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Friends:
Here is a very nice article comparing spey (double handed) fly fishing to single handed fishing. Worth reading:
[url=http://www.flyfishsteelhead.com/stories/spey.htm:26e84]http://www.flyfishsteelhead.com/stories/spey.htm[/url:26e84]
Hope you enjoy! -Migs
Mig - Thanks for the article, I have saved it to the hard drive. I have never fished a two handed fly rod. Maybe I would like one but I must say, I have caught my share of Dollies, Steelhead and Salmon on a #7 fiberglass fly rod over the years. I also used an old Montegue bamboo rod with #7 line in saltwater and caught quite a few salmon and large cutt's. I now fish mostly cane and have a 9wt graphite but when I was younger, I guess I just didn't know any better and thought I was doing the right thing. I have fished the Grande Ronde and I wouldn't have thought a thing about needing a 14th double handed rod. There is one beautiful river. As they say, the truth is in the pudding and the fish made it to the net. Ignorance is bliss. Thanks again, I really enjoyed it. Jonezee
[This message has been edited by Jonezee (edited 26 June 2006).]
I too have never tried a Spey rod, but had the curiosity for a comparison of the two. I assume some of the people in the forum did too, so when I found the article I posted the link.-Migs
Nice article. I picked up the spey several years ago and I love it. He 's right about line control at distances, when fishing heavier water with sink tips. They definitely run higher in the water column. But overall, they are awesome for distance casting and line control at distances. The casting stroke is pretty cool too...well, once you get use to it.
That is an interesting article. I found this sentence to be very interesting.
"I have my anglers set the drags on their reels strong enough to barb a fish, keep their fingers off the line and point their rod tips at the flyline."
I wonder whether this would be a good technique anytime you are swinging a fly.
Anyone have a rule of thumb for how to set a drag strong enough to barb a fish?
I've heard something along the lines of holding the fly line between your lips and setting the drag till it just pulls it off your lips. Watch out, as I said line - not leader! -Migs
Most of the article is common sense. The author is talking about fishing for steelhead and in one paragraph he is talking about casting over fish with a 2 handed rod. Well you can do that just as easily with a single hander. This is a matter of reading water not what you are using for a rod.
In the same paragraph he states that a sink tip cast to 100 feet will not sink as well as one cast to 30 feet because of current dynamics. Once again we are talking about reading water. He make mention of the mixer bar (a well known bar on the Skagit prior to this claim). This likely the worst location he could have choosen to talk about long cast and their disadvantages. This bar deserves long casts and many a steelhead have been taken at the apex of a 100' plus cast at this location. The current stays consant here of 150 feet out from the bank.
Now if he were to have mentioned the Sauk bar just above the mixer when taliking about casting past the fish he may have an argument. This is a location where the seam is only 30 feet off the bank and the current speed is quite faster at the 30 to 40 foot break then closer in and does indeed carry a sinktip high up in the water column not allowing it to sink but a few feet until the line has drifted in close at the end of the swing.
Do steelhead hit hard or soft? This has been an argument amoung steelhead fishermen for years and years. This may be the one area where the author might have an argument. But to say one can't feel a soft hit with a two handed rod verses feeling a soft hit with a single handed rod is pure bunk. I own about a dozen 2 hand rods and the sensitivity between them as different as night and day. I have a 14 foot 9 weight rod that telegraphs ever rock the fly touches right to my hands and I have a 12' 4" 8 wieght rod that you can't feel the bottom with until your have snagged it. The ability to feel the hit of a fish whether that hit is hard or soft has nothing to do with whether the rod is 9 feet long or 16 feet long, 2 handed or 1 handed. It has everything to do with how the rod is constructed and that will determine whether the rod has "feel" or not.
I use a Hardy Bougle' MK IV almost exclusively for steelhead fishing. No drag at all. I carry a foot or so loop in my right hand just loose enough when the fish takes the fly the lins in pulled beneath my fingers. A very common technique. I guess that all the steelhead I have and others have caught that use this method have been luck.
[This message has been edited by Kerry Stratton (edited 26 June 2006).]
Kerry, you have brought up some good points. I use a Hardy Zenith and the drag is no different that a Medalist. Nothing to write home about but it does keep some tension on the spool. I like to play off the reel but can use the line in the cotton gloved hand to help keep things under control. Really, the only fish that ever got away from me was a 30 plus Chinook on the upper Clackamas one summer. A Penn 2/0 would have been working over time to hold this hen to bay. It just kept on going. I have fished the Grande Rhonde in Eastern Oregon as the author mentioned and no where did I need to cast to the far side of the river. Like you say, read the water. I have hooked Salmon a foot from the bank on Oregon's Nehalam and the Wilson too. This is downstream as I was mending line in. Salmon hit pretty hard in my opinion, Steelhead are another matter. Good thread, Jonzee
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I learn more about the world while talking to myself when fishing alone
Kerry,
Thanks for the intelligent response. I enjoy two handed rods for line control, not excessive distance casting. Too many FF asume the two handed rod is only intended for 100ft+ casting.
Regards,
FK