Fishing Forum

Me and my buddy hit up Blacksmith today and it was a pretty nice day. A little wind but more to our advantage. I've never caught a trout on a Fly rod before so that was a first for me. I've tried but I'm not the greatest fly fisherman. I've caught grayling before in the Uintas but that it. It wasn't very big. 7 to 8 inches (just a guess) but that was the only one I got in. I had a ton of other hits but never set the hook good.

That report being said and now that you all know I'm not much of a Fly man if you could give me some pointers on setting the hook that'd be great

Also is stripping the fish back in or letting him take the slack and reeling him in better.

I'm still new to the Fly side of fishing so any pointers anyone can give me would be greatly appreciate it.

(Would have documented it with a picture to show everyone but the battery in my camera died. Stupid P.O.S)

Mike
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Congrats !!! Haven t been up to the Blacksmith in a few years glad to hear you able to catch some fish up there.

Are fishing with a strike indicator ? If I see my Indicator move in a unnatural way Ill give a light quick pull doesn't take much to set the hook with a fly.

As far as reeling the fish in I find it easier to strip the line in and control the drag with my hand If its a real fighter the fish will usually pull all slack out of the line anyay then I palm my reel to control the drag.
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Congrats on the fish!

I have been thinking of head to the Blacksmith I just haven't made it out there yet.

I like to watch the end of my fly line and us that as somewhat of a strike indicator. I never use true strike indicators and I still catch a lot of fish, nothing wrong with them if you like them use them. Then if you ever see the line or indicator mover in a funny direction or twitch really fast give a nice little hook set. Most of the time when setting the hook you just have to strip the line in and lightly lift up on the rod. Stripping in on the hook set will not break the line as often. One tip I always use is to keep slack out of your line when its drifting down.

As for when bringing in the fish I will almost always just strip the line in. Unless its a big fish or a hard fighter, then I will let it take the line from my hand and use the reel to fight it.

Good luck.
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I would agree with what everyone has said already about when and how to set the hook. I rarely use the reel, sometimes on the larger streams or on stillwater when I hook up with a large fish. On a small brushy stream like The Blacksmith, there really wouldn't be much point in using the reel. If a fish makes a big run on that stream, in most places he's going to be down the rapids, under an undercut, or into a logjam before the reel is going to do you much good.
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