Single Hand Skagit - How to Get Started

This Winter season of Trout Spey I've chose to reach into the really cool topic of single hand skagit. I've two hand trout spey fished a good variety of trout water across the US and while the Trout Spey or Micro Spey, whichever you prefer, hits home in many waters throughout America, I've also come to realize that there is a multitude of great trout streams in which this long rod just becomes too cumbersome and unnecessarily long. What I have found is small streams are ideal places for single hand skagit casting. It allows you to make casts in places where traditional overhead casting is not possible and trout spey rods are just over-kill.

At this time of writing, no USA companies are building a technique-specific single hand skagit stick for trout. I'm aware of two offerings for steelhead, first from Echo, OHS or One Hand Spey and one from Burkheimer simply called the Single Hand Spey. A Canadian Company, Pieroway along with the influence of Jerry French has both trout and steelhead offerings in a new line of single handed skagit rods called Renegade.

I see the skagit line sales and y'all ain't buying 200gr heads for spey rods! As of this writing, you have two options for single hand trout skagit: Dust off your old 5 weights or build your own custom single handed skagit rod. In the recent I've done both and have enjoyed some fun casting and great fishing.

Custom 9'3" Single Hand Skagit Rod

I'm certain the interest is growing in both steelhead and trout markets. I see your youtube videos and as I already mentioned, the line sales. Admittedly I'm going to be a little trout bias in this article that I believe is for good reasons. First reason is, for steelhead two hand anglers, single hand skagit will come absolutely natural, so I feel no real need to push this on you. Reason two is, I know many trout anglers despite the movement of trout spey still write off two hand skagit fishing as a tool they don't have any use for and has no place in their streams. Trout guys...with today's single hand skagit tactics you're about to run out of excuses. Drop "bob" already and feel the grab.

Michael McGovney swinging a 490-4 Peiroway Renegade

Single handed Skagit

Here's the beauty of this, we already have the lines. The modern short skagit such as OPST Commando, Scientific Anglers Spey Lite Integrated Skagit, RIO's InTouch Skagit Trout Spey and Airflo's Skagit Scout have not only changed spey but I would argue that the even bigger revolution happening now is they have created a gateway into single handed skagit.

Here's what I want you to do...

Go to your rod arsenal and pick out a 9' 5 weight, or something close. It could be a 586, 490, 376, 690, whatever you got that is trouty. Preferably on the moderate to mod-fast side of action is best; not only for groovy feeling but also for tippet protection. Follow the OPST provided chart below and choose a grain weight to match. Most 5 weight rods hit the 200-225gr skagit mark.

Courtesy of Olympic Peninsula Skagit Tactics

Choose your head or line system...

Here you have some choices, personally I choose the Scientific Anglers Spey Lite Integrated Skagit. The seamless, attached running line is very liberating with a single hand rod. The benefits include stripping flies all the way without loop interference in the rod guides and it also allows you to perform forward hauls on your cast without loop interference. Just for reference the S/A Spey Lite Skagit integrated shooting line section micrometers out at approximately 0.028 inch.

1/22/2019 - Update

The OPST Commando Smooth is now available! Now you have the famous Commando head seamlessly integrated to a thin shooting line. Just add OPST Micro Sink Tips and you've got a perfect simple system.

I know steelheaders are not going to deviate from separate head / running line setups. The benefits for this is you have many head choices and running line options to choose from. Admittedly I favor mono shooting line for the ease of distance but I feel in my trout fishing the versatility of integrated shooting line is a greater advantage then the additional distanced achieved with mono shooting line.

Choose a Running/Shooting line (Unless you chose the S/A Spey Lite Skagit Integrated)
Many steelhead veterans will reach for a mono type of shooting line such as OPST Lazar or RIO Slick Shooter. When I do use head systems I like to use RIO Gripshooter in the 0.024" for its easy handling section and great shooting distance. If you want to retain the fly line feel in your shooting line reach for RIO Powerflex Max in 0.024" or RIO ConnectCore in 0.026".

Get some tips...

So many choices in this area that it's hard to even make a recommendation. If you've got steelhead poly's, (polyleaders or versileaders) go ahead and start with them and adjust from there. If you're buying tips just for trout I would consider OPST Micro Tips, Airflo Trout Polyleaders, RIO InTouch 10ft Sink tips and good old T-8 cut to fit sink material.

Choose a reel...

As long as you don't feel the need to have 500 yards of backing (exaggeration), and 100 feet of running line (more exaggeration). Stop! Put this in prospective. You're building a trout skagit setup. One hundred yards of backing should be more than enough. If your using a shooting line setup chop that line back to a reasonable amount like 60-70 feet. The S/A Spey Lite Integrated Skagits are 100 foot head and running line total, Perfect! Most of the time I get away with matching reel to the rod on my single hand trout skagit setups providing the reel is a large arbor of at least 5/6 size and I keep my backing to minimal. I could certainly see in some rivers such as Alaska big rainbow fisheries one would need a larger size reel for more backing, but I would also imagine one would be into a full on trout spey outfit as apposed to a small single hand skagit stick. You know your fishery, you be the judge.

Pick an assortment of flies...

I fish with anything from small intruders to soft hackles and many things in between. Swinging flies is more about getting your fly in front of fish then the fly itself. It's a game of forcing the fish to make a decision or miss out on a meal. Of course they can be selective but don't let yourself get to caught up on matching the hatch. More often than not I choose my fly according to the speed and/or depth of the water. Fast and shallow I want streamer flies that will swim. Slow and shallow I'll use a very sparse and lightly weighted leach pattern. Slow with silty bottom, get out you hackles and nymphs. Yes...I said it "nymphs", despite popular belief nymphs can in fact be fished on a tight line without a bobber!

597-4 Sage X Single Hand Skagit casts very well

The cast...

If you already two hand fish then skip this section. All the same rules apply from two hand to the single hand rod. Snap T, swing into the D-loop and away you go.

In this next statement is were I'm going to get a lot of sighs from the industry experts. If you are just getting started in spey, in my opinion, (IMO guys), with today's micro skagit lines learning spey with a single handed rod set up with micro skagits is FAR easier then learning full-on spey casting with two hand long rods. There, I said it! Now let me break it down to the basics.

Can you roll cast? Start there. Get to your water and pull out the skagit head all the way till it all hangs out the rod tip. This would be at the black marker section of the S/A Spey Lite. Start roll casting, feel it load. Get comfortable with it and work it until you can get line to lay out straight. You just performed the basis of all spey cast and this is a good time to inform you that all spey cast involve water loading just like a roll cast does. Spey casting is often described as modified versions of a roll cast.

Next you will need to learn some moves such as Snap-T and Reverse Spey that allow you to set your anchor point in various different locations. This is the point an instructor can really help but if you don't have a local instructor available you can find all kinds of YouTube videos demonstrating these casts.

Single Handed Spey Cast 

But it's too hard to learn!

John in the photo is not fluent in fly fishing period, let alone spey casting. This fish he is holding was taken on the swing with a single handed skagit setup in a about 15 minutes time from never having spey cast ever to fish in hand. I don't want to ever hear another word about it being too hard. Matter of fact with the proper prepared gear I believe a single handed spey cast is way easier to master basic technique as compared to learning effective traditional fly casting or two hand spey casting. John did have the benefit of not having old baggage to get in his way while dissecting each step of a snap T cast. He was a clean slate to work with and naturally possesses good motor muscle skills. I don't wish to downplay the event but don't want anglers to expect 15 minute success either. Combined circumstances of a good student, competent teacher, working gear and cooperative fish created a successful situation.

I'm writing this article to the trout guys who seek out smaller water...the guy that wants to swing some buggers while he watches for a hatch to come off..the guy who wants to ditch the "bob" and find the magic of tight line fishing nymphs or soft hackles...the guy who wants to learn some basic spey without throwing down a couple ounces of gold to do it.

It's not too late for me to learn a new trick and the best personal reward is it's not too late to teach this method to those that will be the future of this awesome sport of tricking fish with a fly.

I'm willing to show you how...Are you willing to discover!?

Greg Darling 

Gorge Fly Shop Internet Sales Manager | Product Specialist

"The passion of fishing is a lifelong pursuit of discovery"

Trout Spey - New Line Options

Trout Spey Lines

I quoted in the my last article Winston Microspey vs Sage Trout Spey, "Awesome time it is for the New Trout Spey Angler". It's great to have such awesome rods available to us but the best rods really don't mean anything without lines to do what we need them to do. Last year at this time I was writing Trout Spey Lines - No Perfect Answer. This year I am stoked to say I have some perfect answers. Maybe not all the answers but the two hand trout angler is wading up a better creek than ever!

In addition to the search for better trout spey / microspey lines I believe I have found an awesome single handed skagit lines. In pursuit of the quest for better lines for pint size spey rods we got more than we asked for and we now have what I have come to believe is the best single hand skagit heads yet. I'll get into this detail later in the article.

Update: 8/26/2016

Airflo Skagit Scout - Just arrived...NOW IN STOCK

I just got my samples of this new Skagit From Airflo. Can't wait to try them out. Compared to the OPST heads these appear a little longer. NO one is telling us to line up light so I would plan to go with your rod's recommendation.

You got to love this Airflo description...
"They allow trout, steelhead, and salmon fishermen to use their single-hand and switch rods to cast any sink tip in their bag."
That's what I want to hear!

Range	Grains	Head Length
2/3	150gr	13.5'
2/3	180gr	14.5'
3/4	210gr	14.5'
3/4	240gr	15'
3/4	270gr	15'
4/5	300gr	15.5'
4/5	330gr	15.5'
5/6	360gr	16.5'
5/6	390gr	16.5'
6/7	420gr	17.5'
6/7	450gr	17.5'
7/8	480gr	18.5'

Airflo Skagit Scout

New Skagits
Really Short Skagits! With the addition of the new Airflo Skagit Scout there is now three offerings in this category including the RIO Skagit Trout Max and OPST Commando Heads.

OPST Commando
OPST or Olympic Peninsula Skagit Tactics was founded by innovative spey masters Ed Ward and Jerry French. Commando Skagit Heads are specifically designed to work on the OPST principles of Pure Skagit Sustained Anchor water loaded cast and are optimized for switch rods in the 10-12 foot range.

OPST Commando 325gr w/10' - T8 tip on Winston 4110 Microspey

So what does Pure Skagit Sustained Anchor casting mean? What OPST did with the skagit is take away all that was not necessary and get right down to just enough head to anchor and maintain a fixed position of your fly while keeping the head in constant motion throughout the casting stroke. By using out and around method your casting stroke becomes one continuous motion. This allows the angler to keep a tight casting box and minimizes the space needed for large D-loops and reduces the pause needed for critical timing to get a formed D-loop. In my words if you can perform a roll cast than adapting to an out and around swing with a Commando Head will naturally come easy.

OPST Commando Head Specs

How different are the lengths? I make some comparisons here to demonstrate just how drastic of a turn we've taken.

Winston BIII Microspey 4110 likes 325gr

• Airflo Switch Streamer 330gr head length 18.5'
• Rio Skagit Max Short 325gr head length 20'
• OPST Commando 325gr head length 15'

Sage One Trout Spey 3110 likes 275gr

• Airflo Switch Streamer - N/A - lowest available line is 300gr
• Rio Skagit Max Short 275gr head length 20'
• OPST Commando 275gr head length 13.5'
• RIO Skagit Trout Max 275gr head length 11'

Courtesy of OPST - Recommendation Chart

One thing you will notice in the recommendation chart provided by OPST is the grain weight to switch/spey rod sizes are much less than we currently recommend. Using the Winston 4110 Microspey for my example I like to load it with 325-330 grains but according to the OPST chart they recommend 200-225 grain. I have experimented with both grain windows and at this time I still prefer the heavier load for my rod. This may change as I become more adept to this Pure Skagit form of casting but that is a whole another area that will need it's own article to tackle. The single hand specs I find to be dead on with what I have experienced.


Using OPST Commando heads for single hand rods becomes very interesting especially for trout anglers but also steelhead anglers who fish tight quartered water. These heads give your single hand rod a freedom you have never experienced before. Once you get the feel of it you can add a haul to your forward stroke for more distance. I have been experimenting this year with several single hand rods ranging from 8' to 9'6" and 4 to 8 weight with amazing results. Even rods I didn't really like very well seemed to have a new life with skagit single handed spey.

RIO Skagit Trout Max

Single hand spey brown

If OPST Commando heads are short than the Rio Skagit Trout Max are "micro". Skagit Trout Max heads come in only 4 sizes and all are 11 foot long. Grain weights include a 200, 225, 250 and 275 grain.

Although designed for light two hand switch rods I feel they really adapt better to single hand rod, Single handed spey applications. At 11' these short heads can easily lose anchor with rods in the 10'6" to 12' lengths but with rods in the 8' to 10' length they can take trout fly rods and make them very effective single hand spey casting tools. They are capable of turning over some serious T-series sink tips for example I have been using 8' of T-8 for most my single hand trout swinging but one day I looped on an 8' piece of T-11 on a 9' 7 weight rod with a 275gr Skagit Trout Max to swing a fast tailout. It paid off with two nice browns taken on a #8 Sculpzilla and no trouble at all casting the rig.

The RIO Skagit Trout Max Heads also work very well with polyleader tips. A piece of froggy water I fish often has small depressions scattered throughout a large area shirted with small riffles. Often at times fish can be found in these depressions and on the seams of the riffles. With a 9 foot 5 wt and a Skagit Trout Max 200 grain head tipped with an intermediate polyleader I can wade and work these depressions and seams with a simple swing around into a touch a go cast shooting about 20 feet of running line. I let my two fly rig (usually a small nymph and a soft hackle) swing into the depressions. Strip back to head and move a couple steps and do it again. Most anglers are indicator fishing this water but I find it more rewarding using a tight line swing technique. Of course the skagit doesn't provide a soft presentation but than again neither does a thing-a-ma-bobber hitting the water. Ease along and first work the edges before diving all in and lining the fish. The polyleader will present well when you soften up your stoke and let this short skagit do the job of turnover.

A note about single handed spey:

Single Hand Spey Caught Brown

I can assume that anybody reading this article probably has a 9 foot 5 weight rod or a close equivalent in their arsenal. For many reasons maybe you have hesitated going all in on a trout spey outfit? I know the times I do walk and wade trips the preparation question of what rod do I want to carry always comes up. If you're like me carrying more than one rod just becomes a hassle. But you don't have to let that stop you from enjoying the benefits of spey. Now with OPST Commando's or RIO Trout Max Spey heads you can simply set up a second reel and swing flies on those couple good runs in your water and switch to a dry line when a hatch appears. If you are just learning spey techniques your single hand rod can be a valuable asset. If you can make effective roll casts than you are already on the way to learning single handed spey. With a short skagit you can easily learn to shoot line on a roll cast and perform forward stroke line hauls.

Trout spey has taken a giant leap forward this past year with these two new skagits. Breathe new life into your Switch, Microspey or Trout Spey and/or add a new dimension of Single Handed Spey to your trout arsenal. It's been a real game changer for me. I hope you find that true for you too!

Greg Darling 

Gorge Fly Shop Internet Sales Manager | Product Specialist

"Fly Fish the World with Us"

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