Terrible Swung/Wet Fly Landing Ratio

[KeviR]

I'm looking for some guidance on how to improve wet fly hookup to landing ratio.
I very rarely fish true swung wet flies. I sometimes use a (relatively) classic wet fly as the dropper with my nymph rig and let the flies swing up after the dead drift.
The other day I was fishing the Lehigh. The fish there are more willing to hit a swung fly than anywhere else I have been.
So I was headhunting and picking up a few on Quill Gordon dries. There were very few duns, but there were more grannoms, so I thought I would try a grannom emerger as a dropper tied off the bend of my quill gordon dun. About 16" of 6X to a CDC grannom emerger.
I started getting hits when I let the flies swing at the end of the drift, so I just started swinging the flies instead of finding risers. I found a nice run where I had hits every few casts, but I didn't land a single one on the swung drift. I would get a tug, a couple of head shakes, then off. I probably had 15-20 hits in a half-hour. I had about 20-30 ft of fly line, plus a tapered leader of 10' to the first fly.
I remember Joe Humphries said for wet flies to hold the rod tip high enough that the line comes off at 90 degrees. Tried that. No help.
Any guidance on what I could have done differently?

 

[dc410]

After you decided to start swinging the flies you may have done better taking the quill gordon dry out of the equation. Also, the right kind of water is important in the success of swinging wet flies. It sounds like you found that water in the run that you were fishing. If you had 20-30’ of fly line out you should continually mend the line to avoid a big belly in your swinging fly line. Mending will keep a more direct contact with your fly or flies and many fish will grab the fly on the swing while turning and hook themselves. I tie my own wet fly leaders and my butt section is always heavy Maxima Chameleon. Chameleon actually stretches and in my opinion acts as a shock absorber when a fish smashes the wet fly on a tight line. I miss a lot of fish as well when fishing wet flies but the amount of hits it produces eventually equates to lots of fish to the net. Good luck!

 

[STONEMAN]

my guess (emphasis on “guess”) is too much line and too much leader and maybe dull hooks. I swing wets on almost every outing and do well. I rarely have more than 10 feet of line out. For my leader I take a 7 foot 4x tapered leader. Tie a dropper loop at about 3.5 feet and attach 6-8 inches of 4x for the top fly. (Often a puff daddy). Cut about 8 inches off the end of the leader. Add a tippet ring at end and add the 8 inch piece you cut off and a 2foot section of 4x to the ring for two more flies. And keep the hooks sharp. I use a sharpener before my first cast, after snags and after fish. (Thanks to Justin at Precision fly for leader advice). I also seem to hook up better when I use a shorter more giving rod (my 8.5 foot mid flex 4wt is deadly for wets). Tightlines!

 

[redietz]

I remember Joe Humphries said for wet flies to hold the rod tip high enough that the line comes off at 90 degrees. Tried that. No help.
Any guidance on what I could have done differently?

That's a start, but not enough. You should a hold loop of line under your finger on the grip, and release it when you feel a take. Do not set the hook, at least not at first. Let the fish hook itself. These things are easy to say, but hard to remember to put into practice. I've fished mostly wet flies for the last quarter century, and still find myself with the tip pointing down, forgetting about the loop of line, and instinctively doing hook sets. I really have to concentrate to do things correctly.

Here's what happens: fish feed on insect by flaring their gill and sucking them in (like us drinking through a straw.) You'll feel that sucking action before the fly is even in the fish's mouth (I've watched close up where a trout sucked hard enough to bend my rod tip without the fly ever getting in it's mouth.) You need to get the fly well into the fish's mouth, which isn't going to happen with a tight line unless you can induce some slack - hence the raised rod, and the loop of line. If you try to set the hook, you're pulling the fly away from from the fish's mouth - just the opposite of what you want to do. When you do manage to hook a fish doing things incorrectly, it's often on the very tip of its nose - easily shaken off.

The English teach beginning salmon anglers to say "God save the Queen" before trying to set the hook. That wait helps when fishing for trout on the swing as well.

One thing that I've found is that more line I have out, the more and better hook ups I get. I think this is because 1) there's more line on the water free to move toward the fish and 2) it takes longer to transmit the pulling feel to my hand, so I'm not so quick to do a hook set.

A final note: it's much easy to hook fish on the swing with a rod described as a "buggy whip" than one described as a "broom stick." If you know advance that you're going to spend the day swinging wets, bring a slow to moderate action rod. The faster the rod action, the more you have to pay attention to the things I mentioned in the first paragraph.

 

[Classicriver]

redietz has you covered! Keep that loop of loose line between your hand and the reel with no tension on it so the taking trout can pull out that slack and hook himself. Softer rods are indeed better too. And yes, take off the dry fly if you wish to swing wet flies.

 

[afishinado]

You can also try not pinching down on the fly line at all. Loosen the drag on your reel (not too much to cause a backlash) and let go of the line completely. When a fish hits, it will peel line from the reel, without much tension allowing it to take the fly in its mouth. Now you can pinch down on the line and tighten up to set the hook. I learned this from some old timers back in-the-day that only fished wets. It really works!

Topher’s Tips: Setting the Hook with a Wet Fly - Camp Bonaventure

If you tend to be quick on the draw when fishing a wet fly for salmon, the worst cure for the habit is a week of “bottom-bouncing” for trout with

campbonaventure.com

 

[Dave_W]

Some good advice above.^

With many years of experience swinging wets I still have a poor hook-up ratio. . . perhaps a solid stick for one out of three takes and often it seems worse than this (way worse than stripped streamers).

Nevertheless, part of why I like wet fly fishing so much is the aggressive action and just the frequent hard pulls are motivating.

 

[Prospector]

Another contributing factor to missed hookups when swinging wets. Your hookups should increase if the take is made across the current rather than downstream from your position.

As fish strike and flail, the hook can pop out. If your line is perpendicular to the current you have a second opportunity to drive the hook into the near jaw in that critical moment of head shaking.

If the hookup occurs straight downstream and the fish shakes its head, your rod tip can act as a catapult springing the fly straight upstream (out of the fishes mouth instead of across the jaw).

If you are getting strikes below you and continual misses, try backing up and approach that zone more cross current than fishing upstream of that spot.

I make this adjustment often but there will always be that fish downstream of you that strikes. Just have to concede to losing most of those.

 

[DomR]

You can also try not pinching down on the fly line at all. Loosen the drag on your reel (not too much to cause a backlash) and let go of the line completely. When a fish hits, it will peel line from the reel, without much tension allowing it to take the fly in its mouth. Now you can pinch down on the line and tighten up to set the hook. I learned this from some old timers back in-the-day that only fished wets. It really works!

Topher’s Tips: Setting the Hook with a Wet Fly - Camp Bonaventure

If you tend to be quick on the draw when fishing a wet fly for salmon, the worst cure for the habit is a week of “bottom-bouncing” for trout with

campbonaventure.com

This will also help avoid break-offs as you won't have the line tight. Wet fly takes can be downright savage, especially those that come from the direct downstream.

 

[KeviR]

Wow, lots of good things to try and lots to think about.
Thanks for the help.

 

[Dave_W]

Was out yesterday evening briefly and there were some caddis dancing over the riffles. Not surprisingly, the small wild browns were eager to eat soft hackles.

Most of my hits were after the flies had swung and were hanging downstream. I'd guess I hooked about one in ten of the hits (again, these were small trout).

 

[shakey]

Make sure your hooks are sharp.