Opinions about two-handed rods vary widely in the Northeastern US at this time of discovery.  There's debate between "tradition" and this new thinking.  In reality there's nothing new about it - the large-scale use of two-handed rods dates back to the 17th and 18th centuries, whereas single handed rods were popularized centuries later.  It's unclear who the traditionalists are in this picture.

In the end, what counts is the understanding of the two-handed rod's potential in the surf.  Regardless of which came first, the goal is to investigate the advantages (and disadvantages) of two-handed rods in the spirit of "Yankee Ingenuity" along New England's striper coast.

Spey rods - NOT!

There is currently a big misconception along the Atlantic coastline about Spey rods and two-handed European-style (overhand) rods.  One is designed for river Spey casting ("contrived roll casting" per the late Hugh Falkus) and the other is designed for throwing lines overhead with two-hands.  The name "Spey" comes from the namesake river and it's corresponding region in Scotland, where centuries of Atlantic salmon angling tradition have been celebrated.  Today, two-handed overhand rods are perhaps most popular in Scandinavian countries for fishing broad salmon rivers.  In summary, the two rods, casting styles and fishing rationales are not the same.  

I've fished Spey rods in steelhead rivers for several years now, and own perhaps too many Spey rods (never enough?).  I've also tried them in the surf and concluded that they are not suited to the task - in my humble opinion.

All this is not to say that you can't Spey cast with an overhand rod, or vice versa - in fact you can Spey cast with a single-hand rod.  Lefty Kreh demonstrates this skillfully at recent fly shows.   You can also overhand cast with a Spey rod, although usually not ideal for the task.  In fact I have an old spinning rod that throws a 7wt quite well.

The real question is suitability over a long day of fishing and a range of conditions... not the name of the rod style.  With all due respect, the classification of all long flyrods with double handles as "Spey" rods is simply incorrect.

Knowing this, SAGE provides both European and Spey rods in the SAGE 2000 catalog (see www.sageflyfish.com).  Thanks to the generosity of Kevin Thompson and Brad Gage, we are working with the very best European two-handed rod blanks for the job.  The generous contribution of three of the world's premier European rod blanks is the cornerstone of our project; we are committed to doing well by your support.

No matter how you slice it, two-handed rods have a high potential for the tough conditions and huge flies that anglers deal with in surf fly-fishing situations.

Among other things, endurance counts on the beach.  Two-handed rods let you cast for longer hours with bigger flies using less effort than single handed rods.  For emphasis, consider casting a 12 or 13 wt line all day with a single hander from the shore.  My shoulder hurts just thinking about it.  Now imagine casting a little more rod length with a complementary pull/push motion with both hands using an additional lower handle.  There are ways of casting long lines without even false casting or hauling, covered later.

Casting is only part of the advantage.  Giant stripers are always a possibility in big surf, as are big blues.  Although the increased fulcrum (more length) would actually decrease your leverage using one hand, the ability to place the substantial lower handle on your hip and put a hard big bungee load on the fish puts the advantage back on your side by a big margin.  Instead of the panicked feeling of holding a single hander and a near-empty reel to the pounding surf... I found myself casually chasing the fish along the surfline with the butt comfortably on my hip.

Don't get me wrong, it's never easy to bring a big fish over the pounding surfline...

- but I've always felt better holding a two-handed fly rod when my fly line is somewhere out there in the vast blue ocean with a big fish hauling it along behind it, both fish and line nowhere in sight.

Old habits die hard, young habits even harder.  Despite legends of the Atlantic flyfishing the surf for decades, wide scale fly-fishing in the surf is a new pursuit popularized by the resurgence of striped bass in the region.  

Aubert Smith (aka. "Smitty") of the Rod Builder's Workshop has been the entertainer, reality checker, and rod building expert for this project.  He shuns the term "expert" but after so many decades of wrapping thread around fishing rods I don't know what else to call him.  The FORUM is forever indebted to him for his generous contribution of time and knowledge.

Exceptional Single-Thread 
Work by Smitty