Why a Spey Clave in Montana?
On April 15th and 16th, we held our first Spey Clave in Montana. We were pleased with the participation and excitement we generated, but I know that many folks still did not quite get our message or realize the opportunity we provided. Quite a few trout anglers are under the impression that spey casting is only for salmon and steelhead. So, why would we hold a Spey Clave in Montana? [Update: Want to see how the Spey Clave went in 2017?]
All The Way From Alaska
The idea crystalized during a road trip home from steelhead fishing on a Columbia River Tributary last fall. I love to spey cast and swing flies for salmon, steelhead and trout. So do all the guys I work with at North 40. 2014 marked my last season as a full time Alaska guide. Now that Montana is home, trout spey on the Missouri River and other waters in the northwest region are the major focus of my angling year.
I first fished the Missouri River on May 7th of 2007. I was driving from Deadwood, S.D. to Cooper Landing, Alaska to start my 19th Alaska guiding season. In previous years, I would stop and fish the Bighorn. Then I’d drive right past the Missouri, always thinking it looked like a river worthy of investigation. That year, I decided to try the Missouri. My family and I moved to Great Falls in late October.
A Clave On The Mighty MO
It did not take long to figure out that the Missouri River was a great place to swing flies for trout. In the winters, I would tinker with flies I was developing for Alaska trout swinging. I soon learned that winter time is a fantastic time to swing for trout on the MO. Missouri River fish were eager to eat my Strip Leeches, Sculpin and Smolt patterns.
It makes sense. In winter, trout are hungry. They have fewer food choices and lower food volume. While the MO always provides sufficient food, winter is a leaner time. Fish are forced to be more opportunistic. This makes a swung fly very tempting. From a trout’s perspective, it’s an easy target and a larger meal. Winter is a great time to fish a two handed rod. While I was discovering the trouty swing nature of the MO, other anglers were finding similar success on rivers like the Yellowstone, Lower Madison, Big Horn and Clark Fork.
Why Spey Cast On the Missouri River?
Fast forward to 2016 and spey casting is becoming a common technique. Many folks understand that two handed rods work great for swinging streamers. What they don’t realize is that once you learn to spey cast with your two hander, a light bulb will go off. Spey casting techniques lend themselves equally to single hand applications. Europeans have known this for a long time. I frequently use spey casts for Nymphing, for dry fly fishing and for soft hackles. You can use your single hand rods and conventional floating lines. You can also tune up your single hand rod to be an elite spey casting tool with some of the new specialized lines available. Which is why our Spey Clave was born from the need to show anglers both how to spey cast and how to use spey casting techniques for trout fishing.
I’d like to send out a big thanks to all the participants who joined us for our first Montana Trout Spey Clave. I also want to thank our reps, friends and my fellow North 40 employees for putting on the event. Based on the feedback and fun we shared, we are already planning for 2017. For those of you wondering who you missed -stay tuned for part 2.