Scandinavian or “Scandi” Style Casting
This style was developed in…you guessed it… Scandinavia for casting great distances with little back-casting room. This style of casting still utilizes the touch and go style of casts as in traditional spey but with shorter rods (11-13′) and shorter “shooting heads” attached to running line. Another difference is that in traditional spey the leader and a good portion of the fly line are used as the anchor. Scandi style casting uses the leader as the primary anchor. The short shooting head allows for short and quick backcasts to achieve great distance. The same touch and go casts used in traditional spey are transferable to the Scandinavian Style. The disadvantage of the shooting head system, is that after each cast, the running line must be stripped to a point where the shooting head is just beneath the rod tip. In Colorado, the Scandi set up has it’s place when wade fishing in lakes. One interesting advantage is whereas in rivers stripping running line is a nuisance, in stillwater we are generally stripping in the line anyway as part of our retrieve. Thus we are set up to cast after out retrieve.
