a wee bit of history about spey casting

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Spey casting is thought to have originated in Scotland on the River Spey over 150 years ago.  Alexander Grant (1856-1942), one of the most gifted individuals and a major contributor to the sport of Spey casting and the development of the modern two-handed rod, was the inventor of the "Grant Vibration" rod. Rather than one piece of wood , he sectioned the rod using  lap joints  (which he patented) bound together with linseed-treated leather lacing.  The lap joints enabled the rod to bend and caused the load of the fly line to distribute evenly throughout the rod allowing longer casting distance.  It must be noted that Grant was also an acclaimed violin maker and solo performer.  An accomplished musician, his knowledge of acoustic design no doubt laid the foundation for building his "vibration" rods.  He applied techniques derived from violin making to his greenheart rods, matching joints in frequency to the note of a tuning fork.

Born in Scotland, he fished on the River Ness and it was there at a local casting competition in 1895 that "The Wizard of the Ness" made history with his 21 ft. rod casting 65 yards of line, lifting the entire 65 yards clear from the water and returning it without shooting any fly line on the forward cast.  This record remained in place for 110 years before Scotland's Scott Mackenzie cast 68 yards with an 18-foot rod in 2005.  

The Scots know a wee bit about Spey casting!