Mick, looking at the taper on this line it looks promising. Very similar to Rio's Outbound line, but with a shorter head, which means it could be used in even tighter places where there is not much room for a backcast. I didn't know about this line, but it definately looks tempting.

RexW, Do you have any classes or courses in spey casting?

Not yet, but I hope to be able to start next year. Spey instructors are very difficult to find around DFW, and all of Texas for that matter. So, I've been focusing on it this year to get to the point where I'm able to at least help people get started, but I'm not ready to start offering classes yet.

However, I will be giving a presentation on fly lines at the Novembe meeting of the Dallas Fly Fishers. That presentation will cover a lot of material that we have been discussing in this thread.

Great! Thanks. Im really interested about Spey casting. I'll be looking forward in November to your presentation.

Yes, keep us posted.

A lot of great info given to you by the members here. My wife and I do a lot of spey casting and fishing. We got in to spey casting from my uncle who's a well known spey caster and guide for steelhead in upstate NY. Rio's Modern Spey casting video is the one to get. Watch some videos on youtube with Simon Gawesworth in them. He is an amazing spey caster and teacher. Two great casts to learn are the Double Spey and the Snake Roll later on. The Snake Roll is a good way to pick up line and shoot it right back to where you want to be. If you private message me then I can send you a video on casting to help you out. Since you have kids, I will help you save some money on getting started. We have caught Steelhead, Chinook and Coho Salmon, Stripers, Trout and all kinds of fresh water fish on spey rods. We also have 10 1/2' Thomas & Thomas switch rods in 8wt. They are a type of rod that can be used as a fly rod or spey rod and the switch line can be used either way. They are great for throwing bass poppers out and big beefy streamers. I have incorporated spey casting in to my everyday fly fishing and it makes it a lot easier to get line out when you have no room for a back cast. We have weights from 8wt all the way up to 10wt. The best thing to invest in is multi-tip lines. If you are looking for a good reel that can handle spey line and a lot of backing then check out my buddies reels he sells for $100.00 because they are amazing. I have fished them in 10 degrees in the middle of February at the Salmon River in NY with my uncle and they have never failed me. I like them so much that I own about 9 of them in 5/6wt to 9/11wt. Also he has Batson spey rods he has built that he sells for $150.00 and their motto is selling a good custom built rod for a great price. They are a rod building business and rod building supplies. They also have a lot of G Loomis blanks left if anybody is looking for one. I have built 4 spey rods on Batson blanks in 8/9wt 13' 4pc and they are a med/fast blank. Great rods for the price and have held up for over 7 years now. With areas like San Luis Pass and Rollover Pass in this state, a spey rod would be great for fishing. You can mend line really easy and keep a natural presentation for a long ways down river. Also if you have money to buy one of the more expensive models in a spey rod or fly rod then call Thomas & Thomas in MA. They have a bunch of discontinued models and models that they never mass produced that are sitting on racks in their show room that they sell for cheap money. Another type of line to get in to is a shooting head once you get the basics down. The spey shooting heads are just like the traditional shooting heads for one handed rods. Loop makes a great shooting head and running line for a cheap price. Man I am so happy to hear that more people actually spey fish here lol. The only guy I have seen with a spey rod uses it with a spinning reel. He actually cleans house every time I see him fishing! If you ever make it down towards West Houston and plan on going towards Galveston then I could meet up with you and bring a bunch of lines for you to try out so you don't waste money on a line that doesn't go well with your set up. We have quite a collection of lines. We have more spey, switch and fly rods than in the picture. Really need to build another rod rack lol.






Batson spey blanks, a 9wt and an old 9wt was putting new cork on for a friend.

A Steelhead I caught and RELEASED with the T&T 8wt 10' Switch Rod. We never keep the Steelhead due to they spawn multiple times and my uncle would kill me lol. They are an incredible fish.

Gee, you really do have lots fly rods, and reels, and lines!

I heard so many good thing about San Luis Pass fishing pier. My friend used to have its annual pass until the hurricane wiped it out. Can you still fish over there? where can you fish at San Luis pass? On the beach?

I fish Rollover Pass few times, for flounders mainly. The words on the street is that they are going to fill it up, due to the high cost of maintenance. I definitely want to go fly fishing with you one day. I want to learn from you. Flounder season is when I always head to Galveston, or Freeport.

One thing I do know is that you can catch mangro snappers at St. Luis Pass. And I know another place where you can really catch lot of them.

You mentioned that one guy puts a spinning reel on his spey rod. Does this combo really work?

The reason I am asking is that I once called Mudhole, talked to their tech rep, asking if it was possible to use 10 weight or 12 weight fly rod blank to build a spinning travel rod? He never gave me a definite answer, and kept saying: it will break, and warranty will not cover it.

So after reading your post, I am getting interested again.

I am new to fishing down here but have learned a lot on where to fish from members here. I started out mainly shark fishing with a kayak and belonged to this club in Texas but it's not as fun to me as shore fishing. Yes you can use a spey blank and use it as a spinning rod. There is a guy on this forum who is famous for using a spey rod with his spinning reel. He cleans house every time he fishes. I am guessing because he can really feel the most subtle of nibbles when fishing during the flounder run. He doesn't use wide spool reels which probably helps with the casting. I am also guessing it's like a noodle rod and could cast a mile with it. There was one guy back where I was born who also used to use a fly rod with a spinning reel. He would hold the line out with one hand and whip it half way across the pond to catch the Atlantic Salmon they stocked. Yeah companies will never give you the answer you want if it strays from it's main purpose of use. I have more rods than that lol. Just need a bigger rod rack. A lot of the lines I picked up on sale and clearance during the summer in NY while visiting my uncle and fishing for summer steelhead on the river. One set of line to stay clear of is Rio's Windcutter 2 line. They discontinued it. My uncle does tests on rods and lines and pointed out that the body and tip where not made right so it's horrible at casting it. That's the only line I have ever gotten from Rio that didn't work for me. I have their Redfish line and it's awesome!!!! I went out on a guided boat trip in the bay for my birthday and it was windy as hell. Used my 9' 9wt GLX fly rod and was able to still get out long casts to pockets of Redfish. It turns over those heavily weighted shrimp patterns with no problem. At San Luis Pass you have a huge area to fish once you go over the bridge and even before the bridge. You can wade the back part too. Just be careful of the current over there as it can pull you in quick. As for Rollover Pass I doubt they will ever shut it down. It's way too popular of a fishing spot and the fisherman give all the companies there their business. As for Switch Rods I have to say the Thomas & Thomas is the best one out there. I have tried a lot of them from friends on the river and talked to a lot of guides I know up there who have all tried their clients rods. I was actually casting it yesterday morning for bass using the switch line and a bass popper. The rod has held up to 36" king salmon with no problem. The best thing would be to learn before the flounder run so you can know how to cast before the flounder run. Then you can go after bull reds and some largemouth bass before coming down to the Gulf. I will send you the video by tomorrow morning. The best thing you can do is practice the casts. One reason I said the snake roll cast is because I have seen my uncle use it in the surf at cape cod after he overhead casted to start getting the line out. Every cast after that would be a snake roll. He would strip the line in and then throw some line towards shore to get the tension on the line, do a snake roll and then whip it out to sea. He would catch a ton of stripers like that. It's a touch and go cast that can be really cool in certain situations to use. But the double spey is the meat and potatoes of spey casts. It will help you form your D Loop and teach you to control the line. Fishing together when you get down this way sounds great. Have a great day everyone.

I've got a brand new never used spey rod, reel, and orvis line; none has been used; Albright 8/9. Pm me if interested; I'll see if I can find it!!!!!-p-

You know, through all this talk about speys, I might be willing to cut a good deal for a TFFer in parting with a spey if they want to try it. I have a 14' 9wt LSi full setup with Rio Skagit loaded if someone really wants one. If you're serious, reply, and I'll post some pics up here when I have some time.

Too late for me now, I bought a LSi combo not long ago.