FUNdamentals

On Saturday I got to take part in a long-awaited class. Schultz Outfitters hosted a spey clinic with guru Will Turek of the Midwest Spey School. I've been fishing a switch rod for about a year and recently added a dedicated two-handed rod to my arsenal. Thus far I've had a total of roughly 15 minutes of instruction - just enough to be dangerous.

Most of my outings have gone OK, but not great. I really only knew one cast. Wind, orientation, and river dynamics would completely throw my program into disarray. But I think it was good to get out and learn what I didn't know.

Will's program was excellent with a solid progression of knowledge.  We started with some classroom basics that really helped me get a better understanding of my rigs and how you match lines, sink tips, rods, reels, etc. As a bonus, I finally learned how a "cheater" segment fits in. I've been running cheaters on both of my rigs because a more knowledgeable guide told me I needed them. Now I know why, when, and how to figure out what length to use.

After class, we moved to some lawn casting. Again, some really great fundamentals that would come into play later in the day. Focus was on overhead casting and getting comfortable really working BOTH hands in unison. That extra "pop" from the lower hand on the backcast and shooting cast really energizes the whole program. He also made us cast to both sides - as I quickly learned, spey casting is an ambidexterous thing!~

By this point everyone was HOT (high in the low 90's on Saturday) and eager to hit the river. Will started us with the basics of building a double spey cast. Mastering the stop-and-flop of setting up the cast, as well as getting some sense of timing. After that, an exercise in clearing the line that helped with the sweep (to set-up the cast) had us prepped for the real thing.

One key element I learned was the components of the cast. First is the "contrived" cast that sets your anchor point. Next is clearing the line, which creates the D-loop the delivers the power of the cast. Finally is your overhead cast that delivers. What I learned was that the last two steps are universal, no matter the cast. What changes with a Spey, Double Spey, Circle, Snap-T, etc. is the contrived cast. And all of these are based largely on where you need the anchor point. This has been a HUGE source of challenge for me and resulted in some might nice collision casts. But I learned that happens as a result of having the rod tip inside the D-loop. And that's completely driven by wind, and the change of direction needed to hit your target. Wind upstream, D-loop upstream. Wind downstream, D-loop downstream. Basically you never want the D-loop blowing into you/your rod and collapsing into a shit show.

Now we were ready for the big show -- putting all the pieces together. Contrived cast (double spey first, later circle), clearing the line, then BOOM -- delivering the cast. Now it's all clicking and I know why I need each element. Of course my timing could have been better, and timing is critical. But that comes with practice. We also learned Circle Spey, ideal for an upstream cast (and a key for heavy flies and sink tips here in Michigan).

Will closed out the class with some thoughts on presentation. How to slow the fly and get good cross-current action, or speed up the sink rate of the fly for pocket water.

If you're doing ANY two-handed casting, I would strongly recommend a clinic of this sort. I learned a wealth of basics that will really help me build a solid repertoire. I would highly recommend Will Turek, if you have access to one of his classes. Really good guy with a very solid style of instruction that helps you learn and retain technique.

-Sean-