Spey Casting Practice on Grass

Here is a video footage I made showing the effectiveness of the anchored grass leader system posted earlier (see blog archive). The venue is the field in front of Coho Fly Shop Singapore. Spey casting practice just became a lot easier and convenient with this set up. Snap T, C-Spey, Double Spey, Switch cast, Perry Poke / Wrap, Cackhanded cast are all possible with this set up.

Anchored Grass Leader

In my attempt to practice Spey casting on grass, I found the experience less than satisfactory even when I use grass leader. About a week ago, I had a flash of brilliance and came up with this anchored grass leader concept that has proven to work well.

In this system, a long 30-40 feet mono leader that is staked to the ground is used to create the anchor effect that is sorely missing on grass. With the leader 30-40 feet away, you easily see your loop sailing out 60-80 ft when the cast is performed well. This system allows me to practice and teach Perry Poke, Perry Wrap (down stream Perry Poke) and Switch cast on grass. With the Switch cast, I find it helpful to include a short length of elastic cord between the sink tip and the mono leader to take some shock out of the system.

With this system, I get to practice my cack-hand cast in a controlled environment and made good progress within a short time. I have also successfully taught friends the Perry Poke and Wrap on grass. With the anchor securely fasten, new "Speyers" can focus more on their stroke, rod movement, D-Loop formation etc. Try it, you might like it.

Note1: When practicing forehand cast (assuming right hander), aim your cast slightly to the left of the stake to prevent the loop from crossing/crashing. If you are practicing cack-hand, aim to the right side of the stake.

Note2: For this system, you should get better feel of the casting tempo if you use a longer head spey line. For example, When I practice with a 11' switch rod, I get better feel on timing and stroke if I use a Skagit head of 27ft vs a 20ft Skagit head. This is because a short head requires very compact stroke and the whole event happens too fast. A longer head gives you a more relax tempo to work out the kinks in your stroke.

Here is a link to my video on casting practice using anchored grass leader:
http://yuenmah.blogspot.com/2011/06/spey-casting-practice-on-grass.html