Dry Fly Fishing

[Stagger_Lee]

So ystrday I did a ton on of fishing on the dry as I was determined to get my 1st trout (non-brookie) on one. After fox and ed set me up in the AM, corrected a few things on my cast (tho I still have issues lol) I felt I slowed it down, they told me not to be scared to get a lil closer, tried to stick with the 10-1 and less wrist, etc .. I was getting the fly where I wanted a decent amt of time and the speed of my drift was OK for a certain amt of time after each cast. By that I mean if the fly would speed up (faster then bubbles) I mended. In the AM I was OK w/ not getting much action on the dry as the fish weren’t cooperating for most and there weren’t many risers.

In the evening I spent a decent amt of time in the kiddie pool throwing various terrestrials from different positions in said pool .. had it all to myself. Had a bunch of takes but I couldn’t hook which means I was obviously doing something right but something wrong. I also had a ton of looks/approaches right while I was positioning myself to mend but when I mended the speed became unnatural and they rejected which I get …

1) If I feel like I didn’t have too much line out there what could possible be the issue with setting the hook on the takes? Note I wasn’t jerking to hard/fast at all and/or too soft/slow … I feel tho I may be wrong.

2) When you guys mend .. does your fly move a lil b4 it settles back down to proper speed? If not what could I possibly be doing wrong?

 

[jeremymcon]

I know that I've set the hook too early and also too late before. Either could be your problem. Also look at your fly. I've tried to fish foam terrestrials that I tied, not realizing that the hook gap was partially closed off by the body of the fly, so I was missing takes. Also did you see the fish that were taking the fly? Could have just been little minnows pecking at it.

I've heard rumors of people being able to mend line without moving the fly, but I've never been able to. I just try to time my mend so I'm not making my fly twitch right on top of where I think there's a fish.

 

[Brownie101]

Try learning the parachute cast and reach cast, you can find instructions on youtube. Both of these casts help avoid drag, so you don't have to mend, which with a dry fly is difficult to do without moving the fly.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Hi Andrew - Without seeing what was going on, I'm guessing that what was happening was last second refusals. This can look like the fish actually took the fly, when in fact something caused it to reject it at the last instant.

When a fish takes your fly under, just tighten up the line. No need to "swing for the fence". Fish can spit a fly in the blink of an eye too.

Look for the fish to take the fly under, and as it's nosing down to return to it's holding lie, tighten up.

Watching you fish, I noticed you were casting directly across stream, with a pretty straight line between you and the fly. This is gonna make your fly drag almost immediately in any kind of current.

Try using a reach mend at the end of your cast, and throw in an immediate mend or two when the line lands.

Once drag sets in, it's tough to mend enough to get back ahead of it without moving the fly. Concentrate on mending before drag affects your drift, and don't expect to get tremendously long drag free drifts at this point in your game. Try to time the drift so that your fly passes over the fish while not dragging.

Having a lot of slack between you and the fly helps with reducing drag (if done correctly), but that slack also increases the delay in setting the hook. Gotta find a good balance between the two.

Try approaching (and casting to) the fish from a more downstream position. This will help with the drag issue a bit, but make sure the fish sees the fly first, and not the leader/tippet.

This article might help....

http://midcurrent.com/techniques/a-mending-primer/

 

[djs12354]

Andrew

Just a thought - make sure your hooks are sharp! In my limited experience, it can make the difference on hookups. If you have hung your fly on anything, consider touching up the point.

Just my 1.5 cents.

Dave

PS Good to seee you again yesterday!

 

[KeithS]

Ditto on the sharp hooks. I don't have a hook hone yet, but after two missed strikes, I'll grab a rock from the bottom and hone the hook along it at least on two sides. It's corrected the problem on more than one occasion.

 

[WildTigerTrout]

I have a small hook honing stone mounted inside the lid on the first tray of my Richardson chestbox. I have used it many times to touch up and resharpen dulled hooks.

 

[krayfish]

Stagger,

The biggest thing that will help you eliminate drag is to approach the fish from the correct angle. Learning to check your cast will allow you to get some slack in the leader. Reach cast and other techniques will improve your chances.

Next time you spy one on top, try this.....before you cast or worry about what the fish is taking, look. Look at where the fish is holding. Look at the angle you have to aapproach him. Look at how many different currents exist between you and your target. Is your spot the best possible option? Can you move a little to give yourself a better angle? Can you move slightly and it eliminates some of the water flowing at different speeds? If you look before you leap, I'll bet you bring more to net.

If you want hands on help, there are a bunch of guys that meet ya.

 

[Stagger_Lee]

Ok … good thing is I think I’m mending decently considering most have said it difficult to not move the fly if drag has set in … especially at me level/experience.

HA wrote:

Look for the fish to take the fly under, and as it's nosing down to return to it's holding lie, tighten up.

So you have abt 2 seconds b4 they will usually spit it out, I’m assuming?

Watching you fish, I noticed you were casting directly across stream, with a pretty straight line between you and the fly. This is gonna make your fly drag almost immediately in any kind of current.

Which touches on what Krayfish wrote … I am going to try to get out (if I can find the time) one evening this week to practice some more. I will get less drag casting up stream @ an angel, which now I do often when nymphing, instead of always going directly across.

Concentrate on mending before drag affects your drift, and don't expect to get tremendously long drag free drifts at this point in your game. Try to time the drift so that your fly passes over the fish while not dragging.

This is good right here. I have always mended when drag sets in .. you are basically saying give some mends once ur fly hits the H2O … which I didn’t think abt but totally get.

///Thanks for article … looked over quickly but bookmarked

 

[Stagger_Lee]

Krayfish wrote:
Next time you spy one on top, try this.....before you cast or worry about what the fish is taking, look. Look at where the fish is holding. Look at the angle you have to aapproach him. Look at how many different currents exist between you and your target. Is your spot the best possible option? Can you move a little to give yourself a better angle? Can you move slightly and it eliminates some of the water flowing at different speeds? If you look before you leap, I'll bet you bring more to net.

Good advice and u must be friends w/ WTT. One of the 1st things he told me when I saw him on Sat was, and I paraphrase, “Many guys gear up, see a fish rise, get in quickly and cast for 5 mins and move on. I like to look at the water for awhile, get a feel what is happening, watch what they are doing, where I should cast from,” etc.

I think I get a lil anxious tho I’ll watch a lil and have patience once I start, will work areas more than 5 mins. I found myself doing this (observing) more in the afternoon/evening, and also worked different angles … had much more interest and takes.


///Seems I should pick up a hook file from what some of u guys have said

 

[pcray1231]

Yeah, echoing others here.

1. Most common with dry flies is that people strike too EARLY, not late. You see the fish coming for it, and anticipate. As a result, you may be striking before they've fully closed their mouths around it and turned. Gotta let the fish turn down with it.

2. Very possible, as was said, that it was little tiny fish or something, which are very hard to hook. Last second refusals are another possibility.

3. Another issue beginners have is line control. While there has to be some slack, having a crapload of slack fly line out will make setting hooks very difficult.

Take solace in that MOST new fly fisherman miss a lot of fish on dry flies before they get the hang of it, but pretty much everyone DOES get the hang of it.

As far as mending, yeah, there are casts you can learn that make it unnecessary. But I do it most of the time. Yes, I move the fly when I do. In fact, I often cast up and beyond the fish intentionally, and then drag it back to the right "lane". When you want to let it go, you give a quick mend upstream. You get a good drift over the fish, and I think often that movement actually triggers a strike. Depends on the situation though. With spinners, for instance, I'm much less likely to do that, and instead opt for the slack line casts to avoid mends.

As far as hook sets, like HA said, this isn't bass fishing. Just a lift to tighten the line. And one tip is to do it to the side or back of the fish. Assuming he's facing upstream, that means the hookset should be to your DOWNSTREAM side. It's important all the time, but especially if the fish hits out from or below you. If it's above you, downstream still works but everything should work.

 

[BelAirSteve]

When I first started, I practiced a lot on warm water streams, fishing for sunfish. It's not the same as fishing for trout obviously, but it will help you turn the striking motion into muscle memory. And sunfish are not as finicky about drag as trout - they actually like it!

 

[Stagger_Lee]

BelAirSteve wrote:

When I first started, I practiced a lot on warm water streams, fishing for sunfish. It's not the same as fishing for trout obviously, but it will help you turn the striking motion into muscle memory. And sunfish are not as finicky about drag as trout - they actually like it!

I live in lower Bucks (Newtown area) and the trout fishing really doesn't exist much. Much of my fishing free time (unless I prepare to drive 1hr+) is in WW and its fun. That said; I don't concentrate close as much as I do on a trout stream ie: what you wrote. Gonna try to get out this week and actually practice and concentrate on some of the tips I picked up.

 

[Stagger_Lee]

Pcray wrote:

1. Most common with dry flies is that people strike too EARLY, not late. You see the fish coming for it, and anticipate. As a result, you may be striking before they've fully closed their mouths around it and turned. Gotta let the fish turn down with it.

2. Very possible, as was said, that it was little tiny fish or something, which are very hard to hook. Last second refusals are another possibility.

Def nice size fish but per #1 … I think you may be correct! The takes I had, they came up and I went to hook basically right after they opened and closed/splash. What you, and others, are saying and I touched on a few posts up after reading … I have a couple of seconds b4 they spit it out/realize it isn’t a real bug? They are basically closing and turning in the same motion and hook it on the turn down?

As far as mending, yeah, there are casts you can learn that make it unnecessary. But I do it most of the time. Yes, I move the fly when I do. In fact, I often cast up and beyond the fish intentionally, and then drag it back to the right "lane". When you want to let it go, you give a quick mend upstream. You get a good drift over the fish, and I think often that movement actually triggers a strike. Depends on the situation though. With spinners, for instance, I'm much less likely to do that, and instead opt for the slack line casts to avoid mends.

As far as hook sets, like HA said, this isn't bass fishing. Just a lift to tighten the line. And one tip is to do it to the side or back of the fish. Assuming he's facing upstream, that means the hookset should be to your DOWNSTREAM side. It's important all the time, but especially if the fish hits out from or below you. If it's above you, downstream still works but everything should work.

Some good stuff to know in these two paragraphs

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Stagger - There's no set time that you have before you set the hook. It can vary quite a bit.

Sometimes a fish slurps the fly in gently and noses back down. Sometimes the fish slam a dry fly and basically hook themselves.

It's something you have to get a feel for over time. Nobody ever became a skilled golfer by just reading golfing forums and watching youtube videos. These things can help you get better at it, but there's just no substitute for getting out there and actually doing it.

If you take nothing else (knowledge wise) with you your next time out, take this with you about the reach mend.

 

[JackM]

Harrumph! I've been calling it the reach cast. Now it is a mend. Dag-nabbit!

 

[Fishidiot]

SL,
Some good advice here.

I'd add that there are some situations where rising trout almost can't be hooked. This phenomena, in my experience, is pretty common on PA streams during the summer when fishing over heavily pressured fish. I see this develop almost every year on the special reg section of Yellow Breeches: by summer, the fish will rise and "take" flies but they're almost impossible to hook, even when you do everything right. The fish just aren't really taking the fly; they're mouthing it or nosing it but when you set the hook, nothing happens. It can be really exasperating. It wouldn't surprise me if a similar thing could occur on LL, esp in the "Kiddie Pool" where the fish just get pounded every day.

When I encounter this, I'll usually put a small dropper below the dry fly like a wet ant or a Zebra Midge. When taking flies subsurface, these fish seem to be much more hookable.

 

[pcray1231]

I have a couple of seconds b4 they spit it out/realize it isn’t a real bug?

I wouldnt' say a "couple of seconds". However, it often "feels" like a long time. In reality, if you see a fish coming and are anticipating, your reaction time is probably a tenth of a second or so. Heck, I've had negative time before, and actually pulled the fly away BEFORE the fish hits it, lol.

An appropriate time is probably between a half second and a second, which FEELS like forever.

Yeah, it depends on the type of rise, but a fish will often go down with the fly. That's when you want to hit him. Pointed downward, closed mouth. The lift up will get him in the roof of the mouth most of the times. And you don't really need any pressure with the hook set. Merely lift to take the slack out of the line and tighten it up.

Which is why too much slack is a common mistake.

 

[dryflyguy]

The biggest problem I've seen with newbies fishing dry flies, is having too much slack - or belly - in the fly line. And when they lift the rod on a take, they're just pulling out that slack - instead of tightening up a hook set.

Once I get them to keep better control of the line, they usually start getting some hook ups

 

[boychick]

When I first started, I practiced a lot on warm water streams, fishing for sunfish. It's not the same as fishing for trout obviously, but it will help you turn the striking motion into muscle memory. And sunfish are not as finicky about drag as trout - they actually like it!

+1 I spent a lot of time fishing for sunfish with dry fies as practice for trout. I did my sunny fishing in a pond, it may be easier to do that so you can focus on the hook set and forget about drag/mending. Get the hookset down and then fish moving water to work on dealing with drag.

A good leader is very important for dry fly fishing. Try the Harvey slack leader or some variation of it.