Single Handed Spey Line

[Keith]

One skill I am hoping to improve on this season is my single handed spey. One thing I've been wondering is do you use the same line for single-handed spey as you would for regular single handed casting or do you want something with a heavier tip that is going to turn over better?

[maxwell]

hey dude u can use any line too single hand spey cast but idealy u want something with a stick back end that tapers down like a spey line would.. my two favroties would be the loop opti stream and teh airflow 40+....... there are a few other lines out there that cast nice with single spey but having a two tone line with a green or orange shooting head with a yellow or white running line makes things much easier!!!

[lethfisher]

...but having a two tone line with a green or orange shooting head with a yellow or white running line makes things much easier!!!

 

Unless you're colour blind like me!!! I went and picked up the Airflo 40+ extreme distance line and of course the only colour they have is green head and yellow running line which pretty much look the same to me!! I had to sharpie a bigger black part where the shooting head switches to running line to see the change better. I liked how the opti stream went from yellow to white, much better

 

The guys in fish tales said there is someone that works there that has the exact same problem lol

[headscan]

Another vote for the Opti lines and the 40+. Beulah even lists the 40+ as a recommended spey casting line for their switch rods.

[bhurt]

Unless you're colour blind like me!!! I went and picked up the Airflo 40+ extreme distance line and of course the only colour they have is green head and yellow running line which pretty much look the same to me!! I had to sharpie a bigger black part where the shooting head switches to running line to see the change better. I liked how the opti stream went from yellow to white, much better

 

The guys in fish tales said there is someone that works there that has the exact same problem lol

 

I know with my 40+ there is a black marker, kind of looks like shrink tub around, does your not have that?

[lethfisher]

I know with my 40+ there is a black marker, kind of looks like shrink tub around, does your not have that?

 

Ya I have that and I used a sharpie to make it a bit longer so I can see it better. After casting for a day or two with it I should have an idea of the head length and shouldn't have to rely on just the marker as much. Hopefully... lol

[bhurt]

Ya I have that and I used a sharpie to make it a bit longer so I can see it better. After casting for a day or two with it I should have an idea of the head length and shouldn't have to rely on just the marker as much. Hopefully... lol

 

Bah I am too lazy for that I need to see the color change.

 

Building a switch right now 5wt 10' 8" so once that is done then I am going to start playin around with lines and see which one preforms better. I'm personally looking for something that will shoot out with ease for ME. The thing is I don't want a think line cause I do plan on using it for hooper droopers and skating stones.

[headscan]

Ya I have that and I used a sharpie to make it a bit longer so I can see it better. After casting for a day or two with it I should have an idea of the head length and shouldn't have to rely on just the marker as much. Hopefully... lol

I frequently spey cast with part of the head inside the guides when I'm fishing in close. You just have to adjust your casting stroke a little so you don't rip your anchor out. If I'm fishing within 15 feet or so I just go through the motion of a double spey so slowly that there isn't much of a D-loop. In those cases I'm really just using the motion of the cast to move the line from downstream to cross stream. Once you start to get a feel for the casting basics start playing around and experimenting. It's a blast, especially once you work in the haul on the cast. I haven't used an overhead cast for fishing subsurface flies since I learned the single hand spey.

[lethfisher]

Ya I really like how well it works and how easy it is to do. My 5wt was pretty fun for the smaller stuff so my switch will probably work a lot better. I was always starting far out then slowly working in close but after watching a couple videos it looks like I should be doing exact opposite. Start close and work outwards from the bank until you can't cast any further then walk a bit lol

[ogilvie]

Next week-end(April 3/4/5) if the weather is on our side I will have several Elixir Switch lines set-up for use on Single handed rods doing many Spey Casts. I will also have some of the Snowbee Scandanavian lines set up for Switch rods and small Spey rods...

Many lines will fill the bill but IMO I have never fished such a versatile Fly Line as the Beulah Elixir Switch line on asingle handed rod. Hiowever,the rod needs to be at least a #7 and up. The grain weights are quite high for the Switch Lines.

C

[Taco]

OK, strange and unknown territory for me but wouldn't the Wulff triangle taper lines work for singlehanded spey? The heads have a continuous taper so a heavier section of line is always carrying the lighter when conventional casting. I know the TT lines are a rollcasting dream.

 

Anyone?

[headscan]

Wulff makes an actual "spey line" with the triangle taper so their single hand line would probably work well for single-hand spey casting. Never having cast one I couldn't say for sure, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

 

Really you should be able to single-hand spey cast just about any line out there on almost any rod. Just like anything else, some will work better than others for each caster. I prefer a fast action rod combined with a line that has a short head with an aggressive taper and I'm mostly using water-borne anchor casts. I also use a fast action two-handed rod with skagit and scandi heads, so there are a lot of similarities there. Single hand spey casting with a longer line would probably be a little more like using a midbelly spey line like a Windcutter on a two-handed rod.

[Taco]

That's what I was thinking, any line that you can roll or switch cast with, should work.

[Keith]

Thanks for all the info fellas.

[jack]

Keep an eye out for a deal on an S.A. Steelhead Taper. 2 wts higher than your rod. It's a dream at less money than any dedicated single spey line.

j

[bhurt]

Wulff makes an actual "spey line" with the triangle taper so their single hand line would probably work well for single-hand spey casting. Never having cast one I couldn't say for sure, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

 

Really you should be able to single-hand spey cast just about any line out there on almost any rod. Just like anything else, some will work better than others for each caster. I prefer a fast action rod combined with a line that has a short head with an aggressive taper and I'm mostly using water-borne anchor casts. I also use a fast action two-handed rod with skagit and scandi heads, so there are a lot of similarities there. Single hand spey casting with a longer line would probably be a little more like using a midbelly spey line like a Windcutter on a two-handed rod.

 

I tend to disagree with this for a couple of reason.

 

Spey lines as I understand it has most of the weight in the line towards the back of the line where as a WF line has the weight of the line towards the front.

 

Also there is a distintive taper to a spey line where there is very little in a weight forward line.

 

Could you do spey casts with any type of line, sure why not, you could probably do anything with anything, but in my mind using a line that is not designed for what you are trying to do is just making it harder on yourself.

 

I tried my spey casts with my 40+ and I'll tell you this, I really did not enjoy using it at all for single hand spey casts. For roll casts it work nice but not for single spey or double spey cast, as for the opti line I haven't used it enough to make any comments on, so I really do not know how it would work out.

 

I have always been a big person on the "Science" to fly fishing (note: I don't know everything but am learning) so when I look at lines I always think about the science to casting and what I do and does the line fit those peraemters.

 

SA has a multi tip line in light line set ups for this purpose and as soon as I get my 5wt 10' 8" switch rod finished built I will diffently be tring it out.

 

In the end use what you want to but if you ask ME for my suggestion I would get lines that are DESIGNED for what you want to use them for.

[alhuger]

I tend to disagree with this for a couple of reason.

 

Spey lines as I understand it has most of the weight in the line towards the back of the line where as a WF line has the weight of the line towards the front.

 

Depends on the line really. Take a look at this:

 

http://www.emeraldwateranglers.com/speylin...ifications.html

 

Generally though I think you will find most spey lines are weight forward tapers.

 

Also there is a distintive taper to a spey line where there is very little in a weight forward line.

 

I am not a line guy, but are not most dry lines pretty aggressively tapered for presentation?

 

 

Could you do spey casts with any type of line, sure why not, you could probably do anything with anything, but in my mind using a line that is not designed for what you are trying to do is just making it harder on yourself.

 

I tried my spey casts with my 40+ and I'll tell you this, I really did not enjoy using it at all for single hand spey casts. For roll casts it work nice but not for single spey or double spey cast, as for the opti line I haven't used it enough to make any comments on, so I really do not know how it would work out.

 

Plenty of people I know swear by the 40+ for single hand spey casting so I suspect it might be down to personal preference.

[bhurt]

Al,

 

The guys that you know that swear by the 40+ what type of casting and presentation are they doing?

 

ie: Traditional, scandi, skagit, touch and go, etc....

 

Like I said, it could be done, just the things that I did not like about it were the weight of the line, I found for tossing things such as a hopper dropper set or doing touch and go presentations the thickness of the line tended to cause alot of line spash which is what turned it off for me.

 

Now I can see if you were doing some modern spey casting (more top hand then bottom) or skagit casting (throwing big flies at great distances) it would be more benifical, but for me I will stick to my northwest, or airflo lines that I have been using.

[alhuger]

Al,

 

The guys that you know that swear by the 40+ what type of casting and presentation are they doing?

 

ie: Traditional, scandi, skagit, touch and go, etc....

 

No idea. I would think a mix of sustained anchor and touch and go casts and it's generally for dries of one sort or another.

 

Al,

Like I said, it could be done, just the things that I did not like about it were the weight of the line, I found for tossing things such as a hopper dropper set or doing touch and go presentations the thickness of the line tended to cause alot of line spash which is what turned it off for me.

 

I can see that. I do not single hand spey much (my timing is comical) so I have no experience to base how fishable I would find it.

 

Now I can see if you were doing some modern spey casting (more top hand then bottom) or skagit casting (throwing big flies at great distances) it would be more benifical, but for me I will stick to my northwest, or airflo lines that I have been using.

 

Interesting, in the context of a single handed spey, how do you apply more top than bottom hand? It feels like I am missing something important here.

 

al

 

[bhurt]

No idea. I would think a mix of sustained anchor and touch and go casts and it's generally for dries of one sort or another.

 

 

 

I can see that. I do not single hand spey much (my timing is comical) so I have no experience to base how fishable I would find it.

 

 

 

Interesting, in the context of a single handed spey, how do you apply more top than bottom hand? It feels like I am missing something important here.

 

al

 

Okay my bad I am talking about Switch casting here and not really single hand. On my switch rod that I am building I have a 3" bottom handle (most switch rods I see have this bottom handle), I can only fit 3 fingers around it, which does allow me to do my two handed stuff. When I do 90% of my casts I use my top hand as a pivot and I use my bottom hand and pull the handle into me keeping my top hand stationary. As for single hand spey casting this doesn't apply. Sorry my bad.

 

One other thing that I really dislike about the 40 plus is the fact that I can hear it shooting through my guides where other line (with the exception of the sharkskin) I hear nothing and noise weather from the reel or from the line shooting through guides is something that absoultly drives me crazy.

 

Also I have found that the durability of the line is less then desirable, my 40 plus lasted me roughly 4 months before I had to replace it. It also coils somewhat in cold weather too.

 

[headscan]

One other thing that I really dislike about the 40 plus is the fact that I can hear it shooting through my guides where other line (with the exception of the sharkskin) I hear nothing and noise weather from the reel or from the line shooting through guides is something that absoultly drives me crazy.

 

Also I have found that the durability of the line is less then desirable, my 40 plus lasted me roughly 4 months before I had to replace it. It also coils somewhat in cold weather too.

Just cut the running line off at the back of the head and use a running line like I did for my Decho 5122. Echo recommends the 40+ as a "Floating line normal" for some of their lighter rods.

 

The durability and coiling came up in another thread and someone mentioned that they've addressed this in the newer ones. At the end of the day, it all comes down to personal preference though.

[lethfisher]

The durability and coiling came up in another thread and someone mentioned that they've addressed this in the newer ones. At the end of the day, it all comes down to personal preference though.

 

I'll second that about the coiling... Went out today with brand new 40+ extreme distance and holy crap does the shooting head coil. The running line was great but man when I was fishing in close I was having troubles shooting any line because the coils would hang up somewhere in the guides. I will say thought that it was cold out and there was a bit of ice on the guides so that might have hindered it a bit but still... Once the whole head was outside the guides it seemed fine and the water seemed to straighten it out which I liked. Does new line have like a "break in period" before it becomes straighter?? I am using this line after using sharkskin on a 5wt which has like zero memory as well and if it does coil you can just stretch it in your hands and it will go straight again. I was trying that with this line and it helped a bit but not really...

[headscan]

The Airflo lines are all made out of polyurethane rather than pvc like most other lines. That might have something to do with the coiling, but I'm not a chemist so I couldn't say for sure.

[bhurt]

With the airflo lines I have used, I have found some inital coiling when I first bought the line, but after some cast (I'm too lazy to take the line and strech it out before I fish it the first time) it seems alright except in like -5 and lower.

 

I'm very intrested in trying out the vision heads, heard nothing but great things about it, but I dunno if it suits my casting likes........

 

It should be intresting playin with lines on my 5wt 10' 8" when I finish building it, dunno what line I will try first but do plan on trying a couple and teewking it to my likings.

[lethfisher]

I just took out the line and stretched it out a bit and it seems fine inside so I am thinking it doesn't do so well in the cold. If this stupid weather would finally cooperate I could test that theory lol

 

Also for anyone that has the green shooting head 40+, do your fingers turn all green after fiddling with it?? I am sure it will go away the more I use it but its kinda funny for now. Check out my gloves after fishing today and stripping in the line a bunch lol