end pulls through into place. I like this one best particularly for larger angle changes. It also gives me the best D/V loop.

I think you have a choice. The confusion is one person says do one, and another person says something else. They all work. If you just practised anchors for a year it would not be time wasted.

Cheers, Paul