Playing trout

[sledboy]

Ok now i am catching..............uh........... presenting my fly to entice a strike regularly. My fish are taking my imitations consistantly but i am losing them consistantly. Today i tried a home river with a new technique and i was absolutely disgusted because i lost every fish i had hooked. I had one fish snap my tippet at a strike. In all i had about 10 hits and 7 fish on in 2 hrs. One for about 5-7 mins. before snapping my tippet. My question is tip up? or tip down? I know for a few i had my tip up to bring them in to the net before shakin' the hook. However two including one that snapped my tippet after a lengthy fight, I had my tip down. I was using a mid-flex 5-wt. with 5x and I was palming my drag during the quick runs. I am thinkin' this rod was too much for this type of fish. These were some fat browns in fast water and i had all i could do to move them out of the current. I have heard lots of different answers, thought i would try to get some advice here.

[Housy Dave]

Glad to hear your getting into some fish!

To answer your question, it is almost always tip up. The rod needs to store energy to keep your light tippet from becoming overloaded. When the fish swims across (side to side) you should keep the rod sideways, parallel to the water, which applies side pressure to the fish. The fish can't pull sideways. You'll be able to control and land the fish much quicker. Don't be disgusted, you'll get the hang of it.

On another note, it may not be anything your doing wrong. If the hook has a very small gap, or is tied such that the gap is partially taken up by material, then you might have trouble keeping a fish hooked.

[The Fisherman]

It's hard to tell what, if anything, you're doing wrong without seeing you in action. 5x should be enough to hold most trout you catch on CT rivers.

A lot of it will come with experience. I don't think what you're going through is unique to beginners.

btw, 5-7 minutes is way too long to be playing a fish. In high water temps that is pretty much a death sentence to the fish. On 5x, you should be able to bring most trout in in under a minute.

[Todd K]

Unless of course you are telling the story as every fisherman does. You know, the fish was THIS BIG... or It took 5 hours to bring in. :) Maybe it seemed like 5-7 minutes.

[The Patriot]

If your tip is down, then you are not using the rod to protect the relatively light tippet. The fish then has a direct pull on the reel, and unless you have a very smooth and light drag, it's easy to break off. If you're breaking fish off, maybe you're palming the reel too hard. Try not palming at all and let the fish run a little, or ease up the amount of pressure. It takes practice to get the feel.

One tip I read once, and have employed to good affect, is to point the butt of the rod at the fish, and put a good bend in the rod.

Also, what Dave suggests about dropping the plane of the rod to parallel with the water and applying side pressure is also good advice. The fish will work very hard pulling away from you and will exhaust his muscles on one side trying to do so....

Another thing I have found is it can be difficult to horse a fish upstream against the current, particularly big fish. If I have a large fish on that runs downstream, I often back out to shallow water and follow him down until I can get downstream from him. The fish will naturally pull in the opposite direction that you are trying to pull him, so if you are downstream trying to pull him to you, he will pull upstream. Now he is fighting the current as well as you.... he will tire quickly and come to net..... always try to turn your fish so he runs upstream, not down... especially larger fish.

But that's not really necessary with average trout, say under 15 or 16 inches, and sometimes not even then....

Another thing I have used effectively.... lead the fish where he wants to go. If he runs down below you sweep your rod (again, parallel with the water, butt pointed at the fish) down stream and across towards the near bank. When the fish runs downstream he will come across you into shallower water, where it is easier to control him. Now you can start working him back up to you.... if he turns again and runs, sweep your rod across in the opposite direction and apply side pressure to the other side. Keep leading him where he wants to go until you've turned him so he's running upstream, then see above. But you're always leading him where he wants to go. This takes alot of stress off the tippet.

Even if he is upstream from you, apply side pressure, and sweep your rod across in front of you in the direction the fish wants to run.... then work him back towards you. When he is a few feet upstream from you, you can sneak in behind him, and put a net or your hand under him and land him.

Sometimes missing fish is simply a matter of striking too quickly and pulling it away, or waiting too long and letting him spit it out before you strike. There is no one size fits all.... sometimes the fish strike quickly and aggressively and you have to strike right away... sometimes they sip more slowly, like when they're eating spent spinners, and you have to wait almost until they've gone back down before you strike or you'll take it away. You have to read the rise, and have some idea what they are eating, and of course there is some trial and error involved. You have to get their rythm.

If you strike too hard, or pull too a fish too hard upstream against the current, the fish will sometimes come unbuttoned and the fly comes flying back at you. Strike gently but firmly, just drawing the line taut. And don't try to horse a fish upstream against current. Use the side pressure tactic and other tactics outlined above to play the fish to hand....

Keep at it, it takes practice.... even after many years, we all still lose fish or break fish off.... my last outing Saturday night, I easily missed or lost as many fish as I actually caught... it's part of the game and why we keep coming back....

:)

[sledboy]

I've spent the last week studying all of the advice and listening in on some local creek buzz and have solved my imediate problem. My rod was waaaaaaaay tooo heavy. I bought an 8' 2wt. about 6 months ago from cabelas because i have a lot of small creeks over here in NY and it is easy for me to menuver around brush or other obstructions. Today i decided to leave the others home and take just the 2wt to the Esopus. Verrrrry good decision. I landed every fish that i caught. Granted, it was tuff. I started around 6AM and the fish were not cooperating. I changed locations a few times but settled in for the duration of the day around 10AM. I took housy dave's advise and tied a caddis on but kept my BHPT. First flip, 10" bow. I had a bunch of misses after that. I tied a Tungsten Peacock #16 and cut the PT off and YEHAW. Every time that fly went in the water it was hit.
I had 8 fish in the net today, 14" brown was the largest(my largest yet).
Thanks for the advise.:D

[The Patriot]

Great job! Congrats!

:D

Jim