Single Hand Spey Casting: Learn the Snake Roll

Being able to Spey cast allows us to continue to fish in some very awkward situations. Even in places with some room, Spey casting avoids hanging flies up in trees and in bank side bushes.
In this series we will look at the Roll Cast, Single Spey, Snake Roll, Double Spey and the Circle Spey. I have simplified the instruction and stripped these casts down to their basics.
For anyone wishing to learn Spey casting for the first time, it's actually easier to Spey cast with one hand instead of two. We associate Spey casting with two-handed rods, but Spey casts can actually be performed with any fly rod.
In this example I'm using a G. Loomis NRX+ 8'6" 4 wt. lined with an AFFTA standard 4 wt. trout line. Specialized lines are not needed for Spey casting. The lines we have on our rods right now, will do the job.

[@danlim3763]

Thanks for the instructional ... loving the slow motion breakdown

[@ehesse1058]

This was awesome. It included some nice details that are missing from Rio's videos on these techniques.

[@jeromedwojak918]

Thankyou for this valuable information on the snake roll, look forward to trying it! Your videos are most helpful to increase my fishing experience !

[@TERRYBIGGENDEN]

Your demos of the single spey and snake rolls are wonderful-the best I've seen. They are more than enough for me Thanks.:-)

[@SFA985]

Excellent explanation and nice production. Thanks!

[@regularSenseAppeal]

Snake rolls are great. They are so simple and fun to use and super useful.

[@PanFishWeekly]

Thanks, great instructions

[@fancypelusa2863]

Nice, simple demo!

[@Nature_FlyFishing]

Note learning

[@TERRYBIGGENDEN]

Slow motion is really useful. :_- ANrd age repetitions help a lot. I think I stumbled on the snake roll myself a coupe of years ago-some kind of instinct But its a good idea to perfect ir. . :-)

[@hooked4lifeca]

Simon Gawseworth is usually credited with the Snake Roll and he has said that it originally started out as just a way of getting line out before making the actual cast. I think a lot of us stumble on something accidentally. I became quite good at the Oval (Belgian) Cast before I knew it was actually a thing. I just started doing it as a way of replacing the roll cast when trying rods and lines on grass.

[@TERRYBIGGENDEN]

@@hooked4lifeca Thanks. I guess many people fall onto these ways of casting, but the we need to perfect them. I had a fwet ly downstream and wanted to get it up steam without hauling in and re-casting the usual way. I did a snake roll (or very close to one) without realising it. I then did it a few more times and it generally worked well, No breeze against me of course. :-)

[@gregkosinski2303]

One thing I noticed tonight practicing was that if I had too much line out and was into the running line, the cast becomes much harder to perform. With weight forward line, is there area of the head that should be at your top guide?

[@hooked4lifeca]

Usually we want some of the rear taper in the guides. If we have running line out of the guides when using a regular trout line, things start to get tricky.

[@lorbas58]

what fly line should I use for such casts? with a head? how long? Thanks.

[@hooked4lifeca]

In all of these videos, I'm just using a standard WF-4-F trout line on my 4 wt. rod. Part of the purpose of these videos was to demonstrate that no specialty equipment is required to make Spey casts at conventional trout distances.

[@poc2k9]

What would you suggest for upstream casting into the wind with no room for a back cast?

[@poc2k9]

With a dry fly*

[@hooked4lifeca]

A regular overhead cast, steeple cast or a Belgian oval cast. Spey casts are useless for dry flies as the fly never gets to dry out.

[@stephencifka4629]

Does it also work on river left? (cack handed)

[@hooked4lifeca]

Yup, no problem, or just use your opposite hand ;)

[@fe671]

Good casting! What is the maximum casting distance?

[@hooked4lifeca]

Spey casting with this setup? About 50' to 60'.

[@fe671]

@@hooked4lifeca Amazing. I'd love to hear your advice on setting up single hand spey equipment. I'm especially curious about the rods and lines. thank you!

[@hooked4lifeca]

@@fe671 I already have a video on Spey casting single hand lines, which ones work best, which ones will be adequate: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m3_bpauXZs6dZ8k

[@Popcornbeetle]

Crossing the bar doesn’t make sense

[@hooked4lifeca]

Picture a 9 that the rod tip inscribes in the air. The tip starts at the bottom of the 9 and traces the outline of it. However, the tip does not stop when it reaches the vertical bar of the 9 (as we would when we are writing it from the bottom up). It continues on into the backcast, so it "crosses the bar".