Here's Jock Monteith amidst a Spey casting lesson on the River Tay under the historic Telford Bridge demonstrating perfect D Loop loading with the single Spey cast. The traditional Spey cast is the most effective and satisfying casts. This photo was taken by local Dunkeld photographer Charlie MacDonald. Jock is wearing his Graham of Menteith tartan kilt while demonstrating Spey cast with his 15ft Monteith salmon fly rod.

Here's a salmon fishing holiday guest in the middle of a Spey casting lesson on the River Tummel. The focus was on getting a visual of the anchor point which is the mid section of the cast where the front end of the Spey line briefly touches the surface of the river before being sent across the river. Watching this anchor point touch down assists with the timing of the power stroke as any experienced salmon fly fishing instructor will know.

Learning to use your left non dominant hand with a Scottish Spey cast opens up a much bigger tactical range for your salmon fishing approach. This salmon fishing tour angler was learning how to do this from his professional salmon fly fishing instructor on the Oak Tree Pool near Meikleour on the River Tay.

Here's my own trusted silver friend of 20 years. This is a Van Staal C-vex 9-11 salmon fly reel with the 9/10 spool fitted paired up with the brilliant Monteith 9/10 Speycaster Multi System fly line. These 2 items fished of my bespoke built Bruce & Walker 16ft 9/10 Spey rod is Spey casting perfection and that's my firm professional opinion. As a professional Scottish salmon fishing guide you need to have quality salmon fishing equipment like this fly reel.

Here's the double handede salmon Spey rod being held out and high across the fast stream at the Guay Pool on the Lower Kinnaird Beat of the River Tay near Dunkeld. This method is how you control your salmon fly at long range which is a rare skill seldom understood by the majority of new salmon fishers. A professional salmon fishing guide will teach these vital fly fishing skills.

Dunkeld Spey Casting

By Jock Monteith 16th March 2018

The Vikings invaded Scotland between 800 & 1050AD causing much pillage & rape and general mayhem in the glens and ports of our great nation.

Unknown to most historians we were invaded again in 2005AD with a 'Scandi' angle to our fine traditional Spey casting approach.

Get With A Spey Casting Professional

A lesson with one of the Scottish professional Spey casters who understands the value of a smooth high lift that seamlessly merges into a beautiful shoulder engaged smooth swing with a watchful eye for precise execution from the anchor point to the target will be time well invested. Study the sheer aerial 'side on' elegance of the Spey cast and the smoothly powered tight loop as the line is delivered to the river with nothing short of sheer class and you'll start to get it. Then compare the twisting, buckling 'arse over tit' of the weight condensed head section of a shooting head as it leap frogs its way out and enough said!

What Salmon Fly Rod Should You Be Fishing With

If you want real satisfaction and can get your head around the fact that distance without 'fly control' is a completely wasted loss of casting energy then open your ears and trust my professional judgement. I know this isn't what you want to hear but for goodness sake if you're fishing a shooting head and stiff butted salmon fly rod you're missing out on so much enjoyment & satisfaction compared to the elegant tapered Spey line and through actioned Spey rod. You're also missing out on much fly control whether you're aware of it or not that will be costing you a fish or two each season. If you think Spey casting is a huge or bigger effort then you've missed the point that the Speycast when conducted properly & effectively is based on smooth line energy build up which only requires the slightest of touches on the forward delivery stroke.

Tape your salmon fly rod joints tightly with pre-stretched electrical tape exactly centred between both joints like you can see here. 5 or 6 turns of taut tape will stop the rod twisting from loosening off the joints which if that happens could easily end up in rod joint damage. A good salmon fly rod will last a lifetime if this simple taping protocol is followed before every fishing outing. This shot was taken of me playing a salmon in the Guay Pool on the Lower Kinnaird salmon beat of the River Tay while I was working as a salmon fishing instructor.

The Salmon Fishing Tackle Trade

You cannot fault the tackle dealers either for filling their shelves with the all the vast ranges of 'Eric the Red Longboat Stopper' T whatever you want head sections or the 'Up Helly Aa' broom pole Scandi rod ranges as all these items bring in additional sales for additional profits. Talk about choice being a dangerous thing well my goodness this business is even getting too confusing at times for those of us who are professionally involved. There are however many professional ghillies and Scottish salmon fishers who would love to see well designed proper Spey actioned rods & elegantly profiled Spey lines back dominating the market.

Easy Fly Casting For Guides & Ghillies

I completely get the fact that a shooting head line is an easier system to use which makes life easy for an over worked ghillie or casting instructor to get a new fly fisher delivering a line to the river quickly. The thing I question though is where's the thought behind the loss of elegance, casting satisfaction, fly control and even control of the fight when a hooked salmon starts boring deep in a heavy stream and the thick shooting head is drowned & acting like a 'drogue' which only the strongest of hook & leader will tolerate.

Here's a fabulous action photograph of Jock Monteith loading up a perfect Spey cast for long range salmon fly delivery across the River Tay with his tweed jacket and chest waders on. This shot was captured on the Meetings Pool of the Lower Kinnaird Beat by top Scottish photographer Louise Bellin.

The Market Will Change Back To Spey Action

My prediction is that the Spey line & rod market is on the verge of a significant comeback and soon you'll be seeing more Spey products on the shelves and rod stands of the tackle shops. The hindering factor for many who choose the Scandi approach was mainly because they struggled to get the right casting knowledge which these days can be easily obtained through technology that was not available in 2005 when the big change over from Spey to Scandi started to kick off. Personally I'm re-launching my highly effective 'fishing' Spey line in the next few months which flies and swims beautifully. It also hooks salmon effectively and fishes a controlled fly 'at range' as there's minimal 'core stretch' in this product but most anglers don't know anything about the value of low 'core stretch' and how that assists in setting a hook at range.