Fly lines for Spey casting
fly fishing
- a variety to choose from
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Spey casting, Spey lines - comparison of floating fly lines
The first edition of this article first appeared in Fly Fishing & Fly Tying Magazine and I wish to thank manufacturers and suppliers for providing lines for these tests, knowing that I would pull no punches when it came to the results. I have now reviewed the content and included some more lines and for the first time I have included a multi-tip line, the Rio MidSpey. If any manufacturer or agent wishes to have their product reviewed in here they should contact me for details.
Recent seasons have seen a proliferation of so called "Spey Lines", each one claiming to have advantages for Spey casting. So what is special about Spey lines and how can so many different line profiles possibly suit the same casting method? If on the other hand any line can be Spey cast does this mean the whole thing is a marketing ploy to make anglers buy yet another line? Perhaps casting is more to do with the angler's skill than any particular line? These are some of the questions that I set about trying to answer with this closer look at Spey lines. The purpose was to help FF&FT readers understand what manufacturers are offering and how they compare technically. More importantly it is also to find out how they perform when you're fishing. That's when it really matters.A list of the lines tested is given below.
| Line description (click text for description) | 30 ft (grains) | Total (grains) | Length (yards) |
| Cortland SL DT11F | 305 |
1235 | 40 |
| Cortland SL Spey DT 10/11F | 310 |
1435 | 40 |
| Lee Wulff Triangle Taper TTS 10/11F 70ft | 225 |
960 | 40 |
| Lee Wulff Triangle Taper TTS 10/11F 80ft | 255 |
1201 | 40 |
| Michael Evans Arrowhead Twin Line AH9/11F | 330 |
969 | 38 |
| Rio WWF Windcutter 10/11F | 245 |
1064 | 50 |
| Rio Accelerator AWFL 10/11/12F | 336 |
1075 | 50 |
| Scientific Anglers Mastery Spey/Salmon WF 10/11F | 350 |
1180 | 47 |
| Rio MidSpey 10/11F | 323 | 1100 | 47 |
| Copyright 2007 Alastair Gowans AAPGAI and FFF Master and THCI, APGAI. All rights reserved. |