Spey Styles

Spey fishing can be broadly broken into three distinct, different styles all of which are relavent to Atlantic Canadian salmon fishing. These styles namely are; Scandi, Skagit and Traditional. 

Scandi-Style

The Scandi Style of course, originated in Scandanavia, and was developed as a way to use shorter style shooting heads, to deliver the fly, with a short, efficient casting stroke, while maintaining a finesse-style presentation, in tight quarters.

The Scandi shooting heads used are essentially a triangle-taper. That is, the rear portion of the shooting head, at the rod tip, is large in diameter, and tapers out to a fine tip, where the leader connects. This reverse taper allows energy to transfer smoothly down the fly line, allowing positive turnover of the leader and fly. 

Scandi heads are generally 30-40 feet in total length, with the longer ones suited for even finer presentation, lighter leaders and smaller flies, with the shorter ones more suited for slightly heavier setups, capable of casting light sink tips, heavier flies, etc. 

The Scandi Style also employs mainly 2 different casts, depending on the handed-ness of the angler, and the side of the river you are fishing.

The single-spey, and the snake roll are the two main casts employed with the Scandi style approach. Both of these casts are considered 'touch-and-go' style casts, where the entire head and leader is swept out of the water, and back into the D-loop, where just the leader is anchored alongside the angler, providing resistance to load the rod into the forward cast. 

The Scandi style cast is predominantly an 'under-hand' style cast, where the lower hand on the rod is used almost exclusively on the forward stroke, using the lower hand puts more power into the forward cast, and makes the stroke more efficient. The upper hand, is used more in the pickup, and the sweep, to get the rod into the correct firing position. 

Check out this video from Loop with Klaus Frimor on Scandi Casting

Leaders are typically long-mono setups with the Scandi style.  A tapered mono leader in the 12-18 foot range is usually ideal for the scandi presentation. If you find yourself blowing out your anchor routinely with the cast while maintaining a compact stroke, increasing the length of the leader a couple feet is usually an easy fix. 

Scandi style is definitely best suited for summer fishing for Atlantic salmon, with floating heads, leaders, small flies and fine presentation. 

As an aside, Scandinavians certainly do use sinking heads as well. It is possible, utilizing the same casts, to cast sinking scandi shooting heads, to achieve finesse presentation, deeper in the water column. 

Some our favourite Scandi Rods

Loop Trak Double Hand

Loop Z1 Double Hand

Nam G.W.T. Spey

 

 

Skagit-Style

Skagit Style spey casting originated in the Pacific Northwest, as a way to cast sinking flies and large, weighed flies, into rivers that do not allow much room for a back cast. 

This presentation can be a little more clunky compared to scandi style, but is more of a utilitarian way to get the job done, that is, casting sink tips and larger flies in close quarters.

Skagit heads are shorter and more uniform in diameter throughout the taper of the head, compared to the longer triangle taper and finer tip associated with Scandi style.

These heads are also almost always fished with a sink tip, to help get the fly closer to the fish, which can be effective for Spring and Fall fishing in Atlantic Canada.

Skagit shooting heads are typically 15-25 feet in length, and are usually paired at the upper end of the grain window for a rod. This additional weight in the shooting head tends to put a deeper load into the rod, and use the lower half of the rod. Spey rods with a stiffer tip section (to help lift the sink tip), but bend deeper down in the lower portion of the rod are recommended for skagit casting. 

Skagit-style predominantly employs the use of the 'Snap-T Cast', and the 'Double Spey Cast', again, dependant on handed-ness of the angler and the side of the river you are fishing. These casts utilize the sink-tip as the anchor, which is used as resistance to load the rod as you sweep back to form the D-loop.

Check out this video on Skagit Casting from the good people at The New Fly Fisher with Simon Gawesworth.

Depending on the length of the rod used, sink tips are typically 10-15 feet in length, with a short tippet of about 2-4 feet between the sink-tip and the fly. 

Skagit style is usually a little easier to learn as a beginner, as the sink-tip offers a reliable anchor to form the D-loop against, requiring less precise timing than Scandi casting.

As previously stated, Skagit style can be ideal for spring and fall fishing in Atlantic Canada, when flows are high, the water is cold, and the fish are unlikely to move too far to accept a fly. 

Fishing Fever Recommended Rods for Skagit Fishing

Redington Dually Two-Handed

G-Loomis NRX+ Spey

Nam Epic Waters DH

 

Traditional Spey

Traditional spey style is making a resurgence amongst anglers who prefer to use a longer shooting head for their fishing. Traditional style was born in the UK, utilizing very long rods, and long lines to cover broad stretches of water, where back casting is generally not an issue, due to the larger D-loop.

Long belly shooting heads are generally 40+ feet in length, and are usually rear weighted, tapering into a finer tip. These heads are best suited for rods 13+ feet in length. 

Long belly lines are usually floating, with leaders in the 10-12 foot range, and smaller flies. This style can be useful on the larger rivers in Atlantic Canada, and espeically when the angler prefers stripping less line in between casts. Longer belly setups are most suited to summer fishing.

In terms of the casts most utilized, single speys, double speys, and snake rolls are employed most with traditional style spey. 

Traditional spey is difficult to master, as it requires precise timing to lift, sweep, and anchor these longer heads into the correct position for the forward stroke.

Here is a Video from our Friend Tim Arsenault at Bridge on some casting tips with a longer head.