Can you imagine arriving at your favorite salmon river knowing that you are going to be able to fish every
pool? When Atlantic Salmon fishing, we fish what is called the “rotation method.”. You enter the water at
the head of the pool. Those in front of you make a cast and take a step downstream. You take your place
at the head of the pool and follow the others. When you get to the end of the pool, you walk up to the
head of the pool and start over. This works surprisingly well on Canadian Salmon rivers. If you stay in
one spot, a guide will tell you in a nice way to keep moving. Of course, if you raise a salmon, you can
make a few more casts over it.
When swinging flies with a spey rod, the idea is to keep moving and working your way downstream. If
you try this at Erie, You had better bring a big lunch if you’re going to wait for someone to move. It’s not
going to work there, so don’t even try it.
Many today are anxious to sell the popular two handed rod, but have never learned this tradition, and
therefore, they don’t teach it. You end up with more people on the stream that don’t move.
The people of “Spey Nation” in N.Y. not only know the tradition, they are committed to educating others
and making the Salmon river in N.Y. more like a traditional Atlantic Salmon river. Yes, this is a huge task,
but it has to start somewhere. We should see slow improvement over the years due to these dedicated
individuals from “Spey Nation” and we will support them however we can.
You already know how committed we are to tradition at the “Contented Angler.” We take spey casting
serious enough that we feel a responsibility to teach you the proper etiquette. We also realize that you
need a perfectly balanced line and rod to make things easy. Think about joining the “Kiski Spey Club” a
tributary of “The Contented Angler” it grows every day and you will find true friendship and a group that
will freely share any advice with you.
No rod? We will lend you one to use!
There is also such a thing as single hand spey casting which is quite easy and done with a standard fly
rod. You will never roll cast again once you learn this.
As always, any instruction including fly casting, fly tying, spey casting etc. is free at the Contented Angler.
This is fly fishing. It's not a business or a group of investors. This is the way it used to be and the way it
was meant to be.
As always, some will convince you that it does, but I'm telling you it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to get
into this. I'm a Chevy man, you're a Ford man, that's the way it is with cars and that's the way it is with fly
rods. In fact that's the way it is with every product in the world. You can get a plain rod that will make
casting easy, or you can get a work of art from Burkheimer. Whatever makes you happy. As Ed Ward
would say: "There's no voodoo going on here, it's just fishing". Who doesn't admire A.K. Best when he
says: "All you're doing is casting a $2.00 fly with it.
We began this discussion with predictions. Okay, here is the next one. We believe that the clck-check reel
will see growing popularity in the next year. It was always the best way to fight fish and still is. It will
come back around like everything else. It's inevitable.
There are some in the Pacific Northwest that merely palm the reel. You can't get much more traditional
than that. You have a more intimate connection with the fish. You're involved in the fight. It's you, not the
reel. We get into fly fishing because it is a more natural way to catch fish. Why not a natural reel instead
of one that does the work for you?
When you make a purchase, remember these three words: "It's just fishing" and you will make the right
decision every time.
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