As a guide I've come to realise that one should always expect the un-expected, and that you should keep a wide variety of options open when dealing with clients. Takashi, Hiro and Yumi recently visited these shores for a four day pike on the fly trip from Osaka. The difference being they had all brought double handed Spey rods with them to do the job. I've been seriously looking into this kind of technique a lot this season, and after watching how effective this method is while they were over I'm convinsed that pike on the fly with a double handed spey rod is the way forward,especially when wading and fishing from the rocky shoreline here around Replot.
Saying that though, its probably not the best technique when fishing from a boat which I found out first hand & several pike that had followed the retrieve were lost close to the boat when setting the line and fly or the next cast. We were able to fish larger areas due to the distances they were able to cast, so more water was covered over the four days than usual, But we probably could have fished many more different areas had I not spent a lot of time getting the boat positioned for ease of casting.
Happy camper.
Wading the shallows in Bjorkoby.
Very interesting topic! But classic spey rods have some serious disadvantages. First they are heavy for overhead casting. Second you can't feel subtle take. Third any water cast with big pike fly isn't pleasant to do.
ReplyDeleteI see you like to try new things. There is something you should try if you didn't. It is surf fly rod. About 11' in length, #7-11 (+ #2 if you compare power with SH rods). I know Beulah and CND make fine ones, but there are probably others too. They are the only DH rods specially designed for overhead casting, generally faster action. Benefits. With higher classes you could cast cat size streamer with ease 100+ ft. You can do it all day long because you need twice less energy than with SH rod. They are quite precise as well. Also feeling is not removed and it doesn't feel heavy at all.