Pond Fishing with Two-handed Rod

Freshwater species caught with Sage ONE 4wt Switch rod

Recently my Thai fishing guide and long time friend told me that lots of his clients find it difficult to do fly fishing in stocked pond due to limited back room. Most of these ponds were not constructed with fly fishing in mind, so back cast room was never catered for in the pond construction. Most people find it challenging casting in such environment where raised platform, overhanging trees, bushes and man made structures cluttered the background. This prompted me to share my experience in this article.

Firstly, let me say up front that two hand rod is the most efficient tool for such fishing. It is precisely this type of environment that got me started on Spey casting in the first place. After a number of years of playing around with two hand rods ranging from 10.5 feet to 12.5 feet, I find switch rod around 11 ft best for the job since they are light and not too cumbersome. Two hand rods that are too long can be tiring and risk snagging on overhanging trees and other structures.

Next the line system is crucial. Too many people made the mistake of coming with Scandi type line or worst still, traditional long belly line that is ill suited for such fishing. From experience, I find short belly Skagit type line best for the job, with preference towards modern Skagit line with a good aggressive taper. The older generation of level Skagit line just does not have the taper to give good roll cast in very tight situation (small D-loop). If I have to recommend a good line, it would have to be the Wulff Ambush line or the RIO Skagit I-Flight. More recently, the RIO Scandi body (or Scandi versi-tip) that is more like a hybrid between Skagit and Scandi head may have also made it to the list.

Next comes the casting. There are 3 type of cast that I usually use in a pond, they are the wiggle roll cast, Perry poke and the static roll cast, depending on the condition. I use the wiggle roll cast whenever there is very little backroom and yet I want to get the distance. The first video here shows how the wiggle roll cast is performed.

When there is sufficient backroom for a Skagit cast, then Perry poke will give you the best distance. The video below shows how to perform a Perry poke while standing high on a platform.

If the situation is dire and you are really tight on back room, then the static roll cast will be your only choice. This is where a line like the Wulff Ambush or Skagit I-Flight really shines. Due to high concentration of mass near the tip of the rod, this line gives deep loading even with minimal D-loop and roll cast 50ft - 60ft easily. Below is a video showing the static roll cast.

** Tackle set up for these videos:  Sage ONE 4 wt Switch rod / Lamson Speedster 3.5 reel / Wulff Ambush line / 15ft RIO clear versileader + 10ft mono leader

Roll Cast vs Wiggle Roll Cast vs Switch Cast

Here is a video I made to demonstrate the difference between a static roll cast, a wiggle roll cast (WRC) and a switch cast. The switch cast is considered by many to be the foundation of all Spey cast. Roll cast is obviously necessary as well since all spey caster will need to roll out their line (taking out all the slack) in preparation for the actual Spey cast. The wiggle roll cast (WRC) on the other hand is a relatively new cast I invented for still water spey application and it is an excellent cast for situation where you have limited back room for a proper switch cast and yet want to get better distance than the conventional roll cast.

In this video, all three cast are executed one after another in succession so that you can directly compare and gain appreciation of  the difference between them. Note that the static roll cast has the smallest D-loop and the least energy in the D-loop. With the WRC, the D-loop did  not get very much bigger but has a lot more energy in it. That energy helps load the rod for a better cast. Last of all, the switch cast has the biggest and most energized D-loop and therefore produce the most powerful cast.

Saltwater Spey Casting - Maldives

Just got back form my 2012 Maldives fishing trip and am very please with my success in using Spey techniques exclusively in the salt. We were doing wade fishing on the flats and ten continuous days of casting can be murder to arms and shoulders but with my double hander, fatigue was minimal to non existent.

Am I glad I took time brushing up on my cack-hand cast before the trip because I ended up doing lots of it with the wind coming from my right shoulder. This foray into saltwater Spey is truly a great experience I learned a lot from it. I will summarize some important lessons below:

1) Due to possibility of strong wind from either shoulder, it is important to learn how to cast well cack handed (if not left handed).
2) Double Spey proves to be surprisingly effective in the salt especially with strong wind coming off shoulder. This is because the off shoulder wind complements the sweep and really helps energize the D-loop.
3) The "Speed Poke", a faster version of the Perry Poke, is a great way to cast with fast sinking  Clousers. It minimizes the sinking of the heavy fly that would have otherwise caused stuck anchor.
4)  The Wiggle Roll Cast (WRC) proved indispensable in surfacing the intermediate line and heavy fly prior to to the poke.The alternative would be to do roll cast twice but the WRC is more elegant IMHO.
5) For thin water and spooky fish, the WRC works like a champ in delivering the fly 60-70 ft with minimal ripping of water.
6) When casting against wind, placing the anchor further back or even slightly to the rear deepens the D-loop and really tightens up the forward loop for good wind penetration.
7) When the wind is from behind, you really need to access whether it is from behind right or behind left and make the adjustment to cast either cack hand or right hand. Otherwise the line is going to wrap you.
8) Sometimes the wind is so strong from the left or right that it can throws your anchor placement off side by a wide margin. In those cases, I resorted to doing multiple wiggle to get the anchor into position and it works well.

I was using my 6wt TFO Deer Creek Switch predominantly with either the 350grain Wulff Ambush line or the 400grain SA Skagit Extreme Intermediate. My preference goes to the Skagit Extreme Intermediate for better wind penetration. On days that I was using the Ambush line with 15ft clear sink tip, I did not notice any drop in catch rate so either line work well in the flats.

I did get a chance to fish one day with the TFO TiCR-X 5wt fitted with the double hand kit. While it cast the 350 grain like a champ, I felt the top section was a bit too soft compared to the butt and did not quite enjoy fighting fish on it. The rod fared better when fitted with the TiCr-X 6wt but it needed the 400grain line to load well. Overall, my preference still goes to the TFO Deer Creek Switch rod for its action and forgiving grain window.

After this experience, I would have no reservation doing salt Spey all over again with a Switch rod. Never once did I feel the need to resort to overhead casting. Distance was easily achieved regardless of back room or cross wind. The only draw back is in thin water when you have to be more selective and sight cast to target instead of blind bombing the water with the thick spey line.

Note: You can access all my blog post on saltwater spey by clicking on the "Saltwater Spey" link located on the right hand side under Labels.

Wiggle Roll Cast

When fishing double-hander with intermediate sink Skagit head (custom cut), I often find myself roll casting  twice just to bring the head (and fly) up to the surface before I could commence with the main cast. Because most of my fishing is done in still water, I don't have the benefit of the current to help buoy  up the head.

I find double roll casting tiresome after a while and soon started experimenting with a different  roll technique. I finally settled on this technique that I find very workable and named it the Wiggle Roll Cast because of the wiggle I throw into the loop prior to the actual roll cast.

This roll cast is not just limited to lifting intermediate head but is also useful in lifting fast sink tip. Neither do you need to limit yourself to one wiggle. If need to, you can even throw in a double or triple wiggle to help surface the fly. In this video, I am casting a floating set up and very respectable distance can be gained with this cast as it affords a deeper and more dynamic D-Loop compared to the standard static roll cast.

Updated 22Jan2015: Here is a better version of the video in slow motion. I am casting with a TFO BVK 3wt Switch rod with a 235 grain Ambush line.