Hi,
I seem to have a problem with fish escaping. I'm letting my flies drift far enough away that I can't see them, so I just react to what I feel on my line. When I feel a fish, I raise my rod and strip line to get tension. A lot of times, the fish will bend the rod momentarily and then its gone. Today, I had two monsters on my line and they both had my rod bent. On the first one, my leader came shooting out of the water after about 5 seconds. The fish was way downstream, and it was beautiful to see the flash of his body as he leapt into the air and my line jumping off the glassy emerald green water in a long arc as it came taught. I had just put some new tippet on, and I assumed one of my knots failed, but when I checked, everything was intact. The second fish was on my line for about 15 seconds during which time I worked him up stream, and as I saw him move deeper in the water, my line came flying out of the water at me. Once again, I assumed a knot failed, but everything was ok. All these fish have hit my fly downstream. I don't think I have gotten a fish to take my fly upstream yet.
With all of these fish, I have my index finger trapping the line against my rod, but to get a natural drift there is a decent amount of slack in the line and leader, so I usually have to strip line before I get tension when a fish strikes. Then I fight the fish by stripping in line with my hand. I also crimp the barbs on my hooks. Any suggestions for keeping fish on my line?
On previous days, I could never find a pattern that seemed to work consistently. It was hit or miss even though the fishing conditions seemed ideal each day: fish splashing and leaping out of the water early in the day, and then rises all over the river late in the evening, and I never could catch two fish on the same pattern. Today, I decided to use a mayfly emerger pattern that had a green body and a white tuft on its back. It looked almost like a small blue wing olive. Anyway, I let it drift down stream floating a few inches below the surface, and I caught a fish with it. After releasing the fish, I cast down and across, and bingo! another fish, making that two fish on two casts. I caught two more fish with five more casts, making a total of 4 fish in about 10 minutes. Hey, now I was on to something! But the last fish had my hook through its nose and I had trouble getting it out and finally my hemos cut the 6x tippet at the knot while I was trying to wiggle the hook out, and the fish swam off with my magic fly. I didn't have any more like that, so I tried a midge pupa imitation next: it had a black cylindrical body and scraggly white tufted material coming out one end, and I put floatant on it so it would ride on the surface. It was very different than my magic fly, but I caught two fish with it, and I had a couple of other strikes. Do you usually hit on a pattern that consistently gets fish, or do you keep trying different patterns?
I also have a question about releasing fish. I don't touch them at all. I grab my leader about a foot from the hook and try to get my hemos on the shank of the fly while lifting the trout's head out of the water. They are usually pretty twitchy, so it takes a few tries. Then I lower his head back in the water, and with a sharp jerk I try to disengage the hook, which seems to work pretty well, and the fish all dart off with plenty of energy. What puzzles me is the advice to hold the fish under its belly until it revives? Is that necessary? Also, is there a more effective method for getting the hook out?
I seem to have a problem with fish escaping. I'm letting my flies drift far enough away that I can't see them, so I just react to what I feel on my line. When I feel a fish, I raise my rod and strip line to get tension. A lot of times, the fish will bend the rod momentarily and then its gone. Today, I had two monsters on my line and they both had my rod bent. On the first one, my leader came shooting out of the water after about 5 seconds. The fish was way downstream, and it was beautiful to see the flash of his body as he leapt into the air and my line jumping off the glassy emerald green water in a long arc as it came taught. I had just put some new tippet on, and I assumed one of my knots failed, but when I checked, everything was intact. The second fish was on my line for about 15 seconds during which time I worked him up stream, and as I saw him move deeper in the water, my line came flying out of the water at me. Once again, I assumed a knot failed, but everything was ok. All these fish have hit my fly downstream. I don't think I have gotten a fish to take my fly upstream yet.
With all of these fish, I have my index finger trapping the line against my rod, but to get a natural drift there is a decent amount of slack in the line and leader, so I usually have to strip line before I get tension when a fish strikes. Then I fight the fish by stripping in line with my hand. I also crimp the barbs on my hooks. Any suggestions for keeping fish on my line?
On previous days, I could never find a pattern that seemed to work consistently. It was hit or miss even though the fishing conditions seemed ideal each day: fish splashing and leaping out of the water early in the day, and then rises all over the river late in the evening, and I never could catch two fish on the same pattern. Today, I decided to use a mayfly emerger pattern that had a green body and a white tuft on its back. It looked almost like a small blue wing olive. Anyway, I let it drift down stream floating a few inches below the surface, and I caught a fish with it. After releasing the fish, I cast down and across, and bingo! another fish, making that two fish on two casts. I caught two more fish with five more casts, making a total of 4 fish in about 10 minutes. Hey, now I was on to something! But the last fish had my hook through its nose and I had trouble getting it out and finally my hemos cut the 6x tippet at the knot while I was trying to wiggle the hook out, and the fish swam off with my magic fly. I didn't have any more like that, so I tried a midge pupa imitation next: it had a black cylindrical body and scraggly white tufted material coming out one end, and I put floatant on it so it would ride on the surface. It was very different than my magic fly, but I caught two fish with it, and I had a couple of other strikes. Do you usually hit on a pattern that consistently gets fish, or do you keep trying different patterns?
I also have a question about releasing fish. I don't touch them at all. I grab my leader about a foot from the hook and try to get my hemos on the shank of the fly while lifting the trout's head out of the water. They are usually pretty twitchy, so it takes a few tries. Then I lower his head back in the water, and with a sharp jerk I try to disengage the hook, which seems to work pretty well, and the fish all dart off with plenty of energy. What puzzles me is the advice to hold the fish under its belly until it revives? Is that necessary? Also, is there a more effective method for getting the hook out?