Spey casting is becoming a much more mainstream angling method for big-river fishing, and not just for steelhead and salmon. I’m starting to see spey casters on the South Fork and the Henry’s Fork of the Snake with regularity, chasing rainbows, cutthroats and browns in sweeping runs and throwing 100-foot casts with so little effort that I’m ashamed to admit that my spey casting experience is virtually nil. It’s building in me the desire to add this increasingly mainstream skill to my angling skill set.
In the video above from Scumliner Media, angler Sara Roholt makes it look so easy on the Missouri River in Montana, and, of course, the fishy results certainly suggest that adding the spey cast to the repertoire could pay off in pounds and inches. That may, of course, have to do with the river of choice—there may not be a better big-fish river in the Lower 48 these days, but I’m sure it also has to do with the fact that spey casters simply cover more water than traditional fly rodders.
Thanks to Sara and Scumliner for reminding us that spey casting isn’t just for ocean-going trout and salmon. Any stretch of big water could be spey water.
Now… to dust off that rod and figure out that Skagit cast…
— Chris Hunt