Anybody here ever used a spey rod ?

[OkieAaron]

I was watching Trout Unlimited's show the other night on the Hoh river and they were using spey rods. I thought a spey rod might be just the ticket for working the surf and for Texoma stripers.
Anybody here use one and can give impressions on their use ?

Thanks.

[Orygun]

They take some getting used to. I got to try one and found it to be not hard to learn. But of course, it takes practice get right. It's a bit different from what your used to with a smaller fly rod.

I've seen them used here on the local rivers for trout as well as steelhead. I haven't sen anyone on our coast using them but I don't get out to surf fish like I used to.

[baron]

I have one and use it for steelhead and salmon on big rivers. It's a lot of fun and not too difficult to learn. On a recent trip to Oahu I met some guys that use them to bomb for bones and trevally in the surf with pretty good success.

[bughalli]

I've spey fished for about 5 years now. I love it. The strikes, at least when used for steelhead, are far more exciting than traditional means. The spey cast takes some time to learn. Best to spend the $$ and get a lesson in your area. Group lesson is fine, 1:1 in my opinion is overkill. You can pick it up in one day with some instruction. Much harder to learn if you don't have someone watching you. It's like a golf swing, minor changes in the motion make a very big difference in the long casts. You'll be amazed how far you can cast. As a beginner, make sure you use a skagit line. They're far easier to cast than the other lines. Very heavy head in the line, just launch and it goes, and goes, and goes.

I haven't spey fished in the surf with mine, but hear it works very well. With a spey rod you can cast double what you normally could do with a single handed rod. In surf fishing, the guy who can cast past the break catches the most fish. Hence, the spey rod can make a difference once you get used to it.