Its no secret that swinging flies on spey rods is one of our favorite ways to fish. We know that its many of yours too, which is largely why we’ve put together a whole bunch of tip articles on spey fishing on our blog, and today we thought we add a few more.
Enjoy!
- Feel a Tap? Swing it Again! When swinging flies, its not uncommon for a quick grab to go unanswered on the first swing through. If you feel a tap, but it doesn’t come tight, don’t give up! Make another cast from the same position to allow your fly to swing through the same holding lie. All too often we see anglers get ‘bumped,’ only to make another cast followed by a few more steps down the run, thus swinging their fly through a different lie. Fish often hunker down in a tight window within a particular lie, so if you make contact, be sure to give ’em another pass through the same water before moving on.
- Watch Your Fly. Its extremely disheartening to fish through a run only to learn that your fly has been fouled up for who-knows-how-long. Its even more disheartening to get yanked by a fish to find the hook fouled up in the materials of the fly. During the ‘lift’ and ‘set’ phase of each cast, give your fly a quick glance as it comes into view to ensure the profile of your fly looks as it should. In this brief moment of time, you can usually see whether your fly is riding straight or fouled up in ball of fur, and a quick inspection as it flies by can make a big difference.
- Wait for the Weight. We’ve covered this before, but its worth repeating. Unlike when stripping streamers or dead-drifting nymphs and/or dries, its important to wait to feel the weight of the fish before setting the hook. Setting the hook the second you feel a strike will result in a poor hook set the vast majority of the time. Instead, wait for the deep pull before driving the hook home. That’s when the fish has finally turned against the fly, allowing you to set into the fish, not away from it. Tap, tap tap, deep pull, then set the hook.
Want to join us to put some of these tips to practice while swinging flies for trophy resident rainbow trout, dime-bright king salmon, or some of the most powerful steelhead on the planet? If so, drop us a line for more information.
Swinging, and mending. most think of the mend as an up river placement of the line, but when wading a riffle some riffles angle out towards the center of the river, and your hang down becomes nowhere close to your inside current seam. When the fly line nears slowing out, and below you make a mend downstream, and towards your bank, and finish out the swing otherwise you miss a very productive area where fish will hold.