• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Deneki Outdoors Fishing Lodges

Alaska | The Bahamas | Chile

  • About Deneki Outdoors
  • Our Fishing Lodges
    • Alaska West
    • Andros South
    • Rapids Camp
    • Rio Salvaje
  • Deneki Blog
    • Alaska West
    • Andros South
    • Chile
    • Fish
    • Fishing Reports
    • Fly Tying
    • Gear
    • General
    • Guest Posts
    • News
    • Rapids Camp
    • Rio Salvaje
    • Tips
  • Contact Us

Dec 06 2014

Spey Casting on Grass – Grass Leaders

Grass Leader for Spey Casting
Typical grass leader.. Photo: Kyle Shea.

When it comes to single-hand casting, we always recommend our guests spend some time practicing their cast before their trip. Shaking some of the rust off before taking your much anticipated trip is a sure-fire way to enhance your experience! Casting practice doesn’t have to occur on the water however. In fact, we would argue that casting on grass is far beneficial in terms of improving your cast.. After all, there isn’t the obvious distraction of fish throwing off your focus.

Practicing with a two-handed rod can be a bit more challenging, as water tension is required to properly execute all spey casts. There simply isn’t enough friction present between the line and the ground to provide a proper anchor point, making an efficient spey cast on grass nearly impossible.

Unless.. What if we could make a leader that could ‘grab’ the grass to simulate the force of water tension? Well, we can! It’s called a grass leader and it’s a great way to practice spey casting (or roll casting!) on grass when you can’t make it to the river. Is it a perfect simulation of casting on water? Not really.. But it does provide enough of an anchor to execute most spey casts. Plus, since you are not rushed by the river current, casting on grass allows you to stop your cast at any time to work on good rod position and line placement, by far the most important elements of a good spey cast.

Making a grass leader is easy! Here’s how:

  1. Cut up approximately 20, 8 inch lengths of stiff leader material (we like 30 lb. Maxima)
  2. Tie each section together using blood knots creating an 8-10 foot leader. Leave tag ends long.
  3. Trim each tag end to approximately a 1/4 inch in length. Knots should be approximately 5 to 6 inches apart.
  4. Create a loop in the end of the leader and connect directly to shooting head. Keep in mind the grass leader simulates BOTH your sink tip and leader in a real fishing situation.
  5. Go practice!

Note: The number of blood knots and lengths of tag ends can be adjusted to best suit the length of grass you will be casting on.

More on Spey Casting

  • Spey Casting and Hand Placement
  • Anchor Placement Tips
  • Avoiding Tangles in Your Running Line

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Plan Your Trip

Let our experts plan the fishing adventure of your dreams.
Contact Now

Search Topics

Subscribe to our newsletter

All Blog Posts

Recent Posts

  • 7 Most Popular Smoked Salmon in the World
  • Fly Tying: March Brown by Kevin Foley
  • Who Doesn’t Like Potcakes?- Support The Bahamas by Helping the Potcakes
  • Tips on Mousing for Rainbow Trout and Grayling at Alaska West
  • What’s Happening with Pebble Mine- Good News for Alaska

All About Spey

All About Trout

All About Bonefishing

All About Gear

Best Posts

Footer

Deneki Outdoors

Mailing address:
200 W 34th Ave.
PMB 1170
Anchorage, AK 99503

Office:
4451 Aircraft Drive
Suite 202
Anchorage, AK 99502

US Information and Reservations
800-344-3628

International Information and Reservations
+1 907-563-9788

Email: info@deneki.com

Our Lodges

Rapids Camp
King Salmon, Alaska

Alaska West
Kanektok River, Alaska

Andros South
South Andros Island, The Bahamas

Rio Salvaje
Puerto Montt, Chile

Deneki Outdoors thanks Peter Viau, Tosh Brown, Abe Blair, Kyle Shea and Kara Knight for the beautiful photography used on our sites.

Connect With Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

#denekioutdoors

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Copyright © 2023 · Deneki Outdoors · Privacy Policy · Site by 21 Designs