River right or river left?? What does it mean.

[Orthoman]

I need some help from the 2 handed casters.

I have been reading and watching video's on Spey and Switch rod casting. The terms River Right and River left come up frequently.

What does River Right and River left mean?

[Salmon Chaser]

stand in the river facing downstream. Your right is 'river right",, your left is "river left".
Salmon Chaser

[Orthoman]

From what I can gather, it seems it is more than right of left when facing downstream.

It seems to be related on upriver side versus downriver side.

If, facing out into the river, the upriver / upstream side is on my left, does this mean it is river left Or, if the down stream side in on my right, is it river right?

[pdowney]

What Salmon Chaser said.

[Jayatwork]

Here is my understanding.

Imagine your in a drift boat facing down stream. The right bank is river right.

If your on the bank, facing the river, and it is flowing from left to right, you are on river right and vice versa.

[flybop]

What salmon chaser said. River right or left is always in reference to when you are facing down stream.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Yup, what SalmonChaser said.

Are you getting into two handed fishing?

REE

[EPuffer]

I like the way Jayatwork puts it!!

[Orthoman]

OK, thanks for the clarifications.

REE - yep -- getting into two handed rods - have the Spey and the Switch rod -- but use alot of the two handed techniques on th single handed rods also.

[sagefisher]

Speaking of terminology, while fishing from a drift boat the guides will tell you to cast ?in? farther or ?out? farther. Not all guides mean the same thing.

To some, the command of ?in? means towards shore, thus farther from the boat and ?out? means farther from shore thus closer to the boat.

Other guides refer to ?in? as closer to the boat and ?out? as farther from the boat.

The terms ?Right? and ?Left? refer where the bow of the boat is pointing at the time of the command, since boats don?t always point downstream. If the boat swings around like in a large back eddy, the fly fisher still casts to his/her right or left.

Clear as mud.

I always ask for a clarification from the guides so we speak the same language.

Larry ---sagefisher---