How often do you foul hook a trout?

[littlelehigh]

If I would have just found this site today my screen name would be foul_hook_king (or rainbow king) well maybe not that latter for the fear of interprutation but anyway.

How often do you guys foul hook trout nymphing. I seem to get at least one today 2 on every outing lately. First one was border line he actually took the fly, it went through his left gill and was lodged in his side 2" behind the plate.

Although I am not proud of bringing a foul hooked fish to hand, on a positive note I think at least I'm achiving getting the fly to the proper depth and into the right current. As a newbie who is happy with 1 fish an outing is this wrong?

I foul hook and recognize takes but miss setting the hook and can't seem to legitimately catch fish consistantly.

So my question is this. Is this a stage or was this a stage you went through and how did you overcome it? As far as not setting the hook I don't think it is due to dull hooks although I will be sure to check them out more frequently in the near future. I feel the tension so I don't think slack line is the cause either.

A typical senario for me is this: Line drifts, indicator stops or line goes tight, I feel the shake and fish is gone?

Any fixes or suggestions you guys can think of?

 

[Fishidiot]

As one who does a lot of sight nymphing I'll admit to foul hooking fish - although, obviously, I try to avoid it. And of course you can foul hook fish while blind fishing (and even fishing dry flies, if you miss the hookset when the fish takes the fly). A few tips to mitigate/manage this:

When sight nymphing, stick to smaller flies. I think if you drop down to #16 and smaller you'll get fewer "snags" than with #14s and up.

Be careful with lifting your back cast - do it slowly and give the fly and leader plenty of time to drift well past the fish you're targeting. A slow lift after a drift thru a run with allow any trout to shake free from the leader or split shot and make it less likely the hook will hit him and penetrate deeply.

If you discover you've fouled a fish, try throwing him some slack and try shaking the hook loose. Barbless hooks help a bit with this. If it's a small fly and a big fish that will be difficult to land, I'll usually break 'em off.

When sight fishing, leave off a strike indicator. With your leader clear of obstructions (and with small split shot) you can strip your rod tip down to the fish and do a tip release.

 

[jayL]

I do it now and then. It usually only happens when I fish multiple flies.

I've found that a large portion of my foul hooked fish actually took one of my flies and threw the hook after getting fouled.

If you're fishing multiples, measure the distance from mouth to where the fish is hooked. Compare that to the distance between flies, and you'll probably find the same.

 

[surveyor06]

Never thought about that scenario, seems to make sense though. Now that I think about it, it only happens when I fish multiple flies. Genius.

 

[littlelehigh]

Albie Jay.
Makes sense especially since I am having trouble setting the hook and I've been dragging them in backwards.

 

[scotto]

It will happen to everyone from time to time. Don't sweat it! I have also found this more common with multi-fly rigs, but I use them 90% of the time in spite of this.

 

[PSUFishMenace]

I foul-hooked one sight nymphing once because I pulled the trigger a little early. I saw the trout flinch and then turn a little towards the nymph and as soon as it opened its mouth just a tiny bit I set the hook and I guess I yanked it up away from the corner of its mouth and into its face. hook somehow ended up near the front end of the eye on the side that was facing me.

The fish got real pissed and immediately turned and jumped two feet out of the water downstream, turned and bolted upstream faster than I've ever seen a trout swim. Luckily he was just a little 8 1/2 incher so he couldn't pull any line. Couldn't believe the speed of that little guy!

 

[ryguyfi]

Yeah I'm with Jay... I foul hook a decent amount of fish when using a tandem... especially when steelhead fishing. There's so many fish, that it's tough not to especially in low and clear conditions. I'll try to go to 1 fly, but sometimes you just can't help it. It comes with the territory.

You'll learn to get your hookset at the right time as you keep learning. We all still do it, so don't sweat it. Just try to get the fish back with as little stress as possible.

 

[flipnfly]

i get alot of foul hooked fish from 2 flies a soft hackle hares ear and a clouser and i thought i was the foul hook king wheew

 

[jjsjigs]

I foul hook one or two a year when I'm swinging a brace of flies or have a few tandem. Usually the trout come out ok. I feel like crap when I do it....

But it happens... so far when I release them I haven't seen them go belly up. They seem to swim away pretty strong.

 

[MKern]

I foul hook about every trip; sometimes it is more frequent.

It always happens to me with a multiple rig and it's always the bottom fly. This leads me to think that the first fly was taken and the second gets stuck. Using the pressure of the second the fish pops out the mouthed-hooked fly. This all usually happens once the fish goes downstream of me and I can feel it happen. It would probably happen less if I put more than 8 in. of tippet between flies.

 

[jayL]

I have actually watched a fish throw the first hook, while the second was in his tail. It was a steelie, and he did it about 2.5 feet in the air. My top fly was a bright globug, and it was clear what had happened. I didn't believe he was still on until he took off about 100 yards downstream and showed me my backing.

 

[Stevie-B]

The important question is: Since the fish hit one of your flies, is it technically fouled hook? You could think of it as a stinger hook while bass fishing.

 

[tomgamber]

If its hooked anywhere but the mouth its foul hooked and MUST be released.

 

[Maurice]

Anything hooked ahead of the ears is a fair hooked fish. :-D

 

[wetnet]

I have never foul hooked while nymphing. In fact I have never foul hooked a fish period since I started fly fishing but since I only nymph the answer doesn't change. I also fish double nymphs almost all of the time. Why not send this to a poll?

 

[salmo]

I am pretty much an exclusive dry fly fisherman. I rarely foul hook trout, but I can't say "never."
Salmo

 

[troutslammer]

i think if u increase the lenght of line btween the point fly and dropper it DECREASES your chances of foul hooking , alot of time i will watch a trout curiously check out a nymph and swim and kinda circle the emerger or whatever the dropper is and if it hits the line it will twitch the indicator or slack line with no indicator and u set the hook and get a foul hook , i think alot of foulf hooking also comes from impatient premature hook sets , give em time ! sight fishing also sometimes causes guys to yank before the fish hits , especially steelheading ~!

 

[bam]

It only happens when I'm nymphing multiple flies and they're never fouled from the top fly, only the second or 3rd so I'll agree with jay and kern. My guess is they come up to take a look or eat my first or second and then the foul occurs when they refuse or throw the first during the fight. My fouls are almost always in the stomach, sometimes in the tail.

 

[Raff]

A lot, especially with nymphs. When I use a dry-dropper system, it seems like everytime a fish comes and bumps my dry, I end up foul hooking on the nymph. It's a hollow victory; I didn't catch it the right way, but at least my family wouldn't starve if they needed the food.