headscan

I didn't catch the demo, but it probably would've either been him or Francois who's another of the Whistler guys. They've also got an item in the Streamwatch auction for a spot in the spey class they're doing here in May.

Think I'll try it with a short polyleader, but if that doesn't work I'll just use weighted flies rather than start chopping line.

You could ask Brian Niska (owner of Whistler Flyfishing), he's on here as Whistler. I think in another thread he mentioned that mid-March is a good time for a few rivers out that way. http://www.whistlerflyfishing.com/

Had a feeling that would be the case. I'll give the polyleader a try and see what shakes out. I'd only be using it for tight line nymphing, so I wouldn't need too much distance or delicacy. The reason I wanted to go with a polyleader instead of an actual sink tip line is so that I can switch from floating for dry fly fishing to something sinking for nymphs while on the water. Different lines + spools for each also makes it a lot more expensive to vary your sink rates depending on the water depth and flow. Bah, maybe I'll just bite the bullet and keep using the weighted nymphs.

Just found out this week that I have to give a presentation in Denver on April 7th. Since I'll have to prepare beforehand it seems unlikely I'll be able to help out with this. Might still be able to make it out for a bit on Friday or Saturday.

Brian, Any idea how well polytips would work on the OptiStream or Multi lines for single-handed spey casting? I'm starting to lean towards using lines and tips to get my flies down instead of heavily weighted flies. A sinking polytip on a floating line is more versatile (and cheaper) than having both floating and sink tip lines for my purposes.

Wow, the OptiStream is a fantastic line. It probably wasn't the best day to test the line for spey casting with all the wind, but it still performed well. I'm sure if my spey casting ability was better I wouldn't have had any problems. I was still able to shoot a rod length of line on a double spey when the wind died down. I also found it was kind of strange spey casting with a one-handed rod right after using a two hander. Probably the difference in rod and line weight. Overhead casting was easily better than my Sharkskin line. My hauls are usually mediocre, but I was able to shoot around 20 feet of line on a double haul. As Greg pointed out to me it's probably because you can really feel the line load the rod so it's easier to time the haul. Even picking the line up, single back cast and throw I was able to launch a decent cast. The best part is that even with the distance I was able to get with the line the presentation was delicate enough that I'd feel comfortable casting a size 18 dry to rising fish. I was casting the 4 weight line on a 4 weight Loop OptiStream rod. Very nice casting rod. These definitely won't be my last Loop purchases. I didn't have a chance to try the Multi line. Hopefully next weekend...

I think I saw it there a couple weeks ago. Was around $50 or so if I remember right. From the look of it though the tips were made for Rio's VersiTip lines. They were pretty long to use on, say, an Elixir line. The Elixir probably wouldn't fit through the welded loop on the tips anyways. If you go check it out you might want to bring your line with you to check. Unless you guys are actually talking about the Rio VersiLeaders, in which case never mind...

So I've spooled a Loop OptiStream and Multi line ready to go for tomorrow. Looking at these lines you can see they're more like a smaller version of a spey line than a regular fly line. The head on the lines are fairly pronounced compared to the rest of it. Next to them my Sharkskin line looks like it doesn't have a taper at all...

That's pretty slick looking. Total eye candy cast but I can see where the timing and amount of haul is probably tough to get down.

Ok, I think I know what you're talking about. Is it like the haul this guy gives on the forward cast?

I thought about this as well after we talked about it yesterday. I noticed the references are mostly on the Loop website, so could it be that it's just a poor translation of "Scandi" casting from Swedish to English? If not, I agree that it seems odd to use a single-handed rod to underhand cast unless you have a fighting butt that you use as a bottom grip. But where would that leave you if you didn't have a fighting butt?

Well, I have a Loop Multi and OptiStream on their way to me (thanks Brian!) so hopefully I'll have a chance to test them on Saturday provided I can get them spooled. I'll post my impressions after, though keep in mind I'm by no means an expert spey caster.

Thanks Brian, that's fantastic information.

So is my understanding correct that most (if not all) Loop single-handed rods were designed and built with single-handed spey casting in mind?

I've heard so many negative things about Airflo lines that I don't think I'll be touching one any time soon... I'd probably use it for single/double speys and switch casts as well as overhead casting. The idea is that I'd probably use it for overhead casting unless conditions called for a spey cast. I think I'm going to end up going with a Loop Multi since it seems to offer the most versatility for what I want to do with it.

Ah, ok. I only saw the blue and white version on the Snowbee website. I wasn't as worried about the fish seeing the line so much as myself. Really too bad we don't have a Snowbee dealer in Calgary...

Is it the XS two colour floating fly line? It looks to me like the running line is blue and the head is white. How visible is the white line on the water?

I was looking at the Rio Gold line and noticed in the description they say it has a long back taper that makes it good for single-handed spey casting. I imagine that other companies like Loop probably also make lines that are designed for this as well. Does anyone have experience with these types of lines? Do they sacrifice overhead casting ability? Any recommendations? I'd be looking for a line like this to put on a single-handed 5 weight Sage FLI.

The Bow is big enough for a spey rod - show me where there's a spey river vs. single-handed rod size chart. It's fun and presents you with more options. You can cover more water with a single cast. I haven't found the rods to be much of a hassle to carry, but then I carry them in the tubes until I get to where I'm going. You don't need a spey rod on the Bow, but then you don't need a fly rod either. Isn't fly fishing in general an expensive indulgence in a pointless activity (think about it from a non-fly fisher's point of view)? Why not just show up the spey weekend and try it? If you can't make it I'm sure someone else would let you give it a try on one of their rods. Everyone knows spey casting and fly fishing in general don't really look cool - that's what smoking is for

I was throwing a streamer on my Beulah 6/7 with the Elixir line for a little while today and found it was pretty effortless as well. Granted, I didn't have T14 on there, but casting it wasn't noticeably different than a nymph. Can't wait to try some skagit lines, but I'm going to wait until my casting is a bit better than it is now.

Got out with the Windcutter Versitip on my Snowbee 8/9 for the first time today. Took me a little while to find the right load point, but once I did all I could say was wow. Even this morning when it was cooler and I had some of the line laying in the snow I didn't experience any coiling. Thanks for all the advice.

If they want your car bad enough it doesn't matter if you have an immobilizer or alarm. There was a ring of car thieves not long ago that had a connection inside a dealership. They'd scope out the vehicle they wanted, write down the VIN, then get the guy at the dealership to order a key/fob for them. A rolling code scanner will bypass a car alarm within a minute or two. And really, when was the last time you gave a car alarm going off a second glance? Granted, if I was a car thief with access to that sort of thing I'd only be after big money vehicles, but you never know.

On the news this morning they showed that the city police were handing out free steering wheel clubs at one of the C-train park and rides. You know it's a major problem when...

Call O'Connor's down on 1st Street SW and see if they still sell Merkur double edged razor blades. They were about $6 for a pack of 10 last time I bought some and they're much higher quality than the ones you find at grocery and drug stores. Since I shave with them I usually buy 10 packs at a time so it's been a while since I bought some there.