I've noticed that spey rod fishing is gaining more attention and popularity here on the Salmon R. in NY state.
I was wondering if there are many spey rod fishermen in Washington State. I was looking at the prices of some of these rods --
Wow! --and that's not including the reel and line!

It looks like a LOT of fun and beautiful to watch!

It's not hard to drop a grand on a Spey set up.

wolverine is right.... 1000 clams easy.... at 15 clams a pop, that's a lot of limits to dig!

Seriously, the best source of info on anything Spey is this forum:

SPEY FORUM

Ya know gear fishermen used to laugh at our " wimpy little fly poles" Now they laugh at us for our "huge ole british poles" Little do they know thry are from Scottland:D

Most of the spey guys are fishing heavily weighted flies under strike indicators. Substitute jigs for weighted flies and float for strike indicators and what do you get?
Just 2 different delivery systems.

The price of those outfits are coming down. You can get a quality outfit for under $500.00 or less. Just got to know where to go. Rods start out at $200.00. Reels anywhere from $45.00 and up. And lines $65.00. As stated you can get out with under $350.00 and still get a good setup.

Don't need to spend lots of dollars.

Jim

What's your definition of "most"? Damn few folks who are serious enough to take up the long rod are really interested in "bobber fishing"

....cast, mend, swing , step, repeat.

In answer to your question: western washington/Portland, Or area and 'down here' on the Rogue are a lot of folks who use almost nothing but 2-handers year round.

Yes, getting into the game can be pricie... but not as bas as just a couple of years ago. CND rods (call Aaron Reimer at River Run Anglers in Carnation, Wa) are very good rods and (compared to Sage, T/T, etc., very moderately priced (and darned good rods).

For spey rods you do need a LARGE reel as the majority of lines are going to be a minimum of 120 foot to 150 foot long .. plus add your backing. Do you have to drop a wad to buy a reel that will hold this much line. No, but God knows you can.

Good connect up above to all things 'Spey.' Grand group of folks (litterly worldwide!). You can ask ANY question you want and you'll get straight answers. Flaming IS NOT! allowed on the board.
fae

Im very new to spey fishing(in fact havent yet caught one on my spey--just on my 9 ft 6weight) but i'm really enthusiastic and poor. I got a Cabelas spey outfit in early Dec. with 13 ft 8-9 wt., large arbor reel with airflo weight forward line and backing for $320.00. That way, if I hate it, I'm not out a bunch of dough!So far, about 1 out of 10 casts "feels Right"

gthfsh

Keep at it, bud....practice, practice, practice. The double-spey is the easiest cast for the beginner to learn. Proficiency casting with either hand on the top grip is really important to cover different wind situations, direction of streamflow, and also to give one shoulder a break.

I was out today perfecting my left-handed snake roll on the Wynoochee. I sucked pretty bad with the first few attempts, but by mid-afternoon, 80 footers were a piece of cake using the "wrong" hand. Now if I could just find a fish willing to grab a swung marabou.

Have you ever seen a spey fly? Almost all spey flies are very sparce and built on a large yet thin gauge hook. Spey flies are also never weighted. If you need to go deeper, you tie the fly on a heavyer hook and use a sinking line.

Try to find a good spey caster in your area. 30 minutes of watching and instruction will cut the learning curve dramatically.

Suck is what I do best! Seriously though--I staarted fly fishin at 8 and considered myself proficient until picking up the spey rod. I can see that the learning curve will be quick--waiting for the rod to load is the hardest part. I believe that most casts can be adapted to the spey rod. The biggest advantaage Ive seen so far has been that when a fish takes on the swing, there.s not much guessing about whether its a fish or a rock as when drifting lead . With no belly in the line, its a direct link to the fish.

...waiting for the rod to load is the hardest part..

Bingo! For your basic single/double spey/circleor Snap T and a couple of others this is exactly the case. What you want to do is watch your 'anchor.' Usually your leader if your at 12 feet or over. Leave too much line on the water/excessive 'anchor,' and you get what's called "the blood L." Think dragging a bucket out of the water.

As your forming your 'D' loop (actually, if you're doing it right it's actually a 'V' loop) and as the tip of your fly line comes out of the water, this is when you do your forward 'wrist snap.'

The most important part of the cast is the wrist snap/stop the rod tip at 10 o'clock; this is re-loading your rod from the bottom up. This is what gives a spey cast it distance. (Side Bar: it really is a wrist snap - think hitting a punching bag - NOT thrusting you upper arm forward.)

Several casts, such as the snake roll, are very dynamic (sp?) in nature. Here, INCREASING rod speed is what gives you the cast as you form the 'd' loop and come forward for the 'wrist snap.'

Back to 'the bloody L' for a moment. Yes, we all have a tendency to set our anchor (or 'pick' if you wish) too far down stream on occation. Solution for this is rather simple .... AIM farther down stream with this cast. Point being your (to the degree possible) aiming your cast over the forward part of the 'anchor.'

And now for some good news!

Almost every spey cast can be done very well with a single hand rod (helps if the rod is at least 9' in length due to 'leverage').

Please practice these as it will greatly improve your single hander fishing. Bush/trees/large rocks behind you that prevent/limit a 'traditional cast?' No sweat ... just use a spey cast instead.

Point of all spey casts is the majority of the cast is done over the water. The 'D loop' is really the only thing going on behind you in the majority of cases.