I recently purchased a Conversion kit for my TiCrX 8-wt to turn it into 11'3" two-handed switch rod. I have it rigged with a Rio Outbound Short 10-wt WF floating line on an Albright 9/10 GPRS reel. The set-up looks great & feels good. Took it to the water for the first time today after fishing the morning. It sure can throw some line, but I discovered I am completely lost with casting this thing consistently. I'm new to 2-handed fly rods, so I think it may take a while to get the feel.

I have found some decent online videos for casting, but still not the same as on-the-water instruction. I live in the Lancaster area, does anybody have any recommendations for casting classes or somebody who might be willing to show me the ropes? Also, any recommendations for other videos/DVDs/online resources?

Any tips or input will be greatly appreciated. I'll likely be using this setup for Great Lakes Steelhead & may try my hand at surf fishing in the future. Who knows what else. Thanks!

Let the rod do the work for you. Don't try to force the cast. When I first started casting my switch I watched and studied these videos.

http://www.gwentanglingsociety.co.uk/ ... -introduction-part-1.html

http://www.gwentanglingsociety.co.uk/ ... -introduction-part-2.html

Good videos IMO.

line control...

Once you learn it, you will find yourself casting this way even with single-handed rods.

spey casts of overhead?

swing or strip?

If you're fishing tons of shot for steelhead in the salmon river, it's all chuck and duck and doesnt matter how you cast. Swinging streamers is a different story. I've had mine for about a year and I love it. If you ever wanna hit the Lehigh or Delaware, I'd be willing to show you what I know. It's not much, but I can shoot some serious line with it.

For the surf, you're going to hate trying a two handed cast. Since they are longer, they do double haul like a mofo so you're better off single handed.

The best advice I can give is don't force it. let the rod do the work, and keep your casting fluid. After a few trips it should become 2nd nature.

I disagree...no matter how much weight you have on, you can still utilize spey casting in both 1 and 2 handed respects. In fact, casting is a lot easier casting weight when using simple spey techniques.

You can two hand overhead cast something like Outbound from shore.

Thanks for the input, the videos were quite informative. Haven't had a chance to get out and try casting it again yet, but hope to soon.

With the Outbound Short line I have been able to do single-hand overhead casts & cast a mile with a simple double-haul. I'd just like to learn the 2-hand style.

To answer a previous post, I guess learning to spey cast would be of interest, but I'd just like to learn to cast it 2-handed any way I can.

Thanks for the info so far, I really appreciate it!

I absolutely agree. You can shoot the weight much easier with a two handed cast, but I don't think there's anything really elegant about it, or much to learning how to do it. My favorite part of using a big switch on the salmon is keeping more line up off the water and having a more sensitive feel to whats happening to my fly.