Overhead casting...

[diver dan]

How do you overhead cast a spey rod? Are there any hauls or is shoot one back and then let it fly? If you have room behind you to do it, is it a good idea?

[JR SPEY]

No hauls. Rarely any false casts, though they are possible. As long as you have the room it is a terrific way to get some added distance and/or accuracy. Using a fairly fast Scando type rod makes it easier for most of us, but it can be done using even the slowest traditional sticks. Personally, if you think you're going to do quite a bit of it, I'd stick with shorter (11 1/2 to 12 1/2 ft) Scandinavian type rods. I find the better your speycasting becomes, the less you'll feel you need fall back on overhead casting. This is coming from someone who's far from being a great speycaster.

[Rick J]

it can work well though if your system is boarding on the upper limits of the rod holding that much line in the air will put more strain on the rod than a standard spey cast so you may want to shorten the length of line you are backcasting. With switch rods you can use one hand and haul but with standard 2-handers you will just use two hands with no haul - keep teh casting stroke nice and compact and it will fly!!!

[mycoatl]

I use two-handed overhead casting in the surf, but that's about the only time.

A stripping basket helps for managing line when overhead casting. Once you're fishing, strip in line on your retrieve. Line life to get a nice load with water tension, shoot a little line into your backcast (10' or so), bring it forward and shoot a ton of line.

[Curro]

Originally Posted by diver dan

How do you overhead cast a spey rod? Are there any hauls or is shoot one back and then let it fly? If you have room behind you to do it, is it a good idea?

Watch out overhead casting with weighted flies..I once did this with a clouser and on the backcast the fly cracked right off..Sounded like a firecracker going off and it scared the he$$ outta me

[Jamey McLeod]

Lighten up on the line weight. The Rio Outbound and the Airflo 40+ are great lines for OH casting. I find a tight Scandinavian style stroke works best.

As far as hauling, I find that as the line is about to straighten out behind you, let 3-4 ft slip out, pinch the running line, and go into the forward stroke. It will add some serious distance (20ft or so) to your cast.

When I was living out by Lake MI and fishing 2 handers overhead almost everyday I got so I could toss a 15ft leader, a 30ft Rio Max head, a 90ft spool of running line and 10-15ft of backing easily. Alot of it hinges on handling running line. A stripping basket helps alot.

[Grampa Spey]

Originally Posted by diver dan

How do you overhead cast a spey rod? Are there any hauls or is shoot one back and then let it fly? If you have room behind you to do it, is it a good idea?

Gary explains the Switch Rod concept and why normal humans prefer a switch rod to overhead cast.

At the end Jeff shows how to use a simple Spey cast to set up his overhead cast close to 90' with minimal effort.

http://jpflyfishing.com/equipment/sr...ting_ponds.htm

Coastal casting - I use a simple Spey cast to set up the overhead, or a roll cast or a poke to set up the overhead. If the cast is 30-50', I just use a Perry Poke to cast my line.

I find that a basket to hold the line helps with the switch rods in this cast because of all the running line you might have out.

As noted the OBs work great with overhead. I use the heavier OBs.

[diver dan]

Originally Posted by Curro

Watch out overhead casting with weighted flies..I once did this with a clouser and on the backcast the fly cracked right off..Sounded like a firecracker going off and it scared the he$$ outta me

I'm really glad you told me that one before I went out and tried it. I have been almost exclusively using clousers and flies weighted like them. I have already scared the hockey pucks out of myself once with this rod, (see my tape ferrules post ) and don't want to do it again. Thanks.

[Mumbles]

I don't know much, but I have found that my weighted flies get whip cracked off because I water haul the backcast hard then begin the forward cast before the line has fully extended to the rear. Waiting just a touch longer allows full extention, rod load then work that forward cast unload hand snap delivery...also known as LAUNCH. Gets a ton of line shooting out to areas I've never been able to reach and fish before.

[Grampa Spey]

Originally Posted by Mumbles

I don't know much, but I have found that my weighted flies get whip cracked off because I water haul the backcast hard then begin the forward cast before the line has fully extended to the rear. Waiting just a touch longer allows full extention, rod load then work that forward cast unload hand snap delivery...also known as LAUNCH. Gets a ton of line shooting out to areas I've never been able to reach and fish before.

Watch Jeff again with his overhead cast:

http://jpflyfishing.com/equipment/sr...ting_ponds.


If the whole cast is done slow and easy, weighted flies aren't a problem.

Again watch Jeff with his cast. Slow and easy.

http://jpflyfishing.com/equipment/sr...ting_ponds.

It helps to eye and monitor your fly as it goes back over your head before starting your forward cast. When, I have it timed right I can cast a size 4 weighted fly with a 8-10 # tippet. I go to 12 or 15 # with bigger and heavier flies.

[Mike T]

I use an overhead cast a lot in the salt with my switch. It's particularly effective with an Outbound but with a compact Scandi it works as well.

Simply roll cast, pick up and shoot. It is possible to haul but I haven't found there to be any benefit and you're more likely to screw it up. At least I'm more likely to screw it up...

[diver dan]

Up to this point, I am getting better distance with a spey cast. Part of the problem is the comments about snapping the fly off and the upper limitsof the rod. Now I'm scared to really let one rip. I haven't tried it much, but once I get more used to it I think it may work out for some spots.

[speyforsteel]

same things applies as in single hand castin-open(forward)loop a little and spread out the forward and rear casting planes(opens the rear loop and creates clearance) then fire away
My longest casts(by a fair amount) are overheads-most amount of load and best alignment possible