C'man,

Brent covered the main advantage of Spey casting, IMO. Spey casting is basically a "change of direction roll cast." So one may Spey cast with either a single hand or double hand rod. Wish I had understood that better much earlier when I was doing all my steelhead fishing with a single hand fly rod.

Spey casting with a double hand rod pretty well doubles the amount of water I can effectively fish on a river. I don't need an open gravel bar behind me and can fish fairly close against a high bank or brushy or tree-lined river bank. I still need a few feet of space for what is called the "D" loop, which effectively the backcast when roll casting or Spey casting.

I'm not really sure why, but sometimes it seems like it's as little as a reason to give tackle shops an excuse to inventory and sell more fly fishing tackle. Trout Spey has become more popular in the last 10 years. I have seen Spey rods as light as 2 and 3 weight, whereas the lightest Spey rod I use for summer steelhead and bull trout is a 5 wt. (My every day winter (and BC summer run river) Spey rod is a 7 wt.) (Spey line sizes are approximately two line weights heavier than than their single hand counterpart; i.e., my 7 wt Spey rod easily has the power of a 9 wt single hand rod.)

Another advantage of Spey fishing is that it is easy to cast larger flies. My all around single hand steelhead rods are 8 wt. With those rods I'm comfortable casting flies as large as a size 2 hook. With my Spey rod I often fish streamer flies that are 4 inches long, which makes some sense when you consider that steelhead forage on squid and baitfish that are commonly 6 or 7 inches long.

And the last advantage of Spey fishing is the consolation prize. With steelhead returns being so much lower in recent years, I can take more pleasure in the simple act of Spey casting while I'm fishing a 300 yard long run that probably isn't holding even a single steelhead. Spey casting is kind of a hobby in and of itself. I really enjoy it, and as I've gotten better at it, I enjoy it that much more.

So, do you need a Spey rod? Absolutely not. Will you catch more fish by using a Spey rod? It's highly unlikely. I have an fiberglass 8 1/2' 8 wt fly rod that is over 40 years old and has landed more steelhead than all of my high tech graphite Spey rods combined. It's all about the enjoyment.

20 Gage,

For perspective, I probably max out my single hand casting at around 80 or 90 feet. Also for perspective, my usual working length single hand fly cast for steelhead fishing is about 60'. Since I took up Spey casting for steelhead, my typical working length Spey cast is 70 to 80'. My maximum length Spey cast is probably about 100'. I have a couple friends who are excellent casters and they will make fishing length casts of 120' or more where the situation allows or calls for it.

A person can certainly Spey cast from the open bow of a boat, but generally speaking, why would they? If you're fishing from a boat it's usually more comfortable, and often more effective, to just cast and fish a single hand fly rod in that situation.