We’re excited to announce a long anticipated and oft requested event, our first annual Trout Spey Camp here on the Missouri River. It will involve 3 full days of Trout Spey Casting instruction, demonstration and interactive clinics, dinner presentations, and boatloads of demo gear. But most importantly it will involve lots of Spey FISHING, and be a fun celebration of the camaraderie among two-handed trout anglers
The Camp will be held on October 10-12 right here in Craiglandia. We will drop the detailed itinerary in the near future, but it will involve breakfast and discussion, morning clinics, and demo gear from a wide variety of manufacturers for attendees to try free of charge. The afternoons will be spent swinging the Missouri River, and you can opt to hire one of our experienced guides (including the likes of Mike McCune, Whitney Gould or John Arnold) or grab a few buddies and go out on your own.
As the sun sets, we will gather again at camp, enjoy a meal – possibly an adult beverage – and participate in an interactive presentation. I’m sure more than a few will stay up late sharing stories about the days pursuit, gear tried, and flies used. You’ll be able to socialize with presenters and guides as well as your fellow “camp mates”.
We’ve been swinging for trout with two-handed rods for years, and we are lucky to have some of the best in the business on our staff full-time. We won’t be flying any presenters in, they’re already here. Many of our shop staff and guides are devoted trout Spey anglers, and some are fully obsessed with chasing trout (and everything else) using Spey equipment. You won’t have any trouble getting answers to your questions about gear, flies or catching fish.
SOME KEY EVENTS:
Spey Casting 101 – Interactive Clinic
OCT 10 This will be a slightly abbreviated version of the famous “learn to spey cast” clinics we’ve been putting on for years. Hundreds of folks have experienced Spey Casting for the first time with the help of John Arnold, Ben McNinch, Sara Roholt and the rest of our staff. For this event we will be skipping the power point intro and heading straight to the river. The goal of this clinic is to help you understand the gear, learn the fundamentals and get you quickly to a place where you can go fishing and have a reasonable expectation to catch a few trout. While fishing, you can continue to work on your casts. THIS CLINIC IS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NO OR VERY LITTLE SPEY CASTING EXPERIENCE. Those who do have a little – or a lot – of experience should attend one of our other clinics.
Sustained Anchor Casting with Mike McCune – Demonstration Clinic
OCT 10 & 11 Learn the fundamentals of traditional “sustained anchor” casting with one of the original Skagit system developers, Mike McCune. This will be a Demonstration Clinic (no individual instruction) where Mike will go over every detail of his relaxed style, and he leaves no stone unturned when it comes to the finer points of Spey Casting. Mike also guides for us, and also will share how he applies casting techniques developed for Steelhead fishing to resident trout in Montana. This clinic is valuable for both new and veteran Spey casters. We recommend this as a day two follow up to our 101 Clinic as well.
Single Spey & Snake Roll with Whitney Gould – Demonstration Clinic
October 11 As a competition caster and 6 time Spey-O-Rama Champion, Whitney spends a lot of time working on fast action “touch and go” distance casts. Learn how Whitney achieves her winning casts, how to execute these faster Scandinavian style casts and why you want them in your arsenal. A full time guide for Headhunters, she will also share in what circumstances she uses these casts here on the Missouri River. This will be a Demonstration Clinic.
Q&A Clinic with Mike McCune, John Arnold and Whitney Gould
October 12 We will have a collection box so you can submit your Spey Casting and Fishing questions to our staff who will select the most relevant and interesting questions to address. This will be an on water session so our instructors can “answer” your questions with a Demonstration if needed. We’re really looking forward to this interactive session.
also… Casting competition, Trout Spey Fly Tying competition, evening presentations, awards dinner and more, event t-shirt, and more…
Guided Fishing
During the afternoon “Fishing Session” you can go it on your own, with you buddies or hire a guide. If you want to hire one of our experienced guides, you can do it when you sign up or at a later date. If you’re unfamiliar with the river, this will save you tons of time deciphering the water and choosing flies. They will also help you with casting technique and applying things you’ve learned in the morning clinics. These will be half day guided trips and the rates reflect that ($425 drift/$525 jet). You can request specific guides, but only for a single day. This should allow guided folks to fish with a variety of guides and get different perspectives. You can hire a guide one day or all 3. We should also be able to pair up single anglers with a guide if needed. Guides are somewhat limited so if you’re interested sign up soon. If you’re set on fishing with a particular guide, we recommend you set that up very soon!
BOATS & SHUTTLES
If you think you need a boat, you don’t. One of the beauties of Spey fishing the Missouri is that we have tons of access and easy wading. In fact you can argue that in some situations wading from your car is the way to go. Having said that, feel free to bring your boat along. We also have boat rentals at the shop. Camp attendees will also receive discounted shuttles!
SIGN UP!
Cost is $50
Includes: all 3 days of the event, breakfast and dinner each day, clinics, access to demo gear, participation in any contests, event T-shirt.
Not Included: Lodging, Guided fishing trips, Lunch
LODGING OPTIONS
We have a wide variety of lodging options available which can be seen at craiglodging.com
You can also choose to camp at one of the local FAS sites (no hookups). The closest camping will be at Craig FAS, Stickney Creek FAS, and Wolf Creek Bridge FAS.
RV Hookups are available at Sterling Ranch, Canyon RV and Prewett Creek RV.
Call the shop if you have more questions about lodging or camping. 406-235-3447
MORE TO COME SOON
We will keep you up to date with additional soon on the Event Page, our blog and social media channels.