Efficient Spey Casting: Part 4 - Short Skagit Head Challenges, how to get the best out of them
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Short Skagit heads are all the rage, but like so many things, they come with their own set of limitations. In this video we'll look at issues with the D-Loop that impact the efficiency of the cast. We will also look at the implications of a short head design when we want to cast for distance.
Excellent.Followed all of that with same conclusions.
Your explanation of the physics of D-loops, shooting heads and tips is SO helpful! I continue to have "light bulb" moments of understanding from your presentations. I look forward to your next one. Keep up your good work!
More excellent evidentiary advice! This is why I dislike the OPST craze that has taken hold. The Scout is about as short as I like. Thanks again Peter, for making these videos. They are excellent.
More excellent stuff Peter!
I always enjoy your productions. I would only add for the benefit of newcomers that the short Skagit and Scandi heads were developed as a tool for specific circumstances not necessarily to be interchanged with long traditional lines on a whim. My time on the tightly forested, fast flowing rivers of coastal BC or even Ontario come to mind where previously only gear could be used.
Keep up the great work!
Peter is not only a fantastic spey caster I've ever seen and an excellent coach at the same time.
Thanks :)
Mr. Charles, Thank you! "For what?" you might ask. For validation, my friend. I have been practicing and practicing - 13 foot Redington Dually, 480 & 510 Airflo 23 foot Skagit head - trying to shoot a hundred feet. I realize now, because of you help, that I might not make a hundred feet...and that's okay. I can shoot about 60 feet efficiently. Sometimes 70 feet. Good enough for me and it feels correct, good, effortless. Cheers! -Korey
Great line for difficult times,or if you have a large weighted bug sage switch 8 wt is a rocket launcher but so not a setup for distance .when first started Spey all the choices surrounding the art of Spey were confusing learn to load the rod an form a d loop then just go fishing .working on or casting is more than half the challenge of a productive day even if the fish don’t cooperate happy holidays to all thanks for sharing now we don’t feel as though it’s our rod or line learn to cast each setup by leaving the others at home I’m lucky to have a full line of fly rods an love casting all each fly an rod reel line leader it’s a mind game
Thank you Peter, so informative. I think this will help me as I go through this process of learning 😎
Cheers
Very good Peter. Explain a bunch for me regarding the scout!!
Your detailed discussions on forming good D loops is exceptional! However where I do most of my fishing my backside is in the brush and trees. Can you talk about that type of casting using short heads and tips? Much appreciated.
I have a couple of videos on the Loomis PRO4x 12' 6" 6/7 wt. where I do a lot of casting from awkward positions: ua-cam.com/video/Lx0FA4VrMho/v-deo.html
and ua-cam.com/video/1Tf_8aDkY4g/v-deo.html
In these videos I talk about the rod, the line and the casting techniques I'm using to get casts off in very tight conditions.
@@hooked4lifeca Thanks Peter for pointing me to those . How about when the river is flowing from left to right and casting off the other shoulder? That’s the scenario I encounter the most and is big challenge.
@@markriggins372 Same cast only left hand up.
Oh man, I’m so right handed but I’ll give it a go.
@@markriggins372 👍
Thank you for the amazing instruction Peter, it is truly enlightening! I have noticed that in all these skagit casting videos you mostly do single speys, which are (excuse my lack of vocabulary) dynamic or airborne casts? In other words they contrast with the waterborne casts such as double speys or Snap T's etc in that you are able to lift the head as well as the sink tip out of the water. Whereas with waterborne casts the sink tip might be part of the anchor and part of what you called "the ineffective portion" of the line if I remember well.
Therefore my question is, do the same principles of using a longer and heavier tip with a light head to achieve the same total grain weight apply when you are doing waterborne casts? Wouldn't a lighter head (the effective portion) struggle with pulling a heavier tip (ineffective portion) when doing those waterborne casts?
Thank you for everything!
EDIT : I suspect this is what you are talking in your next video 😅
We can do a Double or a Snap-T either way. We can treat the Skagit head in the standard fashion where we only consider the head weight, not the tip, or we can treat it like a Scandi head where we add the weights of the two components together.
The difference is whether we leave the tip in the water or aerialize the tip so that it becomes part of the D-Loop. This is a casting choice. It's not about which one is better, rather being aware of how we're casting and how that affects the way in which we select the weight of the line.
Simply put, add the two together if we aerialize the tip. Consider the head weight only if we leave the tip in the water.
@@hooked4lifeca Thank you so much, and by watching the follow up video I totally understand your position on how the short heads gain in being used as skandi heads with longer tips. I appreciate all the info. I am halfway through the series and it's gold.
One variable you could mention is the length of the rod you’re using, shorter head with a longer rod can blow the anchor more easily?
I have mentioned that, but I'm not sure in which video though . . . been producing a lot lately.