Steelhead Fishing?

[typhoon]

I've never tried the spey rod, though I've spent two seasons chasing steel with the single hader.
I was fishing the Vedder yesterday and watched a few spey guys. They were decent casters and were able to hit the far bank at will.
What I noticed was that they were not mending the line at all. To me this means that their fly would be swinging from the start and it would be extremely unlikely that a winter steel would chase their fly.
They were certainly able to flog the water but is this fishing or is this flossing?

[bronjuan]

were they casting 45 deg downstream or upstream? if you're casting downwards (common to do with spey, using heavy flies and tips...from what I read anyways), you can just let it swing...45 up, I would say that could be flossing if the guys aren't mending...

[typhoon]

Looked like pretty much 90 deg to me.

[btree]

If the flow is relatively slow, then it's still a good angle to swing. I regularly cast somewhere between 90 and 45 degrees to swing flies for steel and cutties depending on the flow, and I've stopped mending, rather I use a reach cast which achieves the angle change of a mend in a single movement instead of a cast + a mend, so the fly lands directly across from me, but the line lands between 90 and 45 degrees with a slight curve to it.

Is it even possible to floss steel? It's not like one is casting to a school of fish like with salmon, so what would be the point? Seems like the chances of flossing success would be slim to none.

[typhoon]

These guys were swinging almost the entire river. If there was a fish there and it was anywhere near the hook I'm sure they would floss it.
Sure they probability of hooking one is low, but the probability of hooking winter steel on the fly is very low anyways.

My point is really intention. These are apparently very experienced fishers and I'm wondering if they are intentionally doing this or if it is a normal Spey technique.
As an example I stopped fly fishing for chum on the Stave last fall because it was almost impossible not to foul hook or floss them without a dry line and unweighted fly.
Unfortunately they wouldn't rise to this offering.

[bronjuan]

Really? I was fishing some really fast sections with my single hander and type 6 sink tip in the stave and I didn't have that problem. My advice would be to try to differentiate between their bodies hitting your line and a bite. As soon as I began to discriminate a little more, I had less foul hook ups. A brush up feels like a slow drag vs a hit which would be more rip and tug tug. Just my two cents.

[Bukwas]

To "mend" means to fix something.......

[Dfisher]

Being new to the spey, but having fished for years with the single handed fly rod, the chances of the spey fishers flossing a steelhead are minimal. If you were fishing on January 1st, on the Vedder
those were probably some folks from Flybc as they were having an impromptu spey fish out on the river. And if you had asked them they would have been more than willing to show you exactly what they
were doing when swinging their flies through the run. The advantage of spey casting is the amount of water you can cover, with the longer rod. The fly then swings through or fans over a wider area giving the opportunity to show your fly to more fish. That is not flossing, anyhow just my two cents on the matter.

[11th Warrior]

It's funny that you mention swinging flies Dfisher; I've just been reading up on the subject for fishing trout in the winter. Most of the writers say it's an excellent way to present your fly to the most number of fish in the smallest amount of time. Because fish don't want to expend too much energy chasing food, swinging puts the fly right on their nose which will often result in an instinctive strike. A few of the writers say it's the only method they use in the winter, regardless of which fly they're using.

[typhoon]

Being new to the spey, but having fished for years with the single handed fly rod, the chances of the spey fishers flossing a steelhead are minimal. If you were fishing on January 1st, on the Vedder
those were probably some folks from Flybc as they were having an impromptu spey fish out on the river. And if you had asked them they would have been more than willing to show you exactly what they
were doing when swinging their flies through the run. The advantage of spey casting is the amount of water you can cover, with the longer rod. The fly then swings through or fans over a wider area giving the opportunity to show your fly to more fish. That is not flossing, anyhow just my two cents on the matter.

Swinging the fly may draw a fish that would hit on the hang, but there's no way the fly stays in front of the fish long enough for a real hit. I would say the chances of spey fishers flossing a steelhead are better than catching a steelhead, especially in the colder water of early season.