Spey Rig is ready for action

I finnally got my 15’Spey Rod of my dreams and got my Large Arbour Phfleuger (no name Japanese) Reel full of 20# backing and WF 9/10 Fly Line and gonna bust it out this weekend at a local pond and gonna see what it’ll do.
Spent a days wages to have this reel serviced so I think it’ll be ok.

I been watchin Spey casting instructions on YouTube almost every day for 2 months and I think I can do it and gotta say I am so excited I cant hardly stand it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated before I get out there and make foola myself like fall in or slip into the mud…or make the dogs bark at me or sompthin…lol
Thanks

Just have fun. You’ll do fine. Try to remember that you didn’t make a fool of yourself when you learned to ride a bike or swim.:smiley:

Thanks Lotech,
Mama always said I was like a frog from the time I was born…and that was in the toilet at the Hospital…she said I could do the backstroke from the very 1st minute i was born but was kinda mad cuz the water was cold…
Yea i think I will practice on Sunday after dark under the lights…shouldnt be anyone out there…
Dont have a fishin licsense yet…so I’m gonna tie sompthin on a large saftey pin,thatway I wont or shouldnt get a fine for no fishing license.

As far as I know, they don’t give tickets for casting practice if there is no hook.
Unless they call it spawning ground harassment. Best advice—check your regs and call your game dept.

Yea I’m gonna call and just see if casting on county ponds is ok to just practice

Hi Jeffro, the only advice I can give is SLOW DOWN, the casting stroke is much slower with 2 hands than with one, remember you are not keeping the line in the air during the cast. If you have a video camera film yourself and then when you watch it later you can really see what is going wrong if anything.
Start with just Roll casting then try a switch cast and once you can smoothly switch cast add a change of direction and you have a single spey.
Have fun and let us know how you go.
All the best.
Mike

Thanks Mike,
I still havent gotten a chance to try it out …its either too windy or too tierd from work or like today had 2 Dr oppointments so I will just have to wait till the right time and then make a day of it…its a shame we dont have many trees to block the wind.

Hi Jeffro, no trees to block the wind just means you will be used to casting in the wind for a trip to NZ where it always blows!
All the best.
Mike

I finally went for a practice run at the pond and was very very windy so I got it behind me.
Did perty good for the 1st time…made some mistakes and looked perty stupid but I didn’t much care. it was fun until I got slapped in the cheek a couple a times…I cut the shanks off of 2 large flies and am glad I did cuz they will slap ya good…lol…

I could only get out and lay straight about 100 feet of line.
My Roll cast were easy but when I started switching and crossing, is where I would start getting short runs of line…
Now that I tasted it I can watch some more stuff on You Tube and see what I was doing wrong…
It felt like my rod Tip was too flimsy and needs to be more stiff if that makes any sence…so that it will shoot harder .

The tip section does tend to feel soft, but the secret I found for me is to perform a smooth casting stroke. Watch videos on Youtube by Mike Kinney. Here is one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipiJHAHVXVk

Thank you Kind Sir,
Yep thats the guy Ive been watchin mostly…He has some more that are alot longer and with different casts and it looks like he is making short casts…
I was shooting about 100 feet,coulda been more not really sure…mabe the wind was just gettin me,it was perty strong.

I’ll echo Mike Thomas’s comment about slowing down. That makes a huge difference. There’s a tendency to muscle the rod (since they’re so big) but that always ends up in a mess. Keep at, you’ll get it. Mike Kinney is an amazing caster. I still watch those videos to see what i’m doing wrong. lol.

I did have a mess a couple times and you guys are right about slowing down and not muscling the cast…i gotta try it when the wind is light.
Thanks for all the input …I appreciate it Mucho

Hey Jeffro, so it was your first go and you were only getting it out 100ft!!? Oh man wait till you can do it properly.:razz:
I see from your first post that you are using a wf line, is it a Spey line or a single hand line? A spey line will make the rod feel different to a single hand line. If you can get your hands on a Scandi shooting head of the right weight for your rod it will make a single spey and any other touch and go cast fly out.
All the best.
Mike

Howdy Mike,The Rod is an Albright 15’—> 2 handed rod 10/11…
The line i have is a Scientific Angler Spey Short head WF 9/10-F @ 120’+54 Head.
i will try to save up for the Scandi shooting Head…can you recommend what weight please Sir…cuz I have no idea what is what…just seem to remember …I want to be able to get to the ducks on the other side of this pond with ease…I know in my heart I can do it and not work so hard.
Thanks Amigo

Hi Jeffro, I think for a rod of that size and power the grain window for a Skagit head should be 650 to 700 and for a Scandi head maybe 450 to 500 but every rod is slightly different. I would email Albright and ask them for a grain window for your rod for both a Skagit and a Scandi head. The Skagit head is for sustained anchor casts turning over heavy sinking leaders and big flys and the Scandi is a touch and go casting line more suited to poly leaders and smaller flys. With the Skagit head you may need a cheater on the end, but if you got one of the new Skagit flight lines I believe they do not require cheaters.
The line you have is a good line and I would probably get the casting to a point were you know what you are doing and can cast single and double spey and maybe snap T before trying different lines. A site that has lots about Spey casting is speypages.com they are a nice bunch of guys and really helpfull. Another good place for info and he will often send a line for you to try out before you buy is the Red Shed.
Hope this helps more than it confuses!!
All the best.
Mike

Jeffro, that rod probably would require a 700-750 grain line. Like Mike said, give Poppy over at Red Shed a call. He’ll take care of you.

Thank you pspaint,
I been meanin to call him but just keep puttin it off till I get some money saved up cuz now I just invested in a Nor-Vise from a very Kind Member here on FAOL…all you folks have really been good to me and eachother …Thanks for all the Friendships

I’ll try to remember to give Poppy a call on Friday that is my next day off.