. 2nd and 3rd fly caught steely today---and a couple ?.s. Hoping for a spey outfit for Christmas --currently fishing a 9 foot 6 wt with extra fast sink tip(15 ft.) Everyone in the lit. talks 90 ft casts, etc. Will the spey cast well and control at shorter distances? Considering a 14 ft Cabelas 8-9 wwwith airflo line tioga reel. Lifelong fly guy 8years to 50 yrs. bad shoulders.. Don't want to waste my $ if it wont do the job on small(Idahos Salmon) medium and some larger waters --salmon aand steelhead. Any advice appreciated!

With a Spey outfit you can cover 35 to 120 feet. If your in Idaho, can you get to this shop? http://www.redshedflyshop.com/
You really should try before you buy anything. Don't do what I did and waste tons of money on crap you can't get rid of later. Find a shop or somebody else who uses spey rods and try out everything. If I were to start over, I would buy CND experts, and work my way up. I repeat, Don't buy anything you can't try first. The money you save today, will get you into the dream rod later.

Matt

gth,

What is it you're after?

Spey casting because you think it'll be easier on your shoulders? If you're a long time fly fisher, casting a 9 1/2' 8 wt from daylight to dark shouldn't cause any more shoulder stress than you'll experience with the Spey rod, and especially so while you learn to Spey cast.

A Spey rod will extend your control a little further out on long casts. Although they can cast a country mile, I find I don't actually cast or fish more than about 10' further out than when I'm using my single hand rod.

What constitutes a waste of money to you? If you've already got a rod that casts and fishes well, any subsequent rod could be described as a waste of money. If you mean you don't want to buy a rod that you end up not using, then, well, there's always that risk when you try something new. Even if you try a Spey rod before buying it, until you get the hang of it and develop a personal preference, you won't know what to look for, in my opinion.

I don't know the Cabella's Spey rod, but I've heard it described by others as OK. A good value alternative to the high end rods is the blanks sold by Anglers Workshop. I've cast their 12 and 14' two handers, and have been using the 12' for 3 or 4 seasons now. These are a pretty good value if you like to build your own rods from blanks.

Good luck, and let the rod do the work while casting. Save your shoulders for playing the fish after the hookup.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Roger that on the 'Red Shack' in Idaho; if your in the Seattle area go for Aaron Reimer's shop in Carnation (?) Not sure of his exact location on the river, but even from So. Oregon I drop a lot of 'dimes' with him every year.

this is Aaron's e mail address for his proper address: AARON REIMER
E-mail Address(es):
speybum@speyshop.com

Aaron has a 'butt load' of loaner spey rods/reels/lines for you to actually run on the water. Trust me (I've got 14'ish spey rods) guy knows what hes doing and won't sell you a "lemmon.' As an aside, he's a darned good instructor on 2-handers.
fae