FLYMPH FORUM

Those are great questions but beyond the scope of this forum. I would suggest the skagit master forum and the spey forum as well. They are great forums and they will answer all your questions. Thanks

but beyond the scope of this forum.

I don't know, between me, Hank, and late, great Willowhead (Mark Romero), it's the rare thread that would constrain us. At any rate, I'll look forward to your posts.

CreationBear wrote:

but beyond the scope of this forum.

I don't know, between me, Hank, and late, great Willowhead (Mark Romero), it's the rare thread that would constrain us. At any rate, I'll look forward to your posts.

Jon, you're more right than you know. There are a number of members fooling around with long/spey/two handers for trout. I saw one yesterday swung on a stream not more than 20'wide and cast upstream with precision. A testament to every attempt to present these versatile flies in lots of places.

Well, the rod I am using is a conversion rod. So, I took a 10' 3 weight and added a lower handle making into a very light two handed trout rod. The line I use was made by Steve Godshall and is a Skandit line, so it is a hybrid line that acts as both a Skagit line and a Scandi line. The grain window of this line is roughly the equivalent of a 6 weight line. I do more of a sustained anchor cast and swing soft hackled flies down to a #20 purple and partridge and as large as a # 4 streamer. Even if you catch a smaller trout 6", you can still "feel" the fish on. This rod is not a traditional two handed rod nor a switch rod either. It is truly a blast to fish with and it is fun to just cast.

Here is one I caught the other day

Nice fish...and no doubt quite a bend in that rod. Thanks for details.

At any rate, I think a lot of us are like Moliere's famous gentilhomme who's astounded to learn that he's been speaking prose all his life, in that "single hand spey" casts come naturally in a lot of situations, especially if you're willing to consider a quick haul the functional equivalent of an anchor.
I'm thinking the line between double-hand and single-hand styles might not be as great as it first appears.

BTW William, I always thought that almost one-of-a-kind McFarland blank would have made a good "micro-spey" if you'd added a fighting butt, but then again I wouldn't want to be liable for the hardware you might collect in your off-ear.

Just curious if anyone else is using a two handed rod for swinging soft hackled flies?

Well, yes, sort of. I use a two-handed spey rod to fish for steelhead. I am generally drifting flies which could be classified as soft hackle flies, but they are designed for steelhead. I've never tried my two-hander on regular trout.

Jon, I have seriously considered putting a couple rods in the queue for the fall, but it's not likely. A two handed steelie rod seems like a natural. A two handed #3 wt...now that's interesting.

putting a couple rods in the queue for the fall,

One of them has to be an L. Kenney 8'1' for a three, though...a sovereign cure for any trout application on our side of the Mississippi (at least in top six inches of the water column. )