Again, I’m compelled to opine where it is not requested, but there is nobody telling me “SHUT UP SETH!”, so it can’t really be helped.
1. I'm planning to practice with just the head out. Or should I have a bit of running line out as well. If so, loose ready to shoot or out past the rod tip?
- I recommend holding on to the transition between the head and running line while practicing. Once you feel comfortable manipulating that length, then you can allow that transition out to the tip of the rod, but not beyond. No shooting line, if it can be avoided, until you feel good about all of the change of direction maneuvers.
2. I assume I should have a leader on with at least a hunk of yarn tied on the end. How long should the leader be? More or less.
- One rod length, and make it a hunk of yarn wrapped around a hook, with a long sparse tail and a feather palmered up the shank for good measure.
3. Anchor point. In relation to my body, as I'm facing the water (I'm right handed) where should it be.
- The anchor point should be about a rod length away diagonally away from you on the side which you are trying to cast off. For a right handed person casting off their right shoulder, an anchor point that is to their left will result in their line, leader and fly whipping up the front of their body – the “fly up the nose” cast. Spey casting is the art of getting the fly anchored somewhere near you on the side which you can cast from, and always being ready to adjust for where that anchor takes purchase.
4. From looking at video clips on U-Tube, it looks like most of the head gets lifted and then brought back. where the rod lifts and as it sweeps back, it drops to anchor the line.
- Don’t pay no mind to the clips on you tube. It’s all contrived crap. Windless conditions, wading ankle deep, casting yarn in an arbitrary direction – absolute poppycock! Exceptions: Mike Kinney talking about the origin of Skagit lines and casting, and the promo for the Red Barn speyshop (pardon the tiny rant).
5. Should I be feeling the rod load as in a single hand conventional back cast, where I feel the line pulling the rod tip backwards as the d loop sweeps back past me? I'm not, although that may be because I had no leader or fly attached to the end of the line.
- Eventually, yes. But in the beginning it’s more about trusting the timing. If you make a smart move with the bottom hand, around and out when you form the d-loop, and you make the rod come to a positive stop, then there is no pause, and you can go straight into the forward motion.
6. Any other basic mechanics questions relative to hand and arm motion I should be aware of? Or things like flick the end of a paint brush. Some of the video clips visually imply that the forward motion of the casting stroke stops quite high as the line unfurls and then the rod follows the line to the water after the line is fully extended.
- Yes, the d-loop formation is, in general, an up and back, ever ascending motion of the arms and rod (although it can be slight), and the forward stroke is down and forward (to the same degree). This is general I know, but it’s a Mike Kinney gem that has always helped when my cast temporarily leaves the building.
7. It didn't take long to feel like a hero with some long overhand casts.... :-)
- You don’t have to do spey casts because you have a spey rod. There are plenty of situations where you should be aerializing the line so as to avoid the commotion. Only speycast when absolutely necessary. You will gain familiarity with the kit as you fish with it – not cast it
- Seth
|
|