Gorge Fly Shop Blog: Spey Casting Tip with Jeff Hickman

Mar 15, 2012

Spey Casting Tip with Jeff Hickman

Steve Turner Photo

By now, many of you have come to know Jeff Hickman as an approachable, knowledgeable steelhead guide here in the Pacific Northwest. From time to time, we will be checking in with Jeff – essentially trying to pry a little bit of information out of him so as to make our lives a bit easier…

One of Jeff’s specialties is the spey cast. Perfecting the spey cast can be a frustrating event, but the pay-off is huge when it all comes together. There are times when the cast just fails miserably and although it seems like nothing is going right, there might just be one simple component that that needs tweaking.

Jeff is a master for putting things in an easy-to-understand language. By staying cool and not over thinking the whole process, he helps us start casting instead of turning the whole thing into one gigantic science project!

Here Jeff explains one, often over-looked, aspect of the cast…

It is widely known that spey casters have longer rods. What is not as well known is that much of the time they do not use this extra length to their advantage. When lifting to place the anchor, sweeping, casting, mending, controlling the depth or speed of the fly the extra length of the two-hander is a huge advantage. By slightly moving your hands to change the angle of the rod you can easily change the elevation and location of the rod tip.

Steve Turner Photo

I am always telling anglers that if they feel like they are fighting something while casting, they are fighting the line sticking to the water. Speed and power do not keep the line off the water. The angle that you hold the rod gives the rod tip the necessary elevation to hold the line off of the water and make casting effortless. Use that long rod and make your fishing easier!

Thanks Jeff! We'll keep it in mind..