In episode 009 of the Fly Fishing Podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Simon Gawesworth who is one of the biggest names in fly fishing today. Simon breaks down spey lines in detail including what’s new this year and what he sees in the future of spey.
He talks about choosing lines for windy conditions, a good sinking line for summer fish, some of the new products in line for RIO including triple-density lines. This one goes quick so click the button below to have a listen.
Click below to listen to the RIO Products Podcast with Simon Gawesworth:
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RIO Products Show Notes
7:45 – The Wind Cutter history and how it brought us to present day
10:10 – A good single hand spey line is the In Touch Single Hand Spey Line
11:55 – AFFTA fly line standards for two-handed rods and switch rods plus the Rule of 3
15:50 – How to fish the East Fork of the Lewis River and the Kalama River
17:12 – Good spey lines for the wind in the scandi and skagit categories (scandi versatip)
25:20 – The Jim Teeny interview on single hand fly lines
25:50 – RIO Grand Fly Line is one that hasn’t changed much over the years
31:00 – Modern Spey Casting Video – This was the one that helped me get started back in the day
31:40 – RIO’s how to fly fishing series puts you into a video series via email
33:30 – Spey Casting interview with Pete Humphries
36:10 – A good sinking line for summer steelhead
42:55 – The double hook and treble hook for Atlantic salmon fishing and why they are used still to this day
44:25 – A good rule of thumb for two-handed and switch rods – You gain or lose about 10 feet of distance on your spey cast for every one foot of rod length
48:40 – The Steelhead Coachman and Hazel’s Engagement are Simon’s goto patterns
51:00 – The intermediate skagit line is the goto line for winter steelhead fishing
53:50 – Multiple density lines explained and why they are big right now
1:00:35 – Sandy spey Clave
You can reach Simon at Speyborn.com if you have any additional questions or need a lesson.
It was a lot of fun to hear Simon’s story and history of how he got started at his dad’s fly fishing school. Jim Vincent from RIO heard about Simon and started chatting back in the day. Eventually, Simon moved to SW Washington to be closer to many of the NW steelhead rivers.
We talk spey lines in detail including why this year is going to be huge with the triple-density lines. The East Fork of the Lewis River, the Kalama River, and the Deschutes River are all some of his home waters
We get into the process of how RIO tests their lines to make sure they are ready to go for the new season. This is one of the best parts of being a Brand Manager – trips to the south with the fly fishing staff at RIO Products.
We get into some of the frustrations of fly line manufacturing and how RIO deals with issues in this process. All companies deal with these types of issues so it’s important how you follow up when these things happen.
What Simon loves and dislikes about his job. He’s got a pretty good one but office work is one thing that Simon can do without. Although he knows that it’s necessary and part of the teaching process, one of the things Simon loves and is very good at.
We get into the differences between Atlantic salmon and steelhead fly fishing. Fly size is probably one of the biggest difference where a size 14 is not uncommon for salmon fishing.
Triple density and quadruple density lines are the rage these days because the line casts and swings through the water much better than older lines.
Quote: “If I had to pull out a single Gem from our 2018 products, it would be the triple-density single handed spey line.” -Simon Gawesworth
RIO Products Conclusion with Simon Gawesworth
I wanted to give a huge thank you to Simon for coming on to the show today. As I noted at the start of this episode, Simon basically taught me how to spey cast by the videos he provides including Modern Spey Casting.
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