Here is a video of my first adult fish of 2018. It should give you an idea of what spey fishing is all about. AMA

My embedding skills suck. Try this: edit 2: still sucking wind. try youtube search for "ORRideFishGuide" or "Early Season Steelhead on spey"

If someone could school me on embedding that would be awesome!

Delete the (s) at the end of http.

Thanks. I’ll try that on the next one.

Casting that far takes some serious skills, ones I don’t have. I am perfectly happy casting 80’. You would be surprised how many fish I catch in close, like 15’-40’. Some runs need long casts but most only require moderate casts.

Spey rods rock!

Yes they do!  Nice fish BTW. I am so envious!

We used to make a bi-annual trip up to Orofino, ID but it made for a long drive.  Back then, I was casting traditional Scandi lines with 13 ft leaders with either a Burkheimer 7134-4 or 8134-4.  So much has changed regarding spey lines over the years that it’s hard for me to keep up.  Both of those rods are now just lined with Rio Scandi versitips.

I really, really need to get back up to the PNW and swing for steelhead.

Spey rods/casting was really my first passion.

The Burkie 7134 is the rod I caught my first steelhead on the swing on. It wasn’t a big fish but it was enough to hook me. I love this time of the year. Swinging skandi lines with size 6-8 sparcely tied flies is a joyous thing. Currently I am fishing a 4wt Hydrogen and a 5wt Beulah as my go to rods. I also have a 6wt Beulah loaded with an arrowhead line.i am determined to catch a fish on a single Spey, snake roll and on a skated dry fly this season.

My last day out I saw two guides with swing clients. All of them were throwing skagit lines. I told the one I knew I was doing well on the light stuff but he stuck with the heavy stuff and zeroed for the day. The fish in our system move for tiny flies really well. It may be because they see so many big flies poorly fished.

We start making wine in about two weeks. When that happens I will be lucky to get on the river. I love making wine but I always long for the river during that time of the year. I am going to try to set up some swing shifts so I can get some afternoon sessions in.