Setting the hook help

[Fish For Life 0]

Last weekend i was at a trout pond and i was continuously getting hits, throughout about 2 hours i must have had about 20 fish go for my flys, but by the end of the day i only managed to get 1 on the hook and back to shore. My problem was setting the hook. When it comes to stream fishing, when you don't have tons of line out, i am managing to do do okay. But when it comes to fishing on a lake, with alot of line out, i just cant seam to set the hook. Im good with setting the hook with drys, its the nymphs that im having trouble with. If i just set the hook like you would do with drys, by lifting the rod tip, all is good if the fish gets hooked. But if the fish doesn't get hooked the fly line usually comes rocketing back at me; not because im setting the hook to hard, but because i have so much line out. So i decided to try and strip set the hook, this just seamed useless. When the fish hit and i striped the line, the fish just never got hook. It was like my strip wasn't getting all the way down the line to the hook and the fish. I just don't know. It was like i had alot of slack line out, even though i didn't. So im in need of some help. What might i be doing wrong, and how can i set the hook better. Wat do you guys think is the best way of setting the hook? I really need to figure this out, i would land so much more fish if i could just get the hook setting right. Any help is appreciated.

 

Thanks

[Fisherboy0301 0]

Strip set. Keep the rodtip pointed at the fly and give the fly line a quick strip when he bites. The raise the rodtip up after you hook him.

 

Nevermind it's late and I didn't read it right ...

[JSzymczyk 0]

1) Make sure your hooks are very sharp.

 

2) You can't REALLY set the hook with the tip of your fly rod... the combo of rod action, plus line/leader stretch gives too much cushion. You have to sort of think about strip setting AND using the first 3 feet or so of your rod, from the butt end not the tip, to set the hook. If you fish big flies for bigger fish, this is easier to visualize. Set the hook with the butt end of your rod, not the tip! (obviously this doesn't need to apply with tiny flies and dinky fish, but it still works)

 

3) During your retrieve, is your rod tip in the water, and is it pointed at the fly so everything is in a straight line? If not, you've added even MORE stretch and spring into the equation.

 

4) Maybe it was just one of those days when the fish weren't serious about taking. It happens.

 

5) Perhaps something with the design of your flies was obstructing the hook point or gap.

[mikechell 0]

Going along with JS.

Many ... MANY times, I get the bump on the line, and nothing is there when I strip set. If this is what you're getting, then the fish is usually doing one of two things.

1. "Nipping", I call it. Grabbing bits of the fly, rather than inhaling it. I believe pressured fish do this. They are "tasting" bits of the prey before deciding to grab the whole thing. I've watched whole schools of Sunfish do this for several seconds to minutes.

2. Inhaling/exhale. They do this so quickly, it's almost impossible to catch. I've watch videos of crank baits being pulled through the water. As soon as it's stopped, a following fish can inhale it ... "taste" it ... and exhale it, all without the angler ever feeling a thing. I've personally watched fish do this to my own lures and flies ... cursing myself when I didn't react quickly enough to set the hook.

 

With "nipping" ... there's not much you can do. But, eventually, a braver fish WILL grab it and carry it away from the others. This will give you a few seconds more time to get the hook set. Strip setting only, leaves the fly in the "strike zone" so that you'll get several chances at one of these braver fish.

The inhale/exhale ... that's where the sharpest hook you can present may make a difference. Sometimes, the exhale gets caught on the point. The extra few fractions of a second are all you need to detect and set. The sharper the point, the better the chance.

 

There are two beliefs I have about "missed" fish.

1. When a big fish gets off without me seeing what it was ... it was a Gar.

2. When I get a hit, and don't get a hook set, it was either a Gar, or the fish was too small to get the hook in it's mouth.

 

Since I can't see any proof to the contrary, those are my stories, and I am sticking to them !!!

[mikechell 0]

Oh, strip setting the hook is also why I wear a stripping guard on one of my fingers. The line running through that finger on my rod holding hand will get a few feet of line pulled through it on a hook set. I almost always strip set ... I've burnt the crease too many times. With the guard, I no longer have that problem.

[Fish For Life 0]

Thanks for the help so far guys. One more thing to add that i forgot to mention. While i was fishing there was a slight wind. Not much but just enough to cause my line to curve on the water. This curved line would be considered slack line, and it was rather hard to straighten it out. So when i strip set, pretty much all i was doing was taking in the slack, not much of my actually set was getting to the hook. So im not really sure what to do, or try different next time.

[Fisherboy0301 0]

Just try stripping in 2x the line on the strip set, so you take in the slack and set the hook.

[COMike 0]

As an inexperienced fly fisherman I can only add one point to the advice above:

 

LINE MANAGEMENT! There is a reason folks sign off with "tight lines"..........

 

While not being where you are and watching you fish, I think that there are differences between your "flowing water" fishing and your "still water" fishing.

 

REMEMBER to keep a tight line....there is NO WAY you can set a hook with bends and line out.

 

KEEP A TIGHT LINE!......

 

Mike

[COMike 0]

Thanks for the help so far guys. One more thing to add that i forgot to mention. While i was fishing there was a slight wind. Not much but just enough to cause my line to curve on the water. This curved line would be considered slack line, and it was rather hard to straighten it out. So when i strip set, pretty much all i was doing was taking in the slack, not much of my actually set was getting to the hook. So im not really sure what to do, or try different next time.

 

 

Fish,

 

It does NOT matter what the weather conditions are. What matters is how YOU can transfer the energy of the rod/reel/line to the hook.

 

I can relay a bit of experience here from bass fishing:

 

So I lay a worm down in some really weed infested water....

Bass are VERY different from trout so bear with me....

 

I am fishing from the front of the boat and I KNOW the fish is waiting to eat the plastic bait.

 

Current and my trolling motor creates a TON of slack......

 

I try to reef the hook for a good Bass "setting the hook" but alas I am ONLY taking up monofilament.

 

 

 

The same principle applies to trout. TIGHT LINES........

 

I will challenge anyone here to set a hook (salt/fresh/ponds) without having a tight line to set a hook.

 

My 2.5 cents....

 

Mike

[saltydancindave 0]

For bass & saltwater a strip strike works well with the line & rod tip pointed at the fish, for trout a slip strike works a whole lot better being a softer hook set.

[mikechell 0]

A bow in the line from water or wind movement is not necessarily "slack". If you lift the line with the rod during the hook set, then it IS all slack. If you strip set, then you are pulling the line through the water. Water resistance will allow quite a bit of your "pull" to reach the fly. Again, having the sharpest point you can get on the hook is paramount to getting that fish impaled.