Learn the single-hand spey cast

The world of trout spey (or whatever moniker is most popular at any given time) is constantly evolving. For a few years, the development of smaller spey rods—typically 11 1/2 feet or smaller and lighter in weight—geared towards two-handed spey casting, but on a similar scale, predominated. While those rods remain popular, more recently, focus has shifted in part to single-hand spey casting, an option that allows anglers to reap the benefits of spey casting with a traditional, single-hand trout rod (and, often, an angler's existing rod). Of course, single hand spey isn't just suited to trout. Single-hand spey casting can be effective for almost any species—such as steelhead, salmon, smallmouth bass and more.

As interest in single-hand spey grows, options for anglers keep expanding. Though they all call them by varying names. these days, virtually every major line maker—RIO, Scientific Anglers, Airflo and more—offers single-hand spey lines and, in recent years, companies like Olympic Peninsula Skagit Tactics have popped up that focus primarily on single-hand spey casting. And line makers are even beginning to offer specialized single-hand spey lines, like RIO's new InTouch Single Handed Spey 3D.

But, if you're not familiar with two-hand spey casting, knowing how to get started in the trout spey or single-hand spey world can be a daunting task—starting with the most basic requirement: how to cast. To help anglers (and potential customers) clear that first hurdle, RIO has introduced a new video to help answer that question.

Part of RIO's "How To" series, the new video, featuring Simon Gawesworth, introduces the bare essentials of the single-hand spey—primarily answering the question: What is the single-hand spey cast? Rather than teaching specific single-hand spey casts, Gawesworth breaks down the single-hand spey cast, focusing on the similarity and differences between single-hand spey and roll casting, the basic mechanics of the single-hand spey cast, and the advantages of the single-hand spey—with a very brief introduction to a few different casts at the end of the video.