Quick Guide: Fighting Fish On Fly

[WalkersKiller]

Fighting fish species on fly can be tricky and quite difficult, especially for the inexperienced fly fishermen...

The following steps generally apply to all saltwater and freshwater species... Except for Tigerfish as you will have to strike a bit harder than normal because of their bony jaws...

First of all when setting the hook or striking, not a lot of force needs to be put into the rod in order to hook the fish, unlike saltwater fishing where a hard strike is needed to set the hook...

A short and fairly gently but quick strike will set the hook.

Once the fish has been hooked the tricky part comes into play.

You have to always keep your line as tight as possible but the fish must be able to take line when it wants to.

If this is not done the fish can shake the hook or your leader can break.

The Fly rod tip must always be kept up high in order to control and fight the fish.

Once the fish is close to the bank it is often difficult to land as it will get another sudden burst of energy and swim off again, be aware of this and follow the steps above.

Once the fish has been tired out, guide it into a landing net and there you have it!

WK 

[Willie]

   for the advice will need it tomorrow 

[WalkersKiller]

Hopefully you will get some nice   

[Willie]

Going to be my first try and I believe the    is not going to work 

[PH]

 :shre:  WK
 
Is a trout's  mouth softer than other freshwater fish (excl.Tiger, as you said)?

[WalkersKiller]

  have a look at the how to cas thread http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php/topic,6571.0.html

Should help 

[WalkersKiller]

:shre:  WK
 
Is a trout's  mouth softer than other freshwater fish (excl.Tiger, as you said)?

Not softer no, but generally when fishing for trout you use smaller flies than you would for bass which is why if you strike to hard you will not hook it well or you will literally pull the fly out of its mouth.

[PH]

OK, thanks!

[WalkersKiller]

OK, thanks!

No prob Pierre 

[John F]

In other words, WK, you let the fish turn away from you and then strike (similar to fishing with a circle hook)? Or not really...

[WalkersKiller]

In other words, WK, you let the fish turn away from you and then strike (similar to fishing with a circle hook)? Or not really...

No not at all Marcos... You have at most about half a second to react otherwise the fish will be gone...

[Half-Pint]

The best advice I got was to move your hands about 20cm apart quickly. This provides just enough force to hook your fish but not rip the fly away. Easier to demonstrate than explain

[John F]

No not at all Marcos... You have at most about half a second to react otherwise the fish will be gone...

[Herman Jooste]

The best advice I got was to move your hands about 20cm apart quickly. This provides just enough force to hook your fish but not rip the fly away. Easier to demonstrate than explain

It's called a "strip strike". Works very well on trout and yellows in Sterkies, where you keep your rod tip just above the water. Instead of striking upwards with the rod, you give a sharp pull on the line in your line holding hand.
 
Remember when f/f you must always be in touch with your flies, which means that the flyline always passes through the fingers of the "free" hand, and between the forfinger and grip of the rod on the rod hand.
This way when you detect a take, ( by sight or feel ) all you do is either slipstrike, or give a flick with your rod hand.
 
Don't forget most fly rods are very responsive, and over the length of 8 - 10 ft a wrist flick at the but = about 4 ft plus at the tip. More than enough to set the hook.

[Capt. Hook]

I think that fighting a fish on fly will depend on the size of the fish you catch, personally I do not think that striking is neccesary at all rather just a tightning of the line and lifting the rod. With very large fish especially off shore you will let the fish run a long way before you tighten up and lift the rod. With bigger fish you will palm the reel to control the fish in the run.

[Manuel Junior]

 :shre:

[briansflyfishing]

I was fishing for Leeries of a train bridge over December to March.
And I had a lot of line out of the water, up to 3 meters.
The secret was to keep pressure on that line all the time.
Every time the line went slack the fish spat the hook out. We find our selves on a rock or any elevated plat form from time to time, be it to get a better view or a better casting spot.
I found that keeping the tip down and as close to the water as you can and keeping pressure gives you the best out come.
You just do not want a lot of line between the rod tip and water as it can give you slack line in a blink, especially if you look down to see if you are not standing on your line or if the line is snagged and you try to get it free.
In these instances you seem to drop the tip without knowing and loose that fish.


Brian