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[robbo1970]

I would like to try my hand at single hand spey casting, and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on videos I could watch to pick up a few pointers. I bought Simon Gawesworths book on single hand, but am looking for a bit more info. Going to tie a grass practice leader and spend some time at the park!

[ByteMe]

.......Hope u have big strong wrists and forearms

[robbo1970]

They're not bad, roofing 26 years its nor my wrists and forearms I worry about. 

[ByteMe]

Try the Wulff Ambush TTT line.I had a blast with it till my wrist gave out .Could roll cast that a mile

[Spawn Sack]

How do you find the book by Simon Gawesworths? What's the tittle? I am just getting into single hand spey fishing myself and am looking for a good book,  dvd, etc.

So far I am finding that single hand spey fishing is quite difficult! In reterospect I wish I wet with 2 handed spey as aparently its easier and less tiring. But I spent the money on
the single hand gear so im going to stick with that for now.

If you can afford it, a one on one lesson for 4 or so hours is a big help. Im the winter Willi Holmes and some other instructors do a group single hand class which is pretty good. So yeah, lessons help big time.

Ive gotten a fair bit out of the lessons Ive had but am now looking for some books or videos to watch. One thing for sure is single hand spey is a lot harder than fly casting in still water!

[robbo1970]

You can get Simon Gawesworth book on amazon.ca. It's called single hand spey casting. I got mine from ply books on my android phone, you get it a little quicker that way!

[Spawn Sack]

Right on I'll give it a look. I'm a little sceptical of learning to fly cast from a book. But one one on one lessons with a fly instructor are pricey ($50-$70hr). I figure if I only pick up a thing or two from the book it's probably worth the $. Are you finding it worth the purchase price? Learn much? If you're interested in a private lesson I know two local casting instructors who are great. One is simply amazing but he is in the UK until the fall. My goal is to improve a lot between then and now, and once he's back take another lesson with him to work out any small kinks. Right now I kind of suck hahaha...sigh! So much easier to gear fish...but will be very rewarding to become an adept single hand spey fisherman.

[HOOK]

I think the main trick to single hand spey casting is the use of a "haul" as you enter into your forward stroke. This haul causes the rod blank to load similar to how it would with a regular cast. Without this to aid in punching out the line you probably wont get more than 30-40feet max and like already mentioned you will burn out your wrist and possibly even shoulder.

I can do single speys with a single hander to about 70 feet, not on every cast and not all the time. My wrist gets pretty tender after a couple hours of doing it solidly. I prefer a short back cast with a very exaggerated forward haul allowing me to shoot lots of line.

I have tried snap T's and Double speys with my single hander with very limited results. Its probably due to the fact im not using a proper line for it but a touch & go cast works fine it seems

If you can afford lessons than take them, if not perhaps save up and take at least one lesson. proper technique can make the difference between having good days on the water and days of pure frustration and alot of body fatigue

This is also true when it comes to two handed spey casting

[nickredway]

Been teaching myself spey casting with the double and single hander for the last couple of years and have enjoyed it immensely once I got over the initial hump. For the OP you can see what Hook is talking about with the haul in this video, this guy has it going on and the vid is also a good demo of a few casts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=wZk7_cneXf4. Also recommend a lesson or two, I only have had one for an hour with a great instructor called Andy Murray in the UK last year and it improved my casting no end, I still suck but he picked up on my major bad habits straight away and helped me correct them. If you are after a good all round line that you can use for distance overhead and single hand spey casts then I would go look at the Rio Outbound lines. Good luck.

[robbo1970]

Thanks for all the great info guys. The line I'm using is an airflo nymph taper, don't know maybe if I should line up at all,( using 7wt on 7wt rod).
Nickedaway where is Andy Murray based? I'm from england and hoping to go back next year for vacation, if he's local I could probably look him up.
Saw a great video on you tube last night with the guy doing a perry poke with a haul on the forward stroke and he was getting some great distance. If I can find the link I will post it up here.

Rob

[HOOK]

that was a good little video.

one thing i forgot to mention was that you have to allow your fly/leader and a foot or two of your fly line "splash" before you go into your forward stroke. This also helps in rod load, you can see this very distinctly on EVERY cast in that video.

If you know your casts then you will also notice when he does single speys (think they call it a switch cast) the line lays out the best and with the most force. This is the cast i personally like the most for single hand spey

i myself have not taken any formal fly casting lessons whether it be single or double. I have gotten pointers from instructors though either on the water or at a gathering of fisherman. Advice from knowledgeable sources is always a good thing

[Matt]

Using a slower rod helps out a lot.

[DanJohn]

just wave the rod tip around a few times, roll cast, bam! As long as you get your timing down, you look pro leet awesome!

[RalphH]

Speys, double speys, Snap ts  snake rolls all work well with single handed rods and a variety of line profiles. It's nothing new. They are good ways to pick up line for an overhead cast. I have found longer belly lines such as the Airflo 40+ lines very good for single handed spey casts