Forward Spey - Jump Roll

[laffingravy]

A routine that anybody wishing to improve on their Spey casting should focus heavily upon is the forward Spey or jump roll. Granted it has limited possibilities in real time fishing situations because the change of direction that you are able to introduce is only 25 - 30 degrees. It is however an excellent precursor to the single Spey and with body rotation your forward Spey very easily becomes a single Spey. The trick with the cast is to drill it constantly until it is consistent. A client whilst on a lesson asked me for a video clip. Here is a short section of it. I hope that it proves of benefit to some of you. The rod is a Vision Catapult 115 and the line is a Rio Powerspey with a 68ft head.


https://youtu.be/fbMziBgZbG8


If anybody has questions then please fire away

[aaron]

I have been speycasting for years, but often start a session with a few forward speys, especially, if it's been a few months. It is a great way of getting everything working in a fluid rhythm. |\

[bat boy]

Just had my first day of the season with the double hander on the wye
While still suffering from a healing torn Achilles (my excuse) i felt very rusty
Felt I was doing the hard work not the rod , with for-arm and shoulder now felling saw
Felt ok forward spey but as soon as I changed direction i felt like i lost rod loading
The bottom of the D was in contact with the water
Any thoughts much appreciate

[laffingravy]

I hope that you appreciate it is quite difficult to diagnose a fault without seeing it 'first hand'. With this in mind I can offer you generalisations only.

90% of all Spey casts (the Perry Poke being the exception) have a fundamental requirement that the cast is made with tight line. The more slack line we introduce then the less the rod loads and the more efficiency is lost. It is therefore critical that tight line is maintained. Introducing slack line is one of the most common Spey casting faults that exist. The fault can occur from a major breakdown in one element of the cast or a culmination of a series of minor breakdowns.

Some of the core principles that I teach of the cast are:

On the initial lift which we use to unstick line from the water do not make your lift too high. You have not suggested what rod and line set up you are using but for a rod of 14 or 15 feet long and a line with a head length of 55ft then I usually teach clients to lift no higher than the bridge of the clients nose. This allows a climb when sweeping the line around to place the anchor. A very good analogy for this is imagine you are stroking a cats back. The rod tip path should follow the cats back and up its tail. This will allow you to maintain tension on your sweep and not crash your anchor when you make it.

I teach anglers to have their rear foot and opposite shoulder which is the casting shoulder(I teach with casting foot forward) facing the casting target. The anchor and corresponding D or V loop should be at 180 degrees directly opposite the casting target. Once again this will enable you to maintain tension and rod loading.

A very simple but extremely important trick is to turn your head and watch the D or V loop form. If you wish to maintain road loading it is critical not to attempt to deliver the cast before the loop is fully mature. I have yet to find a better way of establishing the maturity of the loop than watching it form.

Finally, in order to make a very clean delivery consider lifting both hands and the rod about 2" vertically just before you deliver. This has the effect of unsticking about 4 feet of line from the rear of your anchor. You will then not waste energy stored up in the flexed rod tip to rip sucked down line from the surface of the water.

There are a lot of other factors to consider but I hope that some of the above proves of at least some benefit.

If you wish to post a video clip on the forum I will analyse what I can see and offer you some potential solutions more tailored to your own casting issues. If you wish to make it public then I will comment on the open forum if however this causes you some degree of embarrassment then send me a link to your video clip via PM and I will offer something privately.



Best regards,

Geoff

[bat boy]

Hi Geoff
Thanks for advice i use a 15 ft Vision Catapult with Rio outbound line
I think from what you have posted above im lifting my rod way to hight on initial lift off
As for posting a video clip I'm laughing my head off thinking about it
Think I'll get in touch a see if I can get a brush up lesion as I've got two weeks in Scotland coming up which would benefit from some casting advice
Thanks again Andy

[T7]

That lift of the hands before the forward cast is crucial to any Spey cast IMHO. It can get you out of trouble when the rhythm goes at the end of the day!

Nice looking river LG, where is it?

[laffingravy]

That lift of the hands before the forward cast is crucial to any Spey cast IMHO. It can get you out of trouble when the rhythm goes at the end of the day!

Nice looking river LG, where is it?

With the vast majority of clients that I teach at all levels of ability not making the lift or not watching the loop mature or worse still not doing both leads to a vast array of casting problems. Theses issues can be corrected very quickly and easily. The lift is actually introduced to unstick the rear part of the anchor. You are then not wasting energy from the flexed rod tip to drag line out of the water. Simon Gawsworth calls this line stick and suggests that he invented the phrase. It was actually first used by Peter Anderson moons ago

[holly]

Forward Spey - Jump Roll

Hi laffingravy, a very interesting article, many thanks for sharing your expertise.

I have had a word with our fishing colleague in the Lancaster Fishing Tackle Shop and he informs me that he has taken a Sunday Rod at Arkholme.

There will be competition for pools this year, I am making reference to the two Herons who fish the viaduct pool, and our colleague from above. There is only the flats and Farm Pool from the right bank, so therefore, I am going to withdraw from fishing on 31/05/15, at Arkholme.

We will arrange to fish at an alternative venue.

Regards, holly.

[laffingravy]

Chuffin' hell Brian I will have to think of somewhere else. This will take me dome time to think...........ok I have thought. How does Rigmaden grab you?

[holly]

Forward Spey - Jump Roll

Chuffin' hell Brian I will have to think of somewhere else. This will take me dome time to think...........ok I have thought. How does Rigmaden grab you?

Hi LG, I would like you to fish at KL first as my guest, then we will arrange to fish at Rigmaden. Indeed, it would be special to fish in your company, at any venue.

I am in the process of dressing some of our favourites on 15mm needle tubes with the addition of jungle cock. I will be asking your valid opinion on the same.

Regards, holly.

[T7]

Any chance of a north west forum meet? There's quite a few from Ribble, lune, lakes etc. would be good to meet up...

[laffingravy]

Any chance of a north west forum meet? There's quite a few from Ribble, lune, lakes etc. would be good to meet up...

I wouldn't be opposed to the idea in principle. There would be a few things that we would need to establish before moving forward. The first being numbers. I think we should aim to make something like this as inclusive as possible and therefore invite all members. Once we establish this we need to find a suitable venue. There are a large number of waters around the North West but the vast majority are tied up on local club or private syndicate arrangements. The better the fishing then usually the more tied up the water is. I do have access to quite a lot of water but we need to establish actual numbers. If we end up going ahead I can make some enquiries about suitable venues and cost involved. It would strike me as being fairest if we divvied up the cost by the number of attendees and split it completely evenly.

The final consideration is would you intend to make such an event purely fishing only? If so then the social interaction and get together side of things doesn't really happen because attendees just want to go off and fish. Do you make it a casting event? This could involve casting, a social jolly but very little fishing since the water on casting events usually gets beaten to a soapy lather. If anybody requires some tuition or guidance I am prepared to offer this at no cost to anybody but please bear in mind this would not be on a one to one basis. I may however be able to bring additional instructors subject to demand.


To summarise there are loads of possibilities but these are mainly subject to numbers and venue. I suggest as an opening gambit we start a new thread on the Forum outlining what is proposed and asking for interested parties.



Best regards,
Geoff




Whoops...........an afterthought. Do you intend to make this sea trout as this is a sea trout forum? If so by darkness? I respectfully suggest that it is made as a general fishing event and done by day.

[T7]

Could be an afternoon of casting/fly tying/general fishing talk then sea trout fishing in the evening/night?

Don't mind really, I guess it depends on time of year and water height etc

[laffingravy]

Could be an afternoon of casting/fly tying/general fishing talk then sea trout fishing in the evening/night?

Don't mind really, I guess it depends on time of year and water height etc

This sounds like an excellent idea but I feel that dependant on how much interest is generated fishing may not be available for all concerned and it may be open to all for the daytime event with limited numbers on a first come first served basis for the rest.

This is your idea and therefore it is yours to run. I do not wish to attempt to hijack it. How do you intend to proceed?

[T7]

I'm happy for anyone to take it and run with it! Unfortunately I don't know any suitable beats for this so open to suggestions...