Alberta Spey Rodding

[birchy]

if your fishing for numbers..why not just use dynamite and a long net..

 

I've been thinking about this strategy to try and outfish some of you crazies!

[toolman]

I'm looking forward to fishing Stauffer and I've heard it is a great little creek. I love a good challenge.

[CDone]

Hey TM, I've got a couple old 9' IM6 blanks here with nice progressive action right to the butt that I think would make a nice small 3wt spey rod, might have to give it a try.

 

Colin

[headscan]

Hmmmm....I fished my DeerCreek 6126 with #20 flies, on the Crownest back in October and found it too be the right tool for the job.

Did pretty good that day with Hawgstoppah if I recall and I think there may have been a post about it a while back...

Thing is, I have been out with my two handed rods about 250 times in the last 15 months and have fished them in every situation on big water and small. There were many challenges that I normally would have considered using a single hander, as I thought it would be easier and it would have been, had I brought one, but....I learned how to fish my two handers in situations that are thought of to be the domain of single handed rods and to my delight, I found that long rods rule....anytime, anyplace...you just need to learn HOW to use these tools to their full potential.

Then you will be amazed at the possibilities....Just my .02 cents on the matter.

 

ps. Do you know how many times I was told "two handers are no good for the Bow or trout fishing, that's for Steelhead and Salmon".....Good thing I did'nt listen eh....

 

Yeah, you can use a DH rod for small rivers and such - I had forgotten about the dapping techniques Speyghillie talked about. I myself bought a switch rod for high sticking and Spey casting streamers into deeper pools on the Highwood and other smaller rivers.

 

The Bow is definitely large enough to use a DH rod. I was watching a few Spey videos and a lot of the rivers they're on don't look any wider, deeper, or faster than the Bow.

[admin]

Stauffer with a 2-hander, I don't see the need. I do however see where a single hand spey cast would drastically increase you chances of avoiding the bushes.

 

Casting a 2 hander in Stauffer is like casting it in a wall-mart isle. Not saying it can't be done, I'd love to see it attemped though.

[toolman]

Using a light two hander on small creeks, allows the angler to stay away from the edges of the shoreline and sneak a fly into a feeding lane without spooking the intended target. When I fished the Crowsnest, I was able to stay out of the water and hide in the tall grass, yet still fish in winds that were gusting at 60-70kmh.

[bloom]

So ya got me thinking now...what is exactly a spey rod? Is it only 2 handed rods, or something different? Just thinking about Toolman's reference to the European National teams using them on small creeks. I know at the competitions about 4 years ago many were using single handed 10 to 12' light weight rods (I believe a much desired rod then was the GL3 10' 3 wt). Just went with the czech nymphing/dapping technique. This caused me to build my 10' 3 wt for the crow in winter and I love it.

 

So is a spey rod basically any two hander, or a long rod that produces well with spey type casts? Or something different.

[toolman]

Well first off, they are not technically called Spey rods, but actually two handed rods. The term Spey rod is used because these long two handed rods were first made popular on the River Spey in Scotland. Spey casting is the casting method that was developed to be able to cast these rods with little backcasting room. So, any rod can be spey cast, long or short, using one or two hands on the rod. A long single handed rod can be spey cast, but is not considered a spey rod.

[fisher26]

Like every method Spey probably has it's time and place. The point Toolman is trying to make is to open your minds to the possibilities of fly-fishing with a DH. I personally think this innovation and popularity boom is great in terms of DH rods, where would we be in fly-fishing if we never tried something new?

 

As for fishing Stuaffer with a DH all I can say is don’t go light on your heart medication.

 

Now this is my personal opinion, but DH rods can probably be used in almost all situations. HOWEVER it is a matter of choice whether you want to use one. For me I will only ever fish the crow, Livingstone etc with a traditional rod just because I'm a bit of a traditionalist. I will probably never own a DH rod - again just because its my personal feeling towards fly fishing.

 

 

TM and others have advocated for Spey fish in Alberta and it has really taken off. Mostly because of how effective they prove it to be. I can see the day not too far off when the bow is predominately fished w/ DH. I swear the bow must be hand made for DH rods.

[maxwell]

Hey TM, I've got a couple old 9' IM6 blanks here with nice progressive action right to the butt that I think would make a nice small 3wt spey rod, might have to give it a try.

 

Colin

 

keep me posted dude that woudl be freakin dope! skagit perch fishing here i come

[knowles74]

I just finished reading your article toolman - loved it!

 

You obviously are the 'king of swing'! Great pictures to.

 

Is the guy in those pictures from fishtales? he looks like who was in there earlier .

 

I recognized some spots on the Bow - cool to see something local.

 

stevey

[maxwell]

hey dude dan jackson wrote alberta spey roddin in the canadian flyfisher.... not greg a aka toolman.. and yes the dude in fishtales is the fellow in the pic...

[Tako]

lmao Greg don't even bother. You'll just look stupid on Stauffer with a spey lmao.

 

Spey = cool factor. Would love to try it, but don't see it becoming a presence in my arsenal for a long time.

[toolman]

LOL...Hey Steve, that excellent article was written by our good buddy Dan Jackson.

[DanJ]

Hey Steve,

 

As pointed out already, I wrote that article... Glad that you (and hopefully others) liked it. A number of the photos are from here on the Bow River. Elliott is probably the guy you're recognizing in the photos - he works at FishTales.

 

DanJ

[speyghillie]

This is good stuff,

I will be in Calgary in a weeks time and hopefully getting a days fishing on the Bow, if anybody wants to see how you can use a double-handed rod on a small stream, i'm sure myself and Toolman can set something up, if you have'nt tried Dapping on a Lake or Small stream its great fun, nothing to do with casting a long line, so different, and a light double handed rod for nymphing, just perfect.

Gordon.

[ogilvie]

Having fished big rods on small streams too many times made me wonder at my mental processes until the small Switch Rods came along like the10'6" 4/5 Beulah. Totally designed for full comprehensive fishing in many many situations! Like 8' wide remote mountain streams that require a nymphing technigue or the long-ish upstream dry fly presentation. not so much about the cast ,it's about the abilities created. It is tough to imagine ever changeing from fishing a small 7'- 3 or 4 weight rod- until you get a chance to fish a 10 plus rod in the same weight category...it answers some of those deep memories about not being able to deliver a cast at some time in the past that would have given you a hook-up with some marvelous fish.

Two Handers are not necessary but offer a certain amount of pleasure to the day and versatility. Yesterday I decided to drift the Upper Stamp River from Money's Pool to the Falls Park in search of Steelhead of course. The day was nice,some sun and clouds,about 12 degrees. All by myself on the river,and no Steelhead. But about 3/4 way through I saw some large May Flies hatching and shortly after notice a few Trout rising. Having no floating tips on me I changed up to a 5' clear Intermediate tip and layed out 15' of 6lb. tippet,tied on the only deer hair fly I had(Tuck's Tarantula). Figureing that the long leader would keep the fly boyant for a short time...layed out several 90' casts across the pool before I enticed a wonderful Juvinile Steelhead about 16" to the fly. Did this several times for Two Trout about the same size.

Versatility is the key as much as landing a fish!

C

PS...Welcome back Speyghillie!

[knowles74]

Sorry for the mix up guys - I thought it was toolman who wrote it. If nothing else you should have been the one since you seem to have started it.

 

I think that's the first trout spay article in canada - go calgary!

 

Where is stauffer?

 

stevey

[Guest bigbadbrent]

Where is stauffer?

 

stevey

 

Ask toolman, he should have fished it by now with the double hander

[toolman]

Ask toolman, he should have fished it by now with the double hander

 

Yes...and it's a good thing I brought the 15' 11wt. too, some of those casts were at least 15' to the opposite bank.

[ogilvie]

Sorry for the mix up guys - I thought it was toolman who wrote it. If nothing else you should have been the one since you seem to have started it.

 

I think that's the first trout spay article in canada - go calgary!

 

Where is stauffer?

 

stevey

Hi Steve, There have been many published articles about Small Two Handers.... their better uses and functions.But it is a positive thing to have the peaked intereest in ALberta and elsewhere in Canada. I think the Easterners (East Coasters)are the last to really get into the long rods. And the irony is that that region likely has the more ideal waters for Spey Casts,at least historically. Watching your boomber land 120' from your position to a rising Atlantic is something else...and to watch so much line peel off the reel leaves a picture in you memory that never escapes your dreams. And best of all landing those silver ghosts tests your skills and patience to the 10th degree. The same is true using Small Two Handers for Trout larger than 2 lbs. I was hopeing tio get into a nice Brown last week-end,(on the Bow),useing Val's 11' 6" 6/7 weight Beulah small Two Hander,Perfect for the Bow,and many of the rivers in these parts. No Luck...or skill at these fish..yet. Will try in May..

Have fun