Can't hook em!

[gfig19]

i gotta say i love to fish because if i didn't I'd go nuts when i go fly fishing!

so I'm to the point where my fly fishing skills are getting much better and I'm able to cast at various locations and techniques. While I was fishing the northern part of hammer creek in Lancaster, pa and I was getting nips left and right, sometimes i think i hook a fish only to have them get away time and time again. rarely that ever happenes to me when i use my spinning reels, but its a current theme with my fly rod. i have a 8'6 5lbs ll bean quest II rod. maybe I'm not as good as i thought. i cant hook em and bring them in! any pointers?

thanks in advance.

 

[shakey]

hey,that happens sometimes.you wouldn't happen to be using ll bean flies too,would you?i remember that would happen to me with bean flies before i started tying.

one pointer:make sure your hooks are sharp.if they aren't sharp,get a hook hone or whetstone and sharpen them.

maybe lay off barbless hooks till you start bringing them to hand.

you could also use heavier tippet and keep pressure on them the whole time.

you could also strip the fish in instead of playing them off the reeel.there is a seperate thread about that now.

 

[osprey]

Widen the hook gap about 3-5 degrees , hooks come out of the box with the point at almost a right angle to the shaft, while the hook is in the vise push the shank upward to widen the gap took me along time to pay attention to the folks who were saying to do this, i think you'll be pleasantly surprised GOOD LUCK P.S. bend your barbs down in the vise too saves breaking hooks doing it on the stream with forceps , pliers whatever.

 

[MKern]

Sometimes it just happens, like a string of bad luck.

If the fish gets off within 2 seconds:
make sure the point is sharp,
give the fish an extra split second to take the fly (especially dries),
set the hook again -- quick pop

If the fish is on and half way through the fish it gets off:
probably a poor hook set (not necessarily your fault),
lack of tention,
or the fish just got off.

The more you fish you'll start to know when a fish is going to get off. You'll be able to feel the way the fish is fighting that the hook isn't in there good. If a fish can roll over the leader sometimes this can cause pressure and pop the hook out.

 

[tomgamber]

I can think of three things that will help. These are things that spin fishermen do instinctively when fly fishing that makes it difficult.

First, don't strike...lift...lift the rod tip, don't yank at the fish. You are possibly pulling it right out of the mouth if not right thru its lips.

second, practice timing your lift (strike). Sometimes with dry flies, if you say "one mississippi" then lift, you actually hook more. Also I get near misses followed by a second strike. Make sure you feel the pull before recasting. This is much easier if you lift rather than striking.

Lastly, From the time you feel the hit and you reel it (strip it) in, don't lose pressure. The slightest bit of slack for even a half of a second can allow the fly to come out.

Lift and keep pressure...not gospel but it works for me.

 

[pete41]

"The more you fish you'll start to know when a fish is going to get off. You'll be able to feel the way the fish is fighting that the hook isn't in there good."

64 years a fisherman and I say-huh?

 

[wetnet]

I used to have that happen, especially with brown trout on nymphs. They grab the fly but don't move so you don't feel the hit until it's too late and all you feel is losing them. Tomgamer is right about lifting the rod. As far as seeing the take I use a colored in line indicator and watch for it to stop. I've caught more fish that I never knew I had. Sometimes a rock and a tree, but a brown will grab the fly not move and when the fly stops so will the line. If you're dry fly fishing they can sip them off without much fuss but you'd have to ask the dry fly guys about that. I just started learning the dry dropper so I'll be missing fish in new ways. LOL

 

[MKern]

pete,

I can feel, by the way the fish is fighting, how well the hook is sunk in.
Anyone else, or am I just super-human?

 

[wetnet]

I can feel when I lose them how well the hook is set in. Maybe I'm super-human too! LOL!! To the English Prof-that means laugh out loud

 

[gfig19]

thanks for your responses.

i'll try lifting and timing better. i got so excited when i get bites that it sometimes it gets in the way of technique. I really cant wait to hook one correctly.

As far as hooks and flies I use. I've gotten them from either Orvis or a local fly fishing store in Lancaster, PA. I'll take a look at the hooks from now on too.

Did it matter that it was a rainy day. I went on Friday and it was really wet and rainy. Ideal for spinning reels and worms. I thought the fish that day were excited to eat and were really going at my woolly bugger(black). Just couldn't quite finish the job! :-?

 

[MKern]

Sometimes with buggers they only get the tail. The fish will hold on for a second or two and let go and never touched the hook.

 

[afishinado]

gfig19 wrote:
.......I thought the fish that day were excited to eat and were really going at my woolly bugger(black). Just couldn't quite finish the job! :-?

Wooly buggers are notorious flies for poor hookups. Often the trout hit them by the tail never get hooked or are barely hooked and come off. Also, any type of FF with a tight line downstream lends itself to a lot of misses since many times the flies is pulled out of the trout mouth since the fish is facing the fly. Don't forget, spinning lures have treble hooks and will hook a lot more fish in the same situation.

Most anglers react instantly and set the hook immediately (especially if you have spinned fished a lot). Try holding some slack in your line and releasing it or dropping your rod tip to give a little slack to allow the fish to turn....I know, easier said than done.

Your hooking % should increase while fishing nymphs and dries upstream since the fish are facing away from you in this situation and you are setting the hook into the fish rather than away from the fish thus pulling it out of it's mouth. Good luck.

 

[tomgamber]

i got so excited when i get bites that it sometimes it gets in the way of technique

That, you will never overcome completely.

 

[slay12345]

MKern wrote:
Sometimes with buggers they only get the tail. The fish will hold on for a second or two and let go and never touched the hook.

I can second this, I missed 5 trout on sunday fishing with buggers. I ended up trimming down the tail a bit and had better hook up rates.

I got excited too and may have been a little quick to set the hook. Although I also had a bad knot in my tippet which was too thin to begin with and lost 2 or 3 buggers to heavy fish and heavier hook sets. I just have to remember to calm down, relax and enjoy the hook up.

 

[jayL]

slay12345 wrote:

MKern wrote:
Sometimes with buggers they only get the tail. The fish will hold on for a second or two and let go and never touched the hook.

I can second this, I missed 5 trout on sunday fishing with buggers. I ended up trimming down the tail a bit and had better hook up rates.

I got excited too and may have been a little quick to set the hook. Although I also had a bad knot in my tippet which was too thin to begin with and lost 2 or 3 buggers to heavy fish and heavier hook sets. I just have to remember to calm down, relax and enjoy the hook up.

4x is the minimum tippet that you should be using for buggers. I had to listen to a guy whine all day on tully once because he was using 6x with a bugger. It's way too easy to break fish off with anything lighter than 4x. I doubt your technique was to blame.

 

[Stevie-B]

I go through spells where I just can't seem to hook or keep the fish on the hook. I try different hook sets etc. trying to solve the problem but noting works. Usually after some time things start to click again. Just one of those things for me.

 

[ryguyfi]

MKern wrote:
pete,

I can feel, by the way the fish is fighting, how well the hook is sunk in.
Anyone else, or am I just super-human?

I can occasionally tell by the way it is fighting, but I usually know how well it is hooked, by well.... how well I set the hook. I have asked myself this question before but never on here.


Does anyone, when they know they have a weak hookset, try to set the hook again while a fish has the fly to make a stronger hook set? I know sometimes when nymphing I don't get a good hook set especially when I get a fish on the end of my drift. Does anyone ever, in mid fight, put a little yank in to imbed the hook?

 

[afishinado]

Ryguy,

Trout have more soft tissue in the mouth area than most other fish (bass, pike, etc). The amount of distance needed to set the hook is the distance from the hook point to the bend; not a great amount of distance on the small hoook, plus the hooks we use in FF are light wired and barbless (they should be!) and don't take much force to set. Further, don't forget a smaller hook is not holding into much flesh, and it's very easy to pull the hooks free by a hard set. Given all that I don't think multiple hook sets like when setting a hook on a tarpon is necessary. Just tighten up and begin the battle.

 

[jayL]

I agree with afish. Hold a hook between two fingers and see how comfortable you are with a friend pulling on it. The tissue in a trout's mouth is softer than your fingers.

I set the hook too hard as well, but it does not take much.

Have you ever fished with an indicator and had it take off like a bat out of hell when running through a riffle? My theory has always been that odds are the fish hooked himself, just from the pressure of the current and the act of spitting the fly. He was taking his first run when you detected it.

 

[pete41]

note the way 28s have a sidewise twist
do the same on the rest