toolman

Carefull boys, he's from the rock...it may be a trap...LOL...or maybe he's just another Cod Jiggin' fish whacker...who knows? errr...Welcome to the site! LOL...

LOL...Sage advice Gill...but hopefully he does not attempt any two hand overhead casts too start with. Al, you might want to pay close attention to your anchor positions and stick to Double Speys with Perry Pokes to line things up nice and straight too the target and keep it on the safe side...at least untill you get warmed up and get a handle on the way your rig casts with big weight... Watch out for low flying hardware on the Circle cast...It's been known to shear off a few rod tips. Have fun and duck if you have too!

When switching out the heads, leave the running line threaded through the guides so that you don't have to re-thread the new head. Then throw the new line downstream in some current on the dangle, to take the twists out of the line. Also, wrapping the heads back on too spools will help keep them from twisting up. Your running line should have a large loop at the end to pass the coiled up heads/spool through it, which makes it easy to change the heads.

You can nymph with a Skagit line or a Mid belly line, but I prefer to use Scandi lines as they are ideal in head length for the working distances and have finer tapers. I sometimes use an Airflo NW Skagit head, which is a little longer and has a finer front taper than a regular Skagit head, if the wind starts to blow. A regular Skagit head or Compact can work with a 10'/15' floating tip. Lines that are most suitable for nymphing, are very much like the lines used for dead drifting dry fly's... Finer tapers, high floatation, allowing for clean mends, presentations etc...

You will also need a Scandinavian Shooting head if you plan on nymphing with your new Spey rod. A Vision Ace 6/7 Scandi head, with a 10' floating polyleader, really rocks on the Multi 7120.

That may be why casters are really graining it up with the Skagits heads, too get down too the power in the rods lower sections...I have a similar situation with my 7116 which is a bit soft in the tip. When lined very lightly, it throws real nice loops with Scandi heads, but it needed a lot more grains to Skagit cast well, to get the rod loading from the butt. With your current line set up at 480grains, the soft tip may not be giving you the sensitivity to time your casts, place your anchors and load your rod consistently. Loading the rod deeper may help with that.

It seems those rods (7136), like to be loaded deep for Skagit casting, then they really let loose... It might take 550 grains or even more, to get it blasting out there with longer T-14 tips.

I catch Broonies on the Bow, bigger n' that...I'm just too modest to be postin' em' on the net like you guys... Wait till Hawg and I come up there to fish with you next year...We'll be schoolin' you in the fine art of "beachin"...

Which rods and compact heads are you using, Al?

HAWGWASH...

Mykiss, it's a deal... fishin' for Steel next fall... ps. I'm not angry at all, in fact I had a big grin on my face as I typed every word...

You guys are preachin' to the choir boys...I know how Brian handles and lands fish as I have fished with him many, many times. To suggest that he is unskilled, unethical and is doing it all wrong, is HAWGWASH... Some guys just don't seem to like anglers posting pics of their beloved Steelhead on fishing sites such as this one... If you are looking to lecture, just head over to that other BC Spey site and check out the pics posted...Lots of fish on the dry rocks over there...Should keep you fella's busy for the winter... Now lets watch the video one more time...I see the angler pull the fish into the shallows, where it is quickly tailed.... I don't see any injuries or head slammin going on, as they have the fish completely under control... A quick video still is taken...Fish quickly swims away when released...Looks like a perfect landing/release to me...

As DutchDryfly described...a perfect landing... When the fish is brought into the shallow water, it loses its tail power, quickly becomes disorientated and surrenders. I land all of my fish using this method. I can land them faster than waiting untill they flip on their side in exhaustion and then tailing/netting them in deeper water. The species is irrelevant...This is the method I learned 20 years ago when learning to flyfish for Atlantic Salmon/Sea Trout...Atlantics can run up to 50+lbs. on the Restigouche river, where I grew up and this is the standard method used to land these giant fish as quickly as possible, so it should be no problem to use this method for these little Steelies... In this video, the guide attempts to tail the fish, but spooks it and the water is deep enough for the fish to use it's tail to escape. Then the angler quickly pulls the fish into shallow water and it's over immediately...a perfect landing. In the end, it's all Catch and Release, so it's all good whether you use a net, tail them in a foot of water or bring them into shallow water to tail them...Fisherman should use the method that they are most confident and comfortable with. The fish will be fine...

Awesome report Brian...Of course the phone calls from the shoreline were equally thrilling and thanks for sharing those with me...Pretty exciting stuff when you are dancing with these beauties...

I'll bet that by the end of the first meeting, I will have everyone convinced that they need to bring several Spey rods with them when they go fishing...and at least a dozen lines, too...

I think you may be right, Jeffro...I'm just really surprised how big those marmots are...

Nice vid Jay...and you just had a close encounter with the devil...that was indeed a young wolverine.

Rick, you know you wanna....Besides, you can get started for about $500 bucks, even less if you buy experienced gear... Then, later on you will spend 10'$ of thousand$ when you really get into it...I can't see the problem...

I hear you Rob...rickr did show up briefly, but was very intimidated by the Spey guys and left shortly there after without so much as even making a single cast with a two handed rod...(I even brought the big Yellow 15' 10/11wt. just for him...) Guess those wannabe's are all talk no action...

Today, I was especailly happy to play with my big rods for a change... The Loop Blueline 9140 with a Vision Ace 9/10 Shooting head, was an absolute joy to cast...effortless...like Spey casting should always be...Then, I wired up my Loop Yellow 10150 with a 570 grain Airflo Skagit Compact and that was a hoot as well...I'll try a 600 grain Compact on it, next time out. Wtforward and I then lined his Loop Multi 7120, with a Vision Ace 7/8 and that was a sweet match too a terrific stick... I also got an opportunity to try out CDone's, Snowbee Torridge 6126, with matching Snowbee 2D head... very nice trout spey. Bowbiker, is going to have a ton of fun with that little switch rod of his...too cool.

Another fabulous day for a Spey party and an excellent turn out. Many thanks to everyone for coming, I had a great afternoon....Always nice to meet new fisherman and I think we converted a few of them to the amazing world of Spey... Till next time guys... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ready to play... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CDone takes a close look at Bowbikers beautifull hand built switch rod...what a little gem of a stick... Thanks too HAMMERTIME08 for bringing along the great rod rack... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The wrap up photo..(L-R)..I hope I get everyones name right... CDone, mditel, wtforward, bhurt, pokerfish, RusteHookz, Tungsten (back row), timj, Bowbiker, HAMMERTIME08, Cheeler. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunny and +10C, with light winds....I'm lovin' it...

Way to go OrvisHomely...now I gotta find another secret spot...dam... I'm runnin' out of water...

Hi Dick, good too hear that you're still building beautifull fly rods... Bring the new switch if it's ready and we'll try and find a line for it. Looking forward to seeing you again.