Northwest Fishing Reports

First off, is this even possible? Or will I need more money than that? Im looking for some recommendations on rods, reels, and line. I have already found a decent TFO spey rod for $150. Im having trouble finding good lines and matching lines with reels. Any help at all will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Im ok with using less than top of the line quality gear.

you can learn it just takes practice

Personally, I wouldn't skimp on Spey Equipment. It can really effect your cast. Especially the line and rod. I have a $190 Redington 14' 9" Spey rod and it casts pretty good, but when I casted a 12" 7 weight hand built G-loomis (I think) spey rod, there was no comparison. It was smooth and easy to throw a D-loop.

Anyway, RIO makes a nice introductory Spey Line ( I think it might even come with interchangeable tips, but don't quote me on that). For a rod, I'd look at a nice 9 or 10 weight (if your fishing a big river) from any of usual name brands. Just don't skimp out on it due to price. For reels, just get something big with a solid drag

Well im on a bit of a budget but I may be able to spend a little more. I will be fishing rivers like the cowlitz.

Thanks SAPIplate! So can someone tell me all of the stuff I need to get? I would like to know everything so I can start compareing prices

So I have been getting really confused with all of this. I go on websites that say one thing and other websites say something else. And im getting confused with all this talk about "shooting heads" and "sink tips" ect. Again, any help will be appreciated!

If you can get out on a Sat morning, I would suggest you go to Aaron Reimer's Day on the River in Fall City (I think) from 9 to noon. Give his shop a call. It's River Run Anglers in Carnation. He is a FFF certified two-hand casting instructor and he has a large "try rack" of rods, reels, lines already set up that he brings out with him almost every Sat of the year. You can get one-on-one instruction for free and get a chance to try out different set-ups to find what fits your rod/ style /ability. Get good instruction at the start, can't stress that enough. It's easy to learn all the bad habits quickly, and your enjoyment of spey will go right down the tube with them. Have fun.
Should also add that All About the Fly in Monroe does a similar free activity on Sundays.

^ second that
Its every Saturday Morning on the Snoqualmie River under the Fall City Bridge. Great group of local guys that run it

River Run Anglers:
http://www.speyshop.com/

I'll also throw in how good the Carnation and Ben Howard weekly sessions are. Unless you have a friend that is well versed in spey that can help you, spend a couple of weekends learning from the pros. There are tons of U-tube videos on the web that explain spey casting in detail. I wish they were available back when I first took up the long rods.

Hey Nick,

Do you fly fish already? If so, what kind of fishing do you plan to do with spey casting that you can't do with a traditional fly casting rod? Spey casting usually associated with steelhead fishing, but can be used for pretty much anything. Might be overkill for dinker trouts and bass. I can't say I'm an authority on spey casting and spey rods, but I know it can be done on a cheap standard length fly rod.

I adapted my 9' 8wt rod ($29.99 on sale from Cabelas.com) to be a medium distance spey casting rod. I know you're supposed to match the line with the rod, but I took 12 wt spey line (120' at $19 from Orvis.com) and put it on a Cabela's Prestige 4" Large Arbor reel ($89.99 from Cabelas.com). It works pretty well casting out to 60 feet. I use it when trying to fly cast from shore out to 60 feet when there is limited or no back cast room, like trees, fences, people, etc. You can really shoot a large wooly bugger or streamer with this setup. It even flings heavy weighted steelhead flies well. They splash when they hit the water instead of the soft plop of the lighter flies. They have rods called Switch rods which are basically fly rods with a small handle below the reel for your other hand and a length of 10-12 feet. If you're looking to do spey casting to distances of 80-120', then you probably want to go with the standard longer and more expensive spey rods. Since I only use the spey casting line to cast short distances from shore or a boat, I don't need to cast 100+ feet. If you want some more tips on how to set up a short spey rod I'd be glad to tell you what I know. PM me if you do.

In one word. YES. But the caviat is you have to build your own. And you can build a nice Switch or Spey rod if you shop carefully. I built a nice switch rod for less than $150 and added an Okuma 8/9 reel and a custom line for less than $100. So yeah, I got it done for less than $270 but just barely. Ya I know, then there is shipping. Here's a pic of the switch rod, which by the way I prefer over spey rods. More versatile.