Can anyone explain the difference between a fly rod and a spey rod?
A “spey” rod is a “fly” rod.
A Spey rod is a type of fly rod designed for two handed Spey casting. They are typically much longer than single handed rods.
don’t confuse spey rods with spey casting. Many spey type casts can be done with single handed rods.
If you really get interested I would suggest the RIO Modern Spey Casting DVD. It really shows you many of the advantages of spey rods and spey casting. It’s not as good as an instructor but I would even recommend it prior to using an instructor so you’re at least familar with the concepts. I wasted money on other videos before I found this one.
Good morning.
At last some Spey ideas and talking be it single or Double Handed rods.
“the difference between a fly rod and a spey rod”
Generally,
A fly rod, is today a fast actioned fly rod designed for Over Head casting.
A Spey type rod, a rod designed for Spey casting be it a single or Double Handed rod will be a deep bending rod, what most people would call a soft rod. Rather like what was onced called a Nymphing rod when most casts were Roll Casts which is a form of Spey casting.
And now to confuse be it a single or Double Handed rod.
A rod designed for OH casting can OH cast well 75% and SC 25%
And a Spey rod can SC 75% and OH cast 25%
Double Handed rods are designed for mainly OH or SCasting, yes, two different types of casting, this can again be broken down into more specialised rods also, thanks to clever design.
ps, if you haven’t used a Trout Spey rod yet, your in for the thrill of a lifetime and will be saying to yourself, why didn’t I do this years again !
What is a Trout Spey rod, before someone asks, is simply a Double Handed rod designed for loads of about 4 to 6w and around 11 to 13 feet long and will usually allow light tippets to be used along with nice long leaders in the 15 feet or more range.
Kind regards
UB
I’ve been wanting to get a 10 to 11 foot rod in probably a #6 weight, so I guess I’m on the right track.
Where I fish I can’t always do OH casting so a spey rod might be the ticket.
Thanks for everyone’s input it was helpful!
Not to confuse you anymore but it sounds like you might be looking for more of a “switch” rod. They’re generally 10-11 feet in length and are designed to spey cast and overhead cast.
You may be a perfect candidate for a switch rod. 10’8" which you can single or 2-hand cast.
Ron
Allen…have a look at this:
http://www.itinerantangler.com/podcasts/2008/01/article_switched_on.html