Efficient Spey Casting: Part 6 - Long Leaders for Better Spey Casting

Ask most anglers about leader length off of a sinktip and they'll say "3 feet". Not only do short leaders negatively affect our fishing, but they also mess with our casting.
In this video we'll look at the differences in Spey casting the same rig with a short leader versus a long one.

[@lesterma1608]

You are one of the few that even mention using longer leaders for Spey, that can help from blowing anchors, most other Spey advisors recommend not loner than 12”😂

[@thatcherbeaty9884]

Explanation, illustration, demonstration: all brilliant! My understanding gets better with each of your videos. Thanks for your innovative work!

[@todmiller2254]

Will definitely try. When I do a single spey on the lawn at home and aerialize the back cast, (hard to make a d loop on lawn) the forward cast really really shoots. Similar in a way to what you are talking about maybe because no water to hold it down. Pulling heavy flies and tips out of water not fun. Thanks again.

[@mikekuczynski1552]

Nice , never really thought of it that way . Generally I never use less then a ten foot leader , may go twelve just to see . Thanks for the video.

[@stephenrosenfeld833]

As a beginner in two-handed casting, one of the things I've found confusing is where to set the anchor point. Most recommendations talk about the junction of the fly line and the leader being the spot to focus on. What about the 14 foot Polyleader that I was sold as part of my setup? Add another ten feet of leader and there's a huge difference in where the fly is positioned. I'm still trying to understand the theory. Then I can worry about the execution! Thanks Peter, these videos are really helpful!

[@hooked4lifeca]

The next two videos will be especially helpful then as they're both about the anchor.

[@coreygolphenee9633]

thousand percent right on this, anything less than 10 feet is miserable, I also prefer a longer lighter grain for this reason on a lot of my setups

[@hooked4lifeca]

Using longer leaders lets us get away with using lighter lines as well.

[@coreygolphenee9633]

@@hooked4lifeca now on the flip side, I do have great success with a more Mike Kinney style setup which is a big chunk of T14 with a small leader to fish buckets in more blown out water, and being from Washington those days are common, but on a gods country day in steelhead water like you guys get in BC long and light is the key

[@loomi47]

Yes,this theory works in a touch and go casting which like single spey in the video.On the contrary I really want to know,would it work in a sustained anchor?Double spey, snap C, snap T ,etc,the whole tip lie on water…I think an anchor provides grip on water,but when it has provided enough grip, and D loop pull the extra length up of water also consumes energy.I got another question is,what is the most powerful spey casting for distance?

[@hooked4lifeca]

There's a relationship between the size, weight and drag of a fly vs. leader length. The bigger, heavier and higher the drag, the shorter the leader. Sustained anchor casts can be made with longer leaders so long as it's matched with an appropriately sized fly and that we straighten the leader out while forming the D-Loop. However in that case, the leader length is for fishing reasons only. A long leader has no benefit for casting when the tip is also in the water. This video explains the mechanics why this is so. Without question the Single Spey is the most powerful Spey cast. It's the Spey cast used by distance competition anglers and it's the cast I use when going for max distance.

[@loomi47]

@@hooked4lifeca Oh…that's an advanced theory about fly and leader length.Head system is so variable, so fun,I love it

[@Jaimelapoesie]

I’m working my way through your series, so I’ll probably be asking multiple questions… I’m going to try a 270 Scout and an 80 grain MOW tip on my ~360 rated TR2, based on your last video. With your extended leader setup, can I still just use a straight piece of mono for the longer leader, or should it be tapered. I like throwing big weighted flies…

[@hooked4lifeca]

I tend to avoid one piece leaders as there's always a risk of losing the entire thing on a snag. The loop knot is usually not as strong as the fly knot, so it usually breaks first. To keep things simple we could use a 70-30 formula butt-to-tippet. The other advantage is having a lighter tippet affords a bit more movement to the fly.

[@Jaimelapoesie]

@@hooked4lifeca I’ve only watched the first 12 videos of your series, but yesterday my Spey casting was on life support. I’m standing in the river right now with the lighter Scout head and a 10’ mono leader, bombing effortless casts. Thank you so much for putting this series together, it’s invaluable. I’m sure I’ll be coming back to it regularly, as my casts break down…

[@hooked4lifeca]

@@Jaimelapoesie Always great to get this sort of feedback. Now go catch something!

[@Jaimelapoesie]

@@hooked4lifeca I’ve spent all day wondering why you’re the only one online talking about this technique? I’ve parroted the typical sentiment that ‘you just need 3’ of leader’ without thinking about it, and I work in a fly shop…

[@hooked4lifeca]

@@Jaimelapoesie I thought about how to reply to your question, then a line from a song summed it up, “It’s hard to light a candle, easy to curse the dark instead.” In other words, it's just easier to go with the flow. The song is "Last Ride of the Day" by Nightwish: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXKpqX-OprVri68

[@roberta.k4213]

What if your using a switch rod?

[@hooked4lifeca]

No problem, I'm using an 11' NRX+ switch rod in these examples.