Line control is one of the foundations of fly fishing. Making a cast, and then manipulating your line to achieve the desired presentation of your fly is literally what fly fishing is. For some reason, the line control aspect of angling is often overlooked when spey casting and swinging flies for steelhead. Many think it’s all about just bombing a cast out there as far as possible and just letting it swing. I think that is because it takes a great deal of time and dedication to become a proficient spey caster. People are pretty stoked when they finally get to a point of consistency with their two handed casting skills. As a longtime spey guide, I see it all the time. A client bombs a great cast out, and is completely unaware of what the fly is doing after it lands. They are already thinking about making that next cast. Fish the fly! For sure, hucking mega casts with a spey rod is definitely a fun undertaking, but the angling part of the process calls for a great deal of focus, awareness, and having the proper tools for the job.