Need Spey help

I've acquired a 13' St. Croix Imperial Spey rod along with a Tioga 8 LA reel. I've not yet gotten a Spey line but I will need help learning to cast this outfit...any volunteers?

Sure, I am in Vancouver Washington. We could meet over on the Sandy when the weather and river conditions calm down. E-mail me
roba26@hotmail.com

Thanks RA! I appreciate it. Does the rod and reel sound like a pretty good set-up?
Stew

Whew! Geeez Stew, when I read the topic title I thought you were going to try neutering that puppy of yours the hard way at home. ... We need to get around to trying Giz's spey rod again. I need another try at that before I stay totally with my 9' for 7wt. GL3 blanked LL Bean flyrod for steelies. Maybe they let people cast them at the sportsman show?

Edit: Oh man, I mis-read that Stew. I glanced at your post the first time and thought you were considering that rod. You bought that rod. Cool.

[ 01-27-2002: Message edited by: RT ]

I have never cast the 13 ft stcroix but I am familiar with the 14 footer if they are comperable i'd say you'll have no problem with it. The tioga is a decent reel and have heard no complaints about them however the tioga 8la in all reality is to small of a reel you might be able to get away with it locally but a hot fish has a good chance of spooling you.

Where do you plan to use this rod?

[ 01-26-2002: Message edited by: Robert Allen3 ]

If you are able to get there, talk with Mark Bachman Of the Fly Fishing Shop in Welches Or. His shop is also sponsoring a two day free gathering for spey casting fishermen. try the best gear, talk to other spey casters, watch demonstrations by world champion spey caster. All free. May 18 and 19 go to this site for more info. http://www.flyfishusa.com/about-our-waters/spey-clave/spey-clave.htm

Thanks for the help Rob. What reel do you recommend? How much backing?
Thanks
Stew

Stew,
I've got the tioga 10LA. Tried to put a 10wt. DT Floater on it and had about 25 ft. left over when I ran out of room. I finally put on an 11wt. WF F saltwater taper and hacked about 15 ft off the rear end to get it to fit with about 100 yards of backing. I'm not too concerned about backing in the small rivers I fish with this setup, but anywhere else I'd be looking for a new reel with much larger capacity.

The large arbors are a joke (unless they are the wide spools). You just lose backing capacity and the arbor size of the machined spool could be replicated by putting much more backing on a standard spool.

If you are looking to fish a true spey line you will have to move up to at least the Tioga 12 spey model (I wish I had that for fishing my 11-foot two hander). RA3, Sparky, and several others on the board are much more versed in true spey fishing than I am and can point you in the right direction. I'm just a spey poser who lobs bobbers and jigs with a cut down big stick. But, after using the Tioga 10 for a year I know you'll need more than what I have.

Stew-
There are many reels that I would recommend and the Tioga is not one of them. They are cheesy reels (sorry CnD) and I think you can find much better for the money but if you decide to go with the Tioga get atleast the 10LA. Look at the Lamson Velocity 4 or Redington AL or RS2 9/10. The Velocity and AL are right around 2 bills while the RS2 is around $150. I would take a serious look at the Veclocity. Very simple construction yet has a very smooth drag system with a large arbor and machined aluminum plus Waterworks/Lamson is a great compnay to work with.

I am not familiar with the 13' #8 St. Croix but I have heard it is not similar to the St. Croix 14' #9 which is much faster more Euro style rod. Given that I would probally fish a 8/9/10 Windcutter. Both the Velocity and the Redington's will hold 100 yds of 30# backing and the 8/9/10 just perfectly.

If you would like, the International SpeyCasting Forum is a great resource for the two-handed fisherman. And I can guarantee you will find specific information on the 13' #8 St. Croix and what line would be best for it.

International Spey Casting Forum

I'd recommend Mark Bachman also, he taught me how to speycast when I bought my rod from him.

You can cast one at the sport show, but you really need to be on a river to get the whole spey casting thing down.

It's a fun way to fish if you like big water. Once you learn how to spey cast, you will find yourself using the tech with your regular rods.

You'd be suprised how easy it is to cast the spey rod all day, if you have proper instruction. It is very fluid and relaxing. The weight of the reel is very important also, If you are under-reeled the rod will feel heavy in the tip, and it will fatigue you casting all day with it.

Now landing a fish by yourself......that's another story when you've got 14' of bug rod out in front of you.

Aaron