This is my second year fly fishing and I'm either doing something wrong or I had some serious beginners luck last year! It seemed like setting the hook and bringing the fish in was not much of an issue before...I'd get a strke, the fish was on, and I'd reel it in! Then I had one incident where a large rainbow broke my tippet and I've had trouble setting the hook ever since ( I had a previous thread on this topic). My last 4 or 5 outings I've had quite a few strikes and I've had a few on but I keep losing the fish before I reel them in. I've been fishing with wooly buggers and a strike indicator mostly. Here is what happens. I see a strike and I lift the rod firmly but I try not to over do it (as to rip the fish out of the water). I try to keep the rod pointed up (80-90 degrees to the water) and I keep my line tight. Usually as I'm reeling in the slack while keeping the line tight with my index finger against the rod, is when the fish gets free. I'm am very careful to not leave any slack. It last about 5 seconds, Something like this: STRIKE!, tug, tug, tug, tug, tug, GONE! The thing that gets me is that I'm not missing the strike, I have the fish ON but it gets off for some reason. Hopefully I've explained this well. It's hard to put in to word.

I've read that some of you sharpen hooks. Would this help? Sometimes I will use the same bugger for a few hours and even use it on multiple outings. Is there a point where a fly is spent and I should get rid of it? Everything looks fine, but maybe the point is too dull. Any help would be appreciated.

An easy way to check the sharpness of a hook is to drag the point across your thumbnail. If it wants to dig in, and leaves a scratch on the nail, it's likely sharp enough. Visually check the point for any damage as well.

Most better quality hooks are chemically sharpened these days, and they're plenty sharp out of the box unless damaged. If you're buying flies, check each one before you buy it, or before adding to your fly box if buying mail order.

As far as getting fish "on the reel", I teach beginners to just pinch the line against the cork. Let line slip out if the fish is pulling really hard. Many times, you don't need to get the fish on the reel - just strip line in, and let the rod absorb the shock.

For bigger fish, you don't need to put the fish "on the reel" - they'll do it by themselves if you do what I wrote above. Unless you have a huge amount of slack on the water, this usually works well.

With the stronger tippet usually used for fishing streamers, this technique should work very well. You'd be surprised how much pressure you can apply to the rod without exceeding tippet strength. Tie your tippet to a beer can tab (full can). Apply pressure with the rod as if you're fighting a fish, and note how much pressure you can apply before the can even moves. That can weighs less than one pound - far less than the strength of even the lightest tippet.

Now crack open the beer, and enjoy your experience.

While we're talking about fighting fish, here's another expirament for you to try.

Have someone else hold the rod and you hold the end of the leader. Have your helper exert pressure with the rod - first by lifting the rod overhead, and then by appling pressure from the side. See the difference in pressure? Side pressure allows you to exert more pressure on the fish, and you can use this to steer the fish where you want it to go. You can also switch sides to "confuse" the fish during the fight.

The best thing you can do is to steer the fish upstream of you - the fish then has to fight the current AND you. Advantage you.

A lot of times during a fight, when the fish tires, it winds up on the surface, and you can pull it along like a water skier being towed. Take advantage of this, and keep the fish skating along into your net. By not allowing the fish to "dig in" again, you'll shorten the fight, and not exhaust the fish.

Good info! I'm thinking the problem I'm having is getting the fish on the reel. I think I'm too focused on getting that slack on the reel. I do pinch the line against the cork, but usually I have 5 -10 feet of line I need to get in between the cork and the reel. Once I did strip a fish completely in and netted it. I had way to much slack line and reeling was not going to work. It wasn't as fun as "reeling" the fish in and felt like I was cheating a bit but I guess if that's what you have to do, it's what you have to do!

Slack,
Good info from HA (as usual).
Many hooks today come laser sharpened and are mighty good right out of the box. I do like to sharpen many of my larger streamer hooks. You might just be in a slump or run of bad luck - happens to all of us in any sport.

Another problem that you can encounter with reeling in a lot of slack to get the fish on the reel is reel design.

With the trend toward large arbor reels, a common problem with many of them is a wide, shallow spool. This enables higher backing capacity, but if you're not careful when reeling in line, the line can build up in one place. You can actually build up line to the point where it hits the frame, restricting further line take up.

Narrow large arbor spools with a smaller inner arbor avoid this problem, for the most part. Some reels do this balancing act better than others. You can get the advantages of a large arbor reel by using a small (or standard) arbor reel in a larger size, and just use more backing to fill the reel.

It really helps when you can take up slack quickly, without worrying about getting the line on the reel evenly.

Just strip the line in and don't worry about the reel....welll unless you have like 40 feet of line out. I think holding onto the line gives you a better feel of the fish.