Dunkeld Spey Casting Club

By Jock Monteith 16th March 2018

The Vikings invaded Scotland between 800 & 1050AD causing much pillage & rape and general mayhem in the glens and ports of our great nation. Unknown to most historians we were invaded again in 2005AD with a 'Scandi' angle to our fine traditional Spey casting approach.

Easy Fly Casting For Guides & Ghillies

I completely get the fact that a shooting head line is an easier system to use which makes life easy for an over worked ghillie or casting instructor to get a new fly fisher delivering a line to the river quickly. The thing I question though is where's the thought behind the loss of elegance, casting satisfaction, fly control and even control of the fight when a hooked salmon starts boring deep in a heavy stream and the thick shooting head is drowned & acting like a 'drogue' which only the strongest of hook & leader will tolerate.

The Salmon Fishing Tackle Trade

You cannot fault the tackle dealers either for filling their shelves with the all the vast ranges of 'Eric the Red Longboat Stopper' T whatever you want head sections or the 'Up Helly Aa' broom pole Scandi rod ranges as all these items bring in additional sales for additional profits. Talk about choice being a dangerous thing well my goodness this business is even getting too confusing at times for those of us who are professionally involved. There are however many professional ghillies and Scottish salmon fishers who would love to see well designed proper Spey actioned rods & elegantly profiled Spey lines back dominating the market.

What Should You Be Salmon Fly Fishing With

If you want real satisfaction and can get your head around the fact that distance without 'fly control' is a completely wasted loss of casting energy then open your ears and trust my professional judgement. I know this isn't what you want to hear but for goodness sake if you're fishing a shooting head and stiff butted salmon fly rod you're missing out on so much enjoyment & satisfaction compared to the elegant tapered Spey line and through actioned Spey rod. You're also missing out on much fly control whether you're aware of it or not that will be costing you a fish or two each season. If you think Spey casting is a huge or bigger effort then you've missed the point that the Speycast when conducted properly & effectively is based on smooth line energy build up which only requires the slightest of touches on the forward delivery stroke.

Get With A Spey Casting Professional

A lesson with one of the Scottish professional Spey casters who understands the value of a smooth high lift that seamlessly merges into a beautiful shoulder engaged smooth swing with a watchful eye for precise execution from the anchor point to the target will be time well invested. Study the sheer aerial 'side on' elegance of the Spey cast and the smoothly powered tight loop as the line is delivered to the river with nothing short of sheer class and you'll start to get it. Then compare the twisting, buckling 'arse over tit' of the weight condensed head section of a shooting head as it leap frogs its way out and enough said!

The Market Will Change Back To Spey Action

My prediction is that the Spey line & rod market is on the verge of a significant comeback and soon you'll be seeing more Spey products on the shelves and rod stands of the tackle shops. The hindering factor for many who choose the Scandi approach was mainly because they struggled to get the right casting knowledge which these days can be easily obtained through technology that was not available in 2005 when the big change over from Spey to Scandi started to kick off. Personally I'm re-launching my highly effective 'fishing' Spey line in the next few months which flies and swims beautifully. It also hooks salmon effectively and fishes a controlled fly 'at range' as there's minimal 'core stretch' in this product but most anglers don't know anything about the value of low 'core stretch' and how that assists in setting a hook at range.

Dunkeld Spey Casting Club On Sundays

Currently I'm planning to launch a Spey caster's club on the Tay near Dunkeld which will be held on the first Sunday of each month throughout next season where anyone can come down and learn for free the finer points that makes the Spey cast work and all about fly control and anything else that's going to assist our traditional Spey rod & line approach to be re-established. Ghillies from any beats will be more than welcome to participate and much effective high profile PR will be actioned to ensure a continual source of Spey casting education is made available to all salmon fly fishers and especially for youngsters who are sadly missing from our sport these days. It will be an interesting Dunkeld Sunday afternoon point of attraction for many in a very popular & easily accessible area of Perthshire.