George Cook is a helluva great guy! Knowledgeable, and friendly as all get out! When I a young man working in a fly shop in downtown Portland Oregon in 94' or 95' called Countrysport, he was ( and obviously still is) a rep for Simms waders. Out of a massive sense of generosity he gave me a pair of Simms Gore-tex waders ( still got em' to this day😎❗), as well as a14 foot St. Croix 9 weight Spey rod. He never asked for a dime, not even for shipping. He answered every question that I ever had, and in my mind, is one of the people responsible for my love and obsession for flyfishing. When I left the shop, I heard that he had some health problems, glad to see all of that behind him. He looks great! Hey George, thanks for everything! From Kevin Harris.
The "Perry Poke" was actually invented in Sweden way before Carl blew his anchor. But in Byske, Sweden it was (and is) a deliberate cast in order to handle all the trees and bush behind the caster.
So just for simplicity sake let’s say my skagit head is 20 feet, whenever I go to cast I should have that whole 20ft head outside the rod tip to effectively load and deliver my fly, correct? That’s why the counting method is used so you can hit that mark every time? I don’t have a Spey rod I have to 10ft 7wt single hander with an OPST commando head loaded up. I’m practicing my double and single speys. I fish in the Great Lakes region I’m not ashamed to admit I toss an indicator rig on occasion. However that’s how everyone here fishes and that’s getting old I wanna swing and I want to swing bad. When I do buy my first dedicated Spey rod what should I look towards buying? Also I’d love to head out west and fish for real steel one day what would be a good river to start with?
Hey Brian, Yes, the entire head plus a few inches to a foot or so of running line. The amount of running line you have out of the rod tip is called the overhang. With a short rod, you won't need any overhang. With a longer length spey rod and a short head, anglers often add a little more overhang to keep from lifting their anchor. The OPST Commando Heads work perfectly well on a 10' rod. There are a ton of great rod choices. The standard west coast steelhead rod is around 13' for a 7wt. For your water in the Great Lakes, unless you are on one of the larger Michigan Rivers, a rod under 12' is generally preferred. The Echo Swing 7130-4 for West Coast and the 7117-4 for Great Lakes would be good choices for a reasonable price point. north40flyshop.com/fly-shop/fly-fishing-gear/fly-fishing-fly-rods?p=1 As to western Steelhead rivers, the Olympic Peninsula in WA is considered the holy grail of west coast steelheading. The Calawah, Hoh, Sol Duc, Bogachiel, and the Queets are the rivers to research. Tight Lines,
North 40 is right, but start with half Your head out and fish the close in water 1st them move onto the longer full head casts....dont get caught up in spey casting, instead spey 'fish' ....cheers
Thank you for your comment Steve! Developing a style and mindset to how you achieve your fishing goals is always about suggestions and learning! Keep having fun out there!
Tiverton69 that’s great whatever gets your fly out there. Personally I like to use both hands and work on my weak areas, should that be my left or right arm or a certain cast. I do this for a couple of reasons, firstly, having a full armoury of casts utilising both my lower and upper arms gives me the ability to cover parts on the river I might not be able to reach if my casting skills were limited to using one arm..especially in tricky, windy conditions or where I’m fishing close to the bank. Secondly, I actually enjoy learning to cast well and pushing myself to have the best technique I can...I get great pleasure learning new casts and trying to perfect old ones. I almost enjoy this part of my fishing as much as actually catching the fish. Anyway tight lines 🎣
George Cook is a helluva great guy! Knowledgeable, and friendly as all get out! When I a young man working in a fly shop in downtown Portland Oregon in 94' or 95' called Countrysport, he was ( and obviously still is) a rep for Simms waders. Out of a massive sense of generosity he gave me a pair of Simms Gore-tex waders ( still got em' to this day😎❗), as well as a14 foot St. Croix 9 weight Spey rod. He never asked for a dime, not even for shipping. He answered every question that I ever had, and in my mind, is one of the people responsible for my love and obsession for flyfishing. When I left the shop, I heard that he had some health problems, glad to see all of that behind him. He looks great! Hey George, thanks for everything! From Kevin Harris.
The "Perry Poke" was actually invented in Sweden way before Carl blew his anchor. But in Byske, Sweden it was (and is) a deliberate cast in order to handle all the trees and bush behind the caster.
This was something special, so much helpful information to be only watch once!!
Thank you.
Love my Sage One 4.
So just for simplicity sake let’s say my skagit head is 20 feet, whenever I go to cast I should have that whole 20ft head outside the rod tip to effectively load and deliver my fly, correct? That’s why the counting method is used so you can hit that mark every time? I don’t have a Spey rod I have to 10ft 7wt single hander with an OPST commando head loaded up. I’m practicing my double and single speys. I fish in the Great Lakes region I’m not ashamed to admit I toss an indicator rig on occasion. However that’s how everyone here fishes and that’s getting old I wanna swing and I want to swing bad. When I do buy my first dedicated Spey rod what should I look towards buying? Also I’d love to head out west and fish for real steel one day what would be a good river to start with?
Hey Brian,
Yes, the entire head plus a few inches to a foot or so of running line. The amount of running line you have out of the rod tip is called the overhang. With a short rod, you won't need any overhang. With a longer length spey rod and a short head, anglers often add a little more overhang to keep from lifting their anchor.
The OPST Commando Heads work perfectly well on a 10' rod.
There are a ton of great rod choices. The standard west coast steelhead rod is around 13' for a 7wt. For your water in the Great Lakes, unless you are on one of the larger Michigan Rivers, a rod under 12' is generally preferred. The Echo Swing 7130-4 for West Coast and the 7117-4 for Great Lakes would be good choices for a reasonable price point.
north40flyshop.com/fly-shop/fly-fishing-gear/fly-fishing-fly-rods?p=1
As to western Steelhead rivers, the Olympic Peninsula in WA is considered the holy grail of west coast steelheading. The Calawah, Hoh, Sol Duc, Bogachiel, and the Queets are the rivers to research.
Tight Lines,
North 40 is right, but start with half Your head out and fish the close in water 1st them move onto the longer full head casts....dont get caught up in spey casting, instead spey 'fish' ....cheers
Thank you for your comment Steve! Developing a style and mindset to how you achieve your fishing goals is always about suggestions and learning! Keep having fun out there!
Carl Perry didn't develop it out of a blown cast :D He put his name to the byske cast that was decades ahead of him :D
I think almost everyone's first experience with a spey rod is a hot mess.
you will deffo need too learn how to cast with both hands
Cack handed = can’t use both hands
Tiverton69 that’s great whatever gets your fly out there. Personally I like to use both hands and work on my weak areas, should that be my left or right arm or a certain cast. I do this for a couple of reasons, firstly, having a full armoury of casts utilising both my lower and upper arms gives me the ability to cover parts on the river I might not be able to reach if my casting skills were limited to using one arm..especially in tricky, windy conditions or where I’m fishing close to the bank. Secondly, I actually enjoy learning to cast well and pushing myself to have the best technique I can...I get great pleasure learning new casts and trying to perfect old ones. I almost enjoy this part of my fishing as much as actually catching the fish. Anyway tight lines 🎣
22 of the 90% that don’t catch fish don’t like the vid
134 of the 10 % that do catch fish like it
That about says it all .
Too much theory as water…