Poor Technique??

[Stevie-B]

This has been happening to me quite a bit lately and it has become extremely frustrating. I'll cast, get a good drift, the fish will hit the fly, I set the hook, have the fish shake his head three or four times and the fly comes back to me.

Happens with drys and nymphs. I even had one where I was standing above the pool, hooked him, he circled the pool three times and the fly popped back. To give you an idea of how often this happens, in 45 min. I had hooked six fish and brought one to hand.

Is it my hook set is not hard enough or how I have the rod when playing the fish, etc.? Yes, the hooks are sharp. Looked there first. I put a lot of pressure on the fish to land them quickly and these are usually less then 12" anyway. In fact, the last fish I caugth was 4". Pathetic, I know, since it's not a small stream I'm fishing.

Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks,

Steve

 

[jayL]

Use a fly that's a few sizes smaller, perhaps?

If you're approaching from the head of the pool, wait for the fish to turn before you set the hook. Try to approach from downstream instead.

 

[Stevie-B]

Jay,

I typically use a size 16 or 18 fly. And I woudl say that my hook set is from the side of the fish. I typically cast quatering upstream and the fish usually hits in front of me or slightly ahead of me.

Thanks for the thought.

Steve

P.S. I also have noticed that the fish seem to run towards me more than in the past. I have to point the rod away from me and almost run the oposite direction to keep tension on the line.

 

[tomgamber]

Sounds like you aren't keeping pressure on the fish. Even with barbless hooks, if you keep the line tight, they don't come out.

 

[schrec]

Stevie,
Has this been happening on high-pressured waters? I have found that pressured fish often won't actually take a fly, that is, they'll not actually bite down on the fly. I've seem them turn their head and break the surface of the water, which to us, looks like a rise. We set the hook and actually sink the point on the outside of their head, or even on their back, where it easily pulls out. A thought.

rising fish always
schrec

 

[lestrout]

Steve - I have 2 suggestions: one will cost you very little; the other - the sky's the limit.

!) sharpen, really sharpen, your hook point. A diamond file is best (Dr. Slick's has them); a cheapo K-Mart file in the woman's cosmetics section will sorta do. Hopefully, you are the sort who is comfortable hanging out in Michael's sewing area, so getting used to the women's section shouldn't be embarrassing. (get Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails while you're there too, for fly tying cement). What a lot of folks perceive as 'sharp' points sometimes is really a wire edge, with a tiny J in it. My hooking % about doubles when I do this ultra sharpening. Even expensive Japanese and English hooks aren't that sharp once you shake the hook box a couple of times. And bouncing the fly off a twig or rock will at least dull the point.

2) what kind of rod are you using? The really fast graphite casting machines are poor at holding fish. Some slower ones, like Winstons, Scotts, T&T's, JP Ross, older Fenwicks, some Orvises and the old Sage LL's are much better. Many glass and boron rods are better yet. The best by far for this are cane in Leonard or Payne tapers.

tl
les

 

[beeber2]

Bend the barbed end of the hook 15 degrees to one side or the other. This helps the hook grab.

Bill

 

[schrec]

"The really fast graphite casting machines are poor at holding fish."

???????

FYI -- I've been fishing fast rods for 25 years and have never had a problem with them.


rising fish always
schrec

 

[tomgamber]

If your line is slack the hook will come out.

 

[jayL]

Fast rods aren't as good at fighting as a soft rod. I agree.

The soft rods protect the tippet and keep from tearing the hook out a bit better.

 

[Stevie-B]

I use a 7'6" medium action rod. I keep a lot of pressure on, so much so that the first couple of times I thought the tippit snaped when I lost the fish, so it's not a slack line issue.

This is happening on a fairly high pressured stream but I have been fishing it on average about once a week since April and it has just started with the last three weeks.

les - I do like option no. 2 but I don't think the little woman would go for it. :-(

Steve

 

[JackM]

Based on everything you are saying I would suspect two things:

1. An odd string of bad luck;
2. Dull hooks.

If the hook does not penetrate well, it will slip out more easily. Often, a fish clamps down and the hook never penetrates tissue or just barely snags it. Often when I have the trout hooked and good pressure on a tight line, I will give an extra sharp tug to be sure the hook has penetrated.

 

Steveie-B;
Might as well, make a suggestion as well, but no matter what any of us say, I'd DEFINITELY SAY that loosing fish, like you're doing, demands the uplifting of low spirits by buying yourself a new rod!
Not, that that's your hook setting problem, far from it, but a new rod WILL help with depression and who wants to be depressed? Just tell your Bride that Cambyses insisted you buy one. Might as well, throw in a new reel, while you're at it. A new rod, with a "used" reel, is sort of "tacky" the way I see it.
Anyway............. I haven't noticed, here, (but, that's not surprising for me, either), any mention of "where/how your rod tip is, when setting your fish"??
Long ago, when missing the party they threw to celebrate the invention of fire, I was off fishing of course and met a chap on stream, that suggested to me, "Once you make initial hook set, remember to very quickly flip your rod parallel to the water's surface and set it once more...... with about half the force of the first hook set!"
This sounded complicated to me, (and, time consuming), but once mastered, I now do it without second thought, in less, than a split second.
The 'second set' puts the rod, fish, line and hook.......all on a "different plane", immediately and no matter HOW the fish has taken the fly, this split second action, usually drives the point home, at a different angle from simply raising the rod tip.
In fact, I don't usually, (on smaller fish, see my avatar for my world record), don't even get all the way parallel to the water. Just "re-setting" at about 45 degrees to the water's surface does it.
After initial hook up, if the fish takes off, right, flip the rod tip left and vice-versa for the second set. If, he takes off straight away, either side, works well. If, he should come straight at you. hit him with a rock, they're not supposed to do that.

 

[JoeE]

Check the hook gap, make sure you do not tie in or block the hook gap and as mentioned above offset the hook gap. Sometimes when you are tying the vise straightens out the offset depending on the type of hook you use.

 

[afishinado]

It’s probably not your rod, hooks, or technique, but don’t ignore all the good advice. Sharp hooks are important, and well as good technique, and not allowing slack in your line.

Since, you had no problem holding on to fish before, the fish were probably short striking that day, and you had them hooked very lightly. I’ve seen this on streams that have a lot of pressure and the fish are hooked again and again. It happens to all of us.

What you describe about the fish swimming straight towards you, also happens a lot on these hard-fished stocked streams. Many times the fish on the Tully, the Little Lehigh, the YB, etc., will swim straight toward you without a fight, allow you to unbutton them, and swim away without much of a fuss. They seem know the game, it’s been played with them many times before. Also, I’ve caught the same fish more than once, while fishing in a spot, and they give up quickly.

Conversely, hook a small wild trout in a stream lightly fished, and he will make a run, jump, and raise hell before coming to hand. In my experience.

 

[Acristickid]

Humpries recommends side pressure. Not sure if this is just to tire the fish but it seems to keep'em hooked better for me. Paul

 

[lestrout]

:-D Stevie B - sheesh, if'n you're ffishing the same trouts week after week, along with all the other pressurers, maybe the trouts got callouses?

tl

les :lol:

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

:-D Stevie B - sheesh, if'n you're ffishing the same trouts week after week, along with all the other pressurers, maybe the trouts got callouses?

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

maybe les is on to somethin :-D

 

[Stevie-B]

The Gunpowder does receive a lot of pressure, but not necessarily from me. With over 15 miles of trout stream and the fact that I move to a different spot each time, it's not me educating the fish. In fact, most of the time I think it's the other way around.

WIth all the suggestions I am leaning on the "it's a stroke of bad luck" thing. But, with the chance of hooking a 20" fish always a possiblity there, I would hate to miss an opportunity.

I do believe that I will start working on the "hook 'em, pull to the side" technique. Now, when you drop the rod to the side, do you pull a bit more with you line hand to drive the hook home or is just the rod enough?

Thanks everyone!

Steve

 

[jayL]

Ah. The plot thickens. The gunpowder can be a pretty tough stream from what I've heard. I only fished it once, and it was blown out. Didn't do bad, didn't do good. Just did...

I guess I'll cast my vote for bad luck as well. It just happens. I used to shoot A LOT of pool. Whenever I was running bad, not getting rattles or caroms here and there, I'd start tinkering with my stroke. It never worked. I found that if I kept persistent, I'd subconsciously make the changes I needed to make. It worked every time before, there's no reason why it would change now. If you are doing something different, it's probably going to be so glaringly obvious to you at one point that you'll make the fix pretty quickly. Just keep workin at it, and it'll come.