First Fly Caught Fish

[Fallser]

9 of them to be exact, 7 stocked rainbows and two wild brookies. All caught on olive or black wooly buggers on a wet/cold weekend in Potter County on the Genesee River. Almost landed a 16-18' inch stocked Golden, but I was unprepared for the fish and I had too much line on the water after stripping. I assume, you don't attempt reeling on the reel with so much line, but just keep hand reeling? Any tips would be appreciated! Anyway here's the 6th fly caught fish as I didn't have a camera with me on Saturday when I landed my first fish and the two brookies. (Oh well)

All Fish released of course.

 

[pcray1231]

Congrats. But you show the pic of the stocked bow instead of the brookies? Comon, man!

I'm one of those guys that gets virtually all fish on the reel. I guess occasionally I'll strip in a small one, but it's rare.

Like anything else, that takes a little practice. Holding the line against the rod with one hand while reeling in slack. And the trick is that hand holding the line sometimes has to act as a drag too. I think as you get better you have less slack to take up, though, so you're on the reel quicker.

 

[Fallser]

Yeah, I know. My brother was annoyed too that I didn't have a cam for first fly fish or the brooks on Sat...this fish was next day, and I came prepared!

 

[Swattie87]

Just for comparison sake...I'm exactly the opposite of pcray...I very rarely put a fish on the reel...to my detriment sometimes probably. No right or wrong answer, it's all out of habit mostly I think. Most of the fish I catch (Brookies/freestone wild Browns/Sunnies/smallish SMB) are pretty small and don't need to be put on the reel when playing them. On a small stream there isn't a lot of room for them to run either. As a matter of fact I don't think I've ever put a wild Brookie on the reel, even a couple of my bigger ones, which I probably should have in hindsight I guess.

I was warmwater fishing last Summer and I hooked into a 15"+ Smallie...halfway through the fight, with the Smallie bulldozing me all over the pool I finally realized that I was playing the fish by hand...duh...put it on the reel dude! Again, that's probably a bad habit I've developed that could bite me in certain situations.

A good rule of thumb...if it's a fish that's big enough that you're at least slightly scared it may break you off...put it on the reel. The reel's more efficient and consistent at giving the fish line when it wants it than your finger in most cases. As pcray explained, if you want to put a fish on the reel, loosely pinch the line against the rod with your rod hand and reel up the slack with your reel hand. If you feel like you need to give the fish some line, lighten up with your "pinching" finger and let some line slide out as the fish pulls while you're reeling up the slack. I keep the drag set very light (usually all the way down) on all my reels...if you get a fish on the reel and want to apply more pressure you can always turn the drag up during the fight.

Congrats on the firsts BTW!

 

[Swattie87]

One more thought...a tricky scenario sometimes is when you hook into a good sized fish (with a significant amount of line out) and the fish makes a big initial run towards you. In this case you may need to hand strip at first to keep the line tight on the fish and avoid it throwing the hook. Once the fish settles down, then start to reel up the slack and put it on the reel.

 

[pcray1231]

Yeah, putting it on the reel is just habit. I have this thing against having too much slack line out. I start stepping on it, getting it stuck on rocks and branches, etc. Drives me nuts. So I tend to keep a relatively small amount of line between reel and first guide, and put all fish on the reel immediately, as if you strip em in, you can get a lot of slack line in a hurry.

Seems weird to put little natives on the reel, but I do it.

I also keep the drag reasonably tight. Because of my aforementioned habit of not having much line out, I often am stripping line out to make a cast. I strip too fast, and a loose drag leads to binding up the line. So tight enough not to be able to bind it, but not so tight as to break tippet on decent fish. I generally use relatively stout and stretchy tippets, and on bigger fish I've found I have time to loosen the drag if need be.

 

[kierkan]

Just to make it a little bit more confusing (sorry) I prefer to let let fish "earn" the reel. I use my my finger as drag to fight the fish with the line and if they make a run let them take the slack out and put themselves on the reel. The main reason I do this is I have a bad habit of leaving to much slack if I focus on getting them on the reel to quick, like rubbing my stomaching and patting my head it doesn't work for me. However, I try not to keep to much slack line out either.

Congrats on your first fish, keep it up and after a while you will find your style.

 

[djs12354]

Fallser,

Congrats on the first fish on the fly! Sounds like you had a good day on the water!

 

[Fallser]

Thanks for the tips guys. I plan on heading out closer to home this weekend so I'll try these tips.