what is your percentage of fish landed vs. lost?

if your using barbed hooks and smashing the barb down, that right there is a potential reason for lost fish. those hooks are not made to be fished barb less. they will work for the purpose but you cannot expect to land everything. use manufactured barb less hooks as they are made to hold fish without a barb.
 
I'm a big proponent of keeping the rod tip low to the water, and keep changing the direction of the pull. Went the fish is ready, lift the rod lead em into the net.

I've had bad days where I lost more than my share, sometimes I get careless with my knot tying. But this past Sat. I got every fish I hooked except one I jagged on the hook set.
 
90-10 or better I would guess.

A couple of things here....

Fighting fish was a problem for me in the beginning, not on the smaller fish but on the larger ones. A couple of things have changed that. First, tying better knots. I never pull back a squiggly tippet anymore. Second, a trip to Montana.... Going to Montana and fighting larger fish on a more consistent basis taught me when to apply pressure and how much.

Hooking fish used to be more of a problem also. I would set too soon, or too late on a dry. Setting the hook nymphing used to be a problem also because I would always be late. Now I rarely use an indicator so it isn't much of a problem.

The biggest difference now to when I was losing a lot of fish would have to be focus/confidence. Just like most other sports/activities the more you do it, the more confident you become, the more the game slows down. You just don't think about things anymore, you just react.....
 
I also have those days when I hardly miss a fish. And then there are other times when I just can't seem to do much of anything right.
Perhaps it is a matter of how well the fish are really taking the fly that day
But there are definitely times when - as Csoult mentioned in his last paragraph - it's a matter of me just not being fully focused on things.
Maybe I didn't sleep well the night before, and can't seem to concentrate fully on it.

Another thing that seems to cause a lack of focus for me, is when I'm on vacation and fishing every day, all day long - for a week or two.
I just seem to kinda get fished out after a while, and need a break from it.
Too much of a good thing?
 
I was on Penn's one evening last week- 7 takes on greased sulphur emergers, no hooksets.

I'm thinking it might have been my leader- I was using a Harvey dry fly leader for the first time, and a much longer tippet than I usually put on- maybe 4 ft. Now I'm thinking that was about 1 ft. too much. My drifts were really good, but I think they would have worked at least as well with 30-36" tippet.
 
Like a lot of guys here on a good day the landed rate is high. Sat. I was doing great maybe lost two out of around a doz. and a half. Sun. was tougher fishing a special regs area where the trout knew how to lose you in the rocks. At one point I lost 4 or 5 in a row that were hooked though I was fishing some raging pockets and creases. Then I landed three in a row restoring my confidence somewhat. I tie my own and tend to use high quality hooks, but you're going to have days when you do great and days when you have more bad luck. You have to rejoice in the fact that you are alive fishing and not dwell on the negative. I think I'll go tie some flies to make up for the ones that got chewed up this weekend...
 
I don't read too far into my ratio. I have periods where I struggle to hook/land fish, and I have periods where that isn't an issue at all. I spent a weekend fishing Penn's and would either miss the fish or lose it during the fight. This past weekend I didn't miss a single strike or lose any fish.
 
I lost 4 fish in a row earlier this year that I had solid hook-ups. It was frustrating and I changed to a different fly. Same tie, same style of hook and didn't lose another one. I think it may have just needed to be sharpened.

If I had to take a guess the percentage of hook ups to netting is about 90-95% of the time. I rarely lose more then one or two fish in an outing.
 
Last time out I had 5 fish, touched one. I counted one.
 
I don't count a rise as losing a fish, I've never had him. I had a violent strike on Saturday from a good fish with a sharp hook, for whatever reason the fish was not hooked. I did lose a fish that was on for several minutes a good sized rainbow that got below me about 80 feet that simply shook off the hook. It was the only fish lost that day.
 
Landing fish is something I have worked on extensively. Like Dave and Coty said, low rod angles and getting below the fish are major points.

If we are talking fish you literally hook and are fighting, I would say my success rate is near or above 90%. Every once and a while I have a day where I want to drown myself for losing fish, but it is very rare.

If we are talking about just stinging fish, I don't count them as anything. Missing takes on dry flies either, because at times you may think they are taking your fly but are not.

Hooks...hooks....hooks. I don't care what you believe but barbed hooks that you crush the barb on are just not ment to hold fish. I don't get the attitude of spending a crap load of money on gear, but then skimping on the most important part of FF. I understand if you are just getting into it, but if you are an established fly fisher person and are buying crap hooks you are just looking to lose fish. Just my 2 cents.
 
I agree with beckers point on skimping on hooks. And I'll extend that to tippet. I use maxima ultragreen tippet because it's strong and I have confidence in it. I don't care if it is thicker than its advertised diameter.

Knot tying is also extremely important.

The hook that I lose the most trout on is size 18 or smaller daiichi 1120 or TMC 2457 (I don't notice a difference on the brand).

I don't often lost trout, I'd say 90%+. I fished for salmon and steelhead before I fished for trout, so I learned proper fish fighting techniques early on. With steelhead, my percentage is lower but still pretty good, I'd say on average I land between 60 and 70%. If I'm in a crowded area fishing for steelhead, I get real aggressive and try to land the fish very quickly out of courtesy for other fishermen. In that situation, my percentage dips to the 20%-30% range.

 
SBecker wrote:
Landing fish is something I have worked on extensively. Like Dave and Coty said, low rod angles and getting below the fish are major points.

If we are talking fish you literally hook and are fighting, I would say my success rate is near or above 90%. Every once and a while I have a day where I want to drown myself for losing fish, but it is very rare.

If we are talking about just stinging fish, I don't count them as anything. Missing takes on dry flies either, because at times you may think they are taking your fly but are not.

Hooks...hooks....hooks. I don't care what you believe but barbed hooks that you crush the barb on are just not ment to hold fish. I don't get the attitude of spending a crap load of money on gear, but then skimping on the most important part of FF. I understand if you are just getting into it, but if you are an established fly fisher person and are buying crap hooks you are just looking to lose fish. Just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...

Shane,

What hooks do you tie on?
 
Dohiku, Hends, and Hanak

Nymphs, wets, dries, and streamers

I still have and use Saber hooks. They are relegated to tying for my friends and stocker bashing at the beggining of trout season where I couldn't care less if I lose a fish. Saber actually produces a pretty solid barbless caddis/egg hook that I trust. Where it comes from? I have no idea.
 
That's why we call it fishing and not catching.
 
nymphs I would say about 90% brought to hand

dry flies- 99% missed

streamers- 50-50
 
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