How long does it take to land a fish?

[Acristickid]

About 95% of the fish (mainly your run of the mill PA 10 inchers but not just those- 15 inchers too) I catch and land in less than a minute.

Unless your standing in a heavy riffles or if there is a downed tree in the water, I could see it taking a little longer or if you don’t use a net as well.

I see a handful of guys play a 12 inchers for two minutes and it is upsetting.

Now if your fishing for larger species like stripers, steelhead etc it can take longer- in this case maybe even a couple of minutes.

Now I am not a super light 3 weight fly guy or a 6x guy either so maybe easier for me to land them.


Here is a video of a fish take and landing- about 15 seconds on a 12-14 trout. I know it’s a boat which is not typical for me but still it should not take long.

Landing a trout

What do you think?

How long is too long?

 

[moon1284]

That fighting of the fish looks pretty typical. The net, not so much.

 

[PennKev]

acristickid wrote:
How long is too long?

I dunno exactly, but when I fished DHALO more frequently, I'd see enough guys nurse in a 10" stocked fish to believe that a lot of people are doing it wrong. Those fish should be in your hand or net almost immediately.

The same is true of cookie cutter smallish wild fish.

I'm not a C&R/fish handling zealot like some are, but when I see an angler fighting a small fish with barely a bend in their rod... c'mon. Act like you've done it before and haul that trickle pickle in.

I can understand more care and caution when trying to land a particularly hard earned or above average fish.

 

[Swattie87]

I'd say 95% of the Trout I catch in PA are less than 12" long. Unless something weird happens like them wrapping the line around a submerged branch or something, I'd say nearly 100% of these size range fish are landed in 10 seconds or less. The only variable is how much line was out when they took the fly and how much line I have to strip in. The smallest tippet I use is 5x, and no fish in that size range will break a proper knot on undamaged 5x, so you don't need to worry about just stripping them in.

When deliberately fishing for bigger Trout on streamers or heavier nymph rigs, or when fishing WW, I use heavier tippet. 4x or bigger, up 10 or 12 lb straight mono sometimes even. Unless you're talking a very big fish, say 18" range or bigger, there's really very little risk in breaking off here either. Just strip them in, or put them on the reel and reel them in if you're worried.

The main instances where it take some time to land a PA Trout IMO are when fishing small dries on smaller tippet during a match the hatch situation and you hook a big fish. Or, if a fish on bigger water somehow successfully makes a downstream run on you, and gets into heavier water downstream of you. (Something to just try to avoid in the first place.) Those situations take some time and skill to land a bigger fish without breaking them off. Otherwise, and 99% of the time, just drag them in. If you're looking for a fight...hook some Fallfish or Smallmouth.

 

[pete41]

When playing 3 footers at the paradise on 8x and 28's sometimes it would take a while butt the old timers didn't understand that--[TIC].

 

[Dave_W]

PennKev wrote:
Act like you've done it before and haul that trickle pickle in.

"Trickle pickle."

Haven't heard this term before. If you coined this, my compliments sir. As the cool kids say, you won the internet today.

Out with "gemmies," in with "trickle pickles"!

 

[Cool_Hand_Luc]

Amen!

Dave_W wrote:

PennKev wrote:
Act like you've done it before and haul that trickle pickle in.

"Trickle pickle."

Haven't heard this term before. If you coined this, my compliments sir. As the cool kids say, you won the internet today.

Out with "gemmies," in with "trickle pickles"!

 

[DaveS]

This is a subject that I think some guys need some education on. A particular incident on the j one day;
Guy hooks and plays a ( run of the mill) fish, for several minutes, constantly glancing downstream to his buddy, hoping no doubt for recognition of his awesome fishing skills.
All the while, I’m watching this, I wanna stick a wading shoe in the backside of the guys waders.
Hook em, play the fish agressively and let them go. Maybe a quick pic of a notable specimen. No need to over stress a fish you plan to release just to massage your ego.

 

[sarce]

For me a 12" wild trout takes maybe 30 seconds in most situations.

18"+ browns on streamers and heavy tippet - never had one take much longer than 2 minutes. But I fish pretty small water and if you add in heavy currents and bigger water I can imagine it taking longer. There's definitely a point where it gets ridiculous, though, and I think a lot of people who let a fish fight too long are not experienced with "real" fighters like SMB, stripers, carp, etc. Not trying to stir the pot but after you fish for those, your perception of trout as some kind of epic fighter will change.

 

[J55tyger88]

^I agree Sarce. Smallies changed the game for me. I don't look at trout the same anymore.

Although, a big brown on a streamer is a really great time.

 

[FarmerDave]

If it's a gemmie, I'd say less than a a couple seconds unless you launch it into orbit.

 

[tomgamber]

Twin engine or single?

 

[Swattie87]

FarmerDave wrote:
If it's a gemmie, I'd say less than a a couple seconds unless you launch it into orbit.

This is why my Brookie rod of choice is a 10' 9WT. I had "Gemmie Launcher" custom embossed in glitter printing on it.

Dibs on that name for a line of rods if I ever go into biz.

 

[Fly-Swatter]

Swattie: I don't mean to start a trickle pickle rod debate, but you will get a better load in your rod for launching if it has a softer action. I'm thinking a 10' 4WT would be ideal unless you are out west. Then you may want to step up to a 5 WT to account for the wind.

The softer rod will also help prevent the dreaded "trickle pickle elbow" where the angler uses more arm leverage to launch instead of the rod doing the work.

This, of course, will lead to an entirely new kind of "4 weight shootout" where gemmie launch distance and accuracy are at a premium.

 

[FarmerDave]

Fly-Swatter wrote:
Swattie: I don't mean to start a trickle pickle rod debate, but you will get a better load in your rod for launching if it has a softer action. I'm thinking a 10' 4WT would be ideal unless you are out west. Then you may want to step up to a 5 WT to account for the wind.

The softer rod will also help prevent the dreaded "trickle pickle elbow" where the angler uses more arm leverage to launch instead of the rod doing the work.

This, of course, will lead to an entirely new kind of "4 weight shootout" where gemmie launch distance and accuracy are at a premium.

Unless of course you fish with dry flies only. Then a 3wt works great and would earn you more style points.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

You guys make this too complicated.
True enlightenment comes from a 14' cane pole launcher

 

[ryansheehan]

I fish alot of small nymphs which force me to often tie down to 6x. While fish under 12 inches come in under a minute the bigger ones can take some time, especially on a larger river. I just recently rewatched a video of me taking a bow around 20 inches in some fast water. It took about 7 minutes from hookset to net. While watching the video I see points where I could have put more pressure on him but I have a legit fear of breaking off big fish. Maybe I will post a link to the video for some constructive criticism

 

[Fly-Swatter]

Well, sure, but I'm not a gemmie-flinging purist like that.

 

[jifigz]

They are played as fast as possible. For many fish that is so fast that this thread honestly made me question that it is even fun. Other fish definitely take longer. Back when I used to fish for catfish a lot a 12 lb channel cat caught on one of my bass spinning rods with 8 lb test definitely took a whole lot longer than any trout I've caught. But it was still brought in as quickly as possible.

 

[FarmerDave]

salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
You guys make this too complicated.
True enlightenment comes from a 14' cane pole launcher

Very true, but I didn't want to trigger a tenkara discussion.