Spey fishing in Ontario for steelhead and salmon is catching on with Ontario Anglers because it is different then regular fly fishing and is a lot of fun and is more challenging. Some Spey anglers are even fishing for brown trout and bass on some rivers with good success.

Spey fishing is basically the use of a 2 handed fly rod with a specialized Spey line and it involves specialized Spey casts to get the flies out to the fish. The primary idea behind Spey fishing or Spey casting is to be able to cast small and large streamer type flies long distances across big rivers with very little or no back cast.

Spey casting incorporates a lot of different types of roll casts called Spey or Spey casts that are created by sweeping the rod one way or another and loading the rod with the line on the water and then pushing the rod forward towards the target. Its basically a glorified roll cast but is extremely effective and is easy once you figure it out.

Long Spey or switch rods of 11 to 16 feet are often used to aid in these long cast.

In Ontario the two main types of Spey lines are a Scandi line and a Skagit line. For most anglers a Skagit line is a good starting line to learn on due to it being heavier and easier to cast both large and small flies. Skagit lines also allow anglers to cast larger flies attached to heavier sinking tips or sinking leaders to steelhead that are deeper in the pools.

Since steelhead often hold and feed close to the bottom Skagit heads and sink tips make it much easier to get your fly down. The goal in most cases is to cast your fly straight across the river or slightly down river and allow the fly line to tighten with the pull of the current and to swing the fly from the far side of the river across to the anglers side of the river.

With a few different types of mends and rod angles, good Spey anglers can achieve slower or faster presentations as well as change the angle of the fly and even get the fly deeper or shallower depending in the pool. Proper presentation is key to catching fish consistently and that is what we teach anglers during our guided trips that focus on Spey fishing.

Some of our unique and out of the box methods teach anglers how to present the fly at different angles, speeds and depths more effectively.

Some of the best ways to learn Spey casting and Spey fishing is to hire a guide service that teaches this methods.