This Page About To Catch a Fish

To Catch a Fish

Wouldn't it be tragic if you couldn't catch a fish? Especially, if you've been following along in this series that's soon to become a book. I assume you have. I assume you've read the articles and assembled a balanced outfit of fly rod, line, leader and reel. I assume you've learned the essential facts about tippets, leaders, and lines. I assume you can tie the right knots, cast and make a presentation. If you have done this, you've spent precious hours and invested hard-earned dollars to learn the sport.

So now that you're near the moment of actually going fly fishing for fish, has a stray thought crossed your mind-a stray thought like not catching a fish? Not to worry, assuming you review and digest this chapter. There are a "bunch" of things yet to be discussed that relate directly to whether or not you can catch a fish-things like animating the fly, striking the fish, rod tip angle and line control, to name but a few. I begin the discussion with two points critical to your success.

Rod Tip Angle and Two-Point Control. As you make the cast, presenting the fly let's say to a cruising fish, two-point control actually begins about the time the fly hits the water. Many of you have witnessed in spinning or bait casting, the phenomenon of a fish striking immediately as the lure or bait touches the water. In fly fishing, it always pays to believe the fish watches as you rig up, select the fly and lay out your cast. It pays to believe your finny adversary watches as the fly wings its way toward his turf. It pays to believe the moment the fly touches down the fish intends to smash it with vengeance. Look closely! You can see it gathering its strength for the strike . . .. Got the picture?

You must be prepared for a strike the instant the fly nears the water. Here's how-first, put the rod tip down. Point the tip toward the water. If a few drops run off the tip, "you're doing pretty good" as my Grandfather used to say. Second, you must have absolute control of the line, and this only happens when two-point control is established. This means running the fly line beneath a finger of the rod hand (either the index or middle finger) with the line hand grasping the line behind the rod hand. This setup is used throughout the retrieve, strike, and recovery of the fish. The line is always beneath a finger of the rod hand.

Prevent slack. Having explained the rod tip is always down, think about what happens when you lift or hold the rod tip up-somewhere between 8 to 11 on the clock-face. The answer, of course, is the heavy fly line will sag and hang perpendicular. The pool of line underneath the rod tip - when it's dropped back to the surface - is called, "slack." Go outside and try it. With line straight and the rod tip pointing down, point the rod tip up to about 11 o'clock. Now point the rod back down. The puddle or pool of slack line will range somewhere between three to six feet. It's easy to measure - so do it, measure the amount of slack. The exact amount of slack formed by the careless act of raising the rod tip is contingent on the length of the rod. The longer the rod, the greater the amount of slack. Think! Slack is bad! It will cost you the cast and it's likely to cost you a fish. When you fail to control slack, you fail to control the fishing process.

Simply stated, it is impossible to properly strike the fish when slack exists. The reason is simple: the line hand is not in direct contact with the fly. The fact is direct contact with the fly is absolutely necessary whether it's making the retrieve, animating the fly, setting the hook or making the cast. To set the stage for success, always point the rod tip down, close to, if not touching, the water. Point the rod towards the water, remove the slack, establish 2-point control and, as the fly touches down, you're ready for what comes next-fishing. Just be sure to trap the line beneath a finger of the rod hand.

Animating the Fly. The line hand, as you are beginning to see, is critical to success in fly fishing. Just as it is the critical to line control and striking the fish, the line-hand is key to animating the action of the fly, whether top water, diver, swimmer or bottom bouncer. Unfortunately, many fly fishers start out emulating the techniques they learned in spinning and bait casting -- using the rod tip as the way to set the action. Watch them. Note the way they twitch, pop, and jerk the rod tip, thinking that's the way it's done. This technique is dead wrong! In fly fishing, it's the line hand that does the work, not the rod or rod hand. Nothing can impart action to the fly like the touch of the fingers from the line hand.

With two-point control established, rod tip down and slack removed, the line hand animates the fly by stripping in line in a wide and varying array of combinations. For example, when using a popping bug for largemouth bass, one of my favorite techniques is to make the bug quiver, not move. It is tough to do it any other way than with the line hand delicately manipulating the line. Ordinarily the distance, timing and speed of each strip, pause and strip is, of course, variable. Factors such as the specific fish pursued, the time of year, the water conditions, and other environmental factors -- all weigh heavily. In saltwater, a fly fisher after barracuda may use very fast strips of two or more feet. To do this, the fly fisher will use both hands on the line; the rod is usually tucked under the arm. Don't forget the barracuda is a fast swimmer that can get from here to there in a second. Have you tried the two-handed retrieve?

Sometimes, the last thing you want is an animated fly. The antithesis to fast stripping for a barracuda is nymphing a stream for trout. In this instance, the fly fisher's concern is for a "drag-free" drift of the fly, not how well his or her fingers manipulate the fly. Otherwise -- no strike and no fish! Experiment -- trial and error will help you immensely. You will never forget the retrieve you were using the moment Jaws struck your fly. As you address the varying array of possibilities in making the retrieve, don't fail to review the fishing literature for your chosen species. Proven tricks, tactics and techniques abound to be shared with you by those who have gone before. The odds are, your favorite fish has been covered in detail. Why, even the lowly carp has made it into the halls of the fly fishing glory, and is now draped in "how-to-catch-it" detail.

Points to Remember. As you practice animating your fly, remember these points: (1) keep the rod tip down at or touching the water; (2) keep the rod tip pointed toward the fly; (3) do not allow slack to form; and (4) maintain two point control throughout the retrieve. If you need another reason to be convinced this is the way to go, consider this: with the rod tip down and slack removed, you can easily lift into the backcast any time the need arises.

As you strip in line animating the fly, there is tendency to forget what's happening to the line that's being retrieved. If you are not using a basket, there is a good chance the line will fall helter-skelter into the water or the deck of the boat. Dropped into the water it will float or sink away; dropped to the deck, it's sure to tangle or get under your feet at exactly the wrong time. Instead of taking these risks, learn to form coils in the line and suspend them from a spare finger of the line hand as you retrieve line. As your skills advance, the ability to form coils during the retrieve will become increasingly important. Coils can help prevent errors during the final cast or after hook up. Stay relaxed. Keep an eye on the strike indicator. And always, remember that the line hand moves the fly, not the rod tip.

Strike Detection. While you are animating the fly, here is something to think about -- strike detection. With the line land in constant contact with the line, the fingers manipulating the line should feel the strike or touch of a fish better than any other part of the fly fishing system. However, it's possible to fish productive waters encountering strike after strike without ever knowing a strike occurred -- simply because the fingers never felt a thing. Sounds impossible, doesn't it? Yet, it's true! It happens, particularly while nymphing in moving waters or when the silly fly fisher otherwise allows slack to form between the fly and the rod tip. This is one reason why many companies, such as Orvis and Cabela's offer "strike indicators." A strike indicator is usually a piece of highly visible material easily attached to the fly line above the fly. It helps you visually observe the line's movement in the water.

Anything out of the ordinary can mean a strike. Without the very inexpensive addition of a strike detector to your system, it's very possible to go home thinking yourself a failure when, in fact, you were quite successful. You just never knew how successful you were. That would be tragic. No bones about it, strike detection can be difficult, particularly in fast moving waters. Short of seeing the strike, the only certain way of detection is resistance on the line as felt by the line hand. If you cannot feel the strike, you cannot hook the fish. This is another very good reason not to use the rod in response to a strike or to set the hook. As an example, a swirl behind the general location of your fly may or may not be a strike. But, if it is a strike and the fish isn't on, move the rod tip - and I promise - you will not hook the fish. Continue to learn more about fishing, please visit Active Angler.

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