I had the pleasure of talking with Matt Klara who has been around the spey game for quite a while now. Matt breaks down single handed spey casting and how you can and should get started on it.
We talk about Big Sky Anglers, fishing for trout with a 9 wt, SexyLoops and how he grew up on the Madison spending his summers living out of a camper. Don’t miss this one as Matt shares his huge tip on a video that is incredible in describing how to “fish” a sinking line for steelhead.
Click below to listen to the Matt Klara Interview
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Show Notes with Matt Klara
08:30 – Jay Nicholas was on the fly fishing show in episode 3
08:37 – We talk about Modern Steelhead Flies, Jay Nicholas and Rob Russell’s great book on new steelhead flies. Matt was highlighted in this book as a guest tyer.
15:57 – Tom Larimer provided some great tips on summer steelhead fishing in episode 11 of the fly fishing show.
17:30 – Big Sky Anglers is Matt’s current fly fishing focus where he is the social media manager for the shop. He describes a Spey Casting workshop they put on that included Simon Gawesworth.
21:36 – The AirFlo 6th Sense is a line that is noted in the show as a great single spey line. You can check out more details on the Sixth sense fly line here.
23:07 – OPST Commando, Air Flo Skagit Scout, RIO Trout Max are all great spey lines for streamer fishing and for steelhead
28:50 – We talk about the 2.5x Rod Length rule Matt uses to choose the right line for your rod.
31:20 – Sexyloops.com is a magazine that Matt has written for in the past. Here is a link to a post by Matt.
32:45 – Big Sky Anglers Blog Link
33:10 – The Echo blog post that Matt put together on the Path of Single Handed Spey
34:05 – Some of Matt’s favorite resources are Simon Gawesworth’s Single hand Spey, and Jason Borger’s Single Hand Casting
35:00 – Skagit Master 2 is an incredible video for covering sink tips and how to fish them for steelhead
39:27 – The Black String Leech is no secret but is one of the best steelhead flies. Here’s one of Matt’s white string leeches.
47:30 – The Drake Cast with Hank (the greatest fly fisherman)
57:25 – George Tanfield and Justin Spence were noted here
58:28 – Brian Okeefe and Lefty Kreh are two of Matt’s biggest influences. If fact, Matt notes that all of us can find a connection to Lefty in some way.
You can reach Matt by going to BigSkyAnglers.com if you have any questions or feedback. You can connect with him directly on Instagram here.
Some of the Show Highlights
Matt talks about his transition from single hand to spey rods. He started fishing the Madison River for trout and was the first place that he started swinging flies with a spey rod. He first fished the Grande Ronde River for steelhead in 2001 and the rest is history.
Matt uses the snake roll very regularly when fishing for trout. He talks about how you can easily get started spey casting with a single hand rod. He also notes that a double taper can work great for single hand spey.
Books and Resource Recommended
Simon Gawesworth’s Single hand Spey by Simon Gawesworth
Single Handed Casting with Jason Borger
Skagit Master 2 was huge for Matt
Resources for Spey
Single Hand Spey Casting Video with Simon Gawesworth
Conclusion with Matt Klara
I wanted to give a big thank you to Matt for coming on the show today. He breaks down single hand spey very well and includes what lines work great. He lists a bunch of reasons why you should give it a shot this week on the show.
Please share this episode if you know someone interested in steelhead and spey casting.
If you liked the tips that Matt shares in this episode then click on the link below to get the Steelhead Tips PDF Quick Guide Click here: https://wetflyswing.com/DIY
![](https://wetflyswing.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/download-29.jpeg")
