Single Spey Cast 1

Today’s fly fishing technique is that of the Single Spey Cast. We’ve chunked up the lesson across several blogs.

First, start with you line straight or organised, because it’s impossible to move a fly with a slack line. If your line isn’t straight your effort to straighten it is wasted, and you will have the rod in a bad position to start with. So, always start tight, whether your line is on the water, in the air or formed into a roll casting D loop. If the fly moves when the rod tip moves even slightly, then the line is well organised.

Every casting stroke should involve smooth acceleration and then a stop. Acceleration in this case means that the rod pulls all the line throughout the entire cast. The cast completes as soon as the rod stops. Like a spring, the acceleration bends the rod and loads it. As it accelerates the bend increases. But when it stops the rod recovers and straightens. It is this stop that transfers the potential stored energy from rod to line, which adds it to the line’s already stored kinetic energy. Some describe this action as similar to flicking paint off a brush. It’s a concept that most of us (not just seasoned home decorators) can understand. With a really good stop "stop" the better things go, because the energy transfer is more efficient if the rod is stopped abruptly.

Look out for the next fly fishing blog on Spey Casting.