Group....
I noted a well written article on Spey casting by Simon Gawesworth in the latest (March) issue of Fly Rod & Reel, "GETTING STARTED IN SPEY-CASTING", P.46.
Even more interesting, is an article by Ted Rogowski (p.50) entitled, "THE CASE AGAINST SPEY-FISHING". That one is particularly interesting in view of the move by many to embrace Spey fishing recently in the U.S.
My own way of looking at it is that Spey casting and fishing are sheer poetry of motion.....beautiful to watch and fun to do. Great distances can be achieved, and there are places which cannot be well fished by any other means.
The other side of the coin, is that we have caught many fish using what are now called "Spey" techniques using short one handed rods.....things like the so-called "forward Spey" and the, "snake roll" were done way before I'd even heard the word, "Spey". Both the snake roll and the single Spey were change of direction casts which we never thought had names.
I have fished for salmon when I simply couldn't successfully compete with the folks using long Spey rods in Norway.......but that was because the 15' - 18' rods they were using could place the swing in places not available to the short rod.....not that they could cast farther than I could (which most of them really couldn't). They couldn't finish off a fish, often, in time to prevent its' severe fatigue, and needed a ghillie or a friend to land the creature.
On the Restigouche in New Brunswick, the circumstances were such that I outfished my companions who were using the Spey techniques by a wide margin as I used single handed short rods.
Leaving competition out of the equation, I guess it's how the angler gets the feeling of greatest sport and self satisfying enjoyment which is most important.
Ted makes these points and many others using Lee Wulff's successes with the short rod as examples.
Both articles have lots to teach !
Gordy