Went out after work yesterday and fished the South Fork for a couple hours. Fish were rising to what looked like midges. I don't fish dry flies much so i threw quite a few different nymphs and streams at them but never got any action from them. Just before dark I decided to try a streamer pattern that threw together one Saturday afternoon. Second cast had a hit but missed the hook up. Fished for another 30 minutes or so and the same thing happened. Pretty decent hit but missed the hook up. Bot sure what is wrong with me. My brothers give me tons of crap cuz I miss more hits than anyone they know. What can I do to not miss so many hits?
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Well I'm not a pro, as a matter of fact, not even that good at fly fishing but I used to try!!! But, I once had the opportunity to fish with 2 pros from Sage! I do consider myself a good student and when they were whipping me, 5-7 fish for every one of mine, I said that's about enough of this crap! They showed how they tied a small trailer behind basically an attractor fly! The trailer was a scud-shrimp and we used several different attractor flys, like sheep creek special, stayner duck tail and several leach patterns! 90 percent of the fish came on the scud trailer!!! They both said they use that same technique all over the country, rivers and lakes. We happen to be at Henry's Lake! I have used that every time since and I wouldn't know how to tie on, just one fly!!! Try it and I bet you won't be disappointed!
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Fishing a tandem rig is a great way to go. Doubles, if not triples your hookups. Another thing to consider, if you tie your own flies, is to tie in a stinger hook right where the fly ends. It will make a big difference when fish are short striking.
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[quote flyfish_88] My brothers give me tons of crap cuz I miss more hits than anyone they know. What can I do to not miss so many hits?[/quote]
They are probably just jealous cause they aren't getting hits. [
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My initial thought is that perhaps you are too quick on the set. Are you seeing the hits or are you feeling the hits?
If you are seeing the hits, then try to force yourself to wait another 1/2 second before you tighten the line. Perhaps you are taking the fly away before they actually get there..... (People, (like me[
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If you are feeling the hits and not seeing them, then I don't know what to say..... Perhaps you are setting too hard? If that was the case, I would think you'd know it cause you'd be losing flies like crazy, right?
Final thought.......are your hooks sharp? If you are tying your own then I'd think they are. I've never bought fly hooks that weren't.
Another (new) final thought. What size of tippet are you using. Is it possible that fish are shying away at the last possible instant due to seeing something they don't like such are a tippet that is too large?
My guess it is the first one....... U. N.....[
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Good advice here on the trailers and a stinger hook. Alos a thing to think about if youre having it happen on streamers you tie is shorten the tail up. I have fished rabitt fur zonkers that were just a bit long. Fish would grab the tail and not be up on the hook so as I set the hook it would jerk the tail out with no hook up. Pretty much any time I am fishing a newer streamer if I miss a few hits in succession with it Ill trim it up a little bit and 9 times out of 10 it fixes the missing issue.
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that very well could be the problem. the streamer i was using has rabbit fur strip like a zonker on it.. didnt even think about the tail being too long to hit the hook.. ill have to trim it up next time..
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+1 on reducing the tail size! Over the last twenty or so years of tying flies I've cut the length of the tails on all my wet flies easly in half. For trout especially I believe it makes a difference. I don't see the point of anything longer than about 1/2" past the hook on just about anything anymore. That's just my opinion. If I want a longer tail I'll use really long shanked hook and just tie the tail on farther up the shank than I normally would. Except for bass flies because they generally suck the whole thing in when they strike.
+1 on the sharp hook. I'm one of those sticklers for ultra sharp hooks and sharpen even the brand spankin' new ones. It makes a difference and that is not an opinion.
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