RT,

I should amplify my opinion just a scad. When you do have trees at your back, a spey rod will help quite a bit. While I don't doubt you can get a nice roll cast out with your normal rod, with a spey cast, you can improve on this in a way that will puff your jockey shorts. Doesn't always matter, but when it does, it's pretty cool.

I used mine on a brushy stream in Alaska this summer to fish through a run. My friends could only get about 30 feet from shore by roll casting, due the amounts of split shot we were having to use. I was fishing all the way across the 100 foot stream. Made a huge difference in water covered and fish hooked.

How much that matters here when you are fishing the skykomish or the clackamas in fly fishing conditions is up for debate. But even then, the rhythm of the spey cast is pretty spellbinding.

But you are definitely right in that they are expensive.