On Mar 30, 8:42 am, "David F" wrote:
On Mar 27, 11:18 pm, wrote:





On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 01:15:47 GMT, "rb608"

wrote:
"Peter A. Collin" wrote in message
.. .
Your story reminds me of a trip I made to Quebec several years ago for
trophy brook trout. I was using streamers with large hooks, and kept
losing fish like you - the hook just kept pulling out. It was
exasperating and I never figured out what I was doing wrong.

Maybe pertinent, maybe not; but I've found a similar thing happening when
fishing the salmon run in Altmar. Every once in a while, I'd hook into one
of the big ones, only to have it come loose for no apparent reason. I
finally figured out what was happening. The ones I lost were coming loose
because they were foul hooked to begin with. I'd occasionally get a large
scale back on the hook, under the same circumstances as when getting
nothing. It became clear that I'd break off on mouth hookups; but the foul
hooks were just coming loose.

Joe F.

Riverman the Ripper, meet Joe the Jerker...

TC, and HTH,
R

I'm baffled by this whole question. I've been pondering what I
do......seems like I just raise the rod and keep tension.

I'm not only baffled by the question, but struggling with the
terminology and semantics. For example, when I say 'set the hook', I
think some folks (rdean) might be visualizing something different than
what I am visualizing. I like how you describe it.

Here is an infomal range of reactions when a fish strikes, from least
reactive to most:
1) Do nothing, and expect the running fish to implant the hook itself
2) gently raise the rod tip, about as hard as you do when high-stick
nymphing or mending. You may or may not take all the tension out of
the line
3) Lift the rod tip enough to remove all tension, but not enough to
move the fly significantly. This is about as much force as you exert
when keeping a drifting nymph in the upright position
4) Raise the rod tip enough to take out all tension, and to pull the
fly toward you. This would be enough to cause a small fish (say, a
trout less than 6-8 inches) to be turned, but not to be dragged.
5) Raise the rod tip back enough to pull a fish toward you
momentarily. This would be like the force exhibited when retrieving
10-15 feet of line to roll-cast.
5) Pull back firmly on the rod tip as hard as if you were false-
casting. If there is slack in the line, it would be removed with a
small 'snap'.
6) Pull back on the rod tip very hard, with force equivalent to that
you would use to yank a fly out that had entangled in some tall
grasses or a leafy tree. If there is slack in the line, it would
possibly break the tippet.
7) Yank back on the rod tip very violently, with force that would
cause the rod to 'sing' in the air
8) Yank back with all your strength.

Personally, I tend to use force in the #4- range, but I suspect that
with large fish, its better to use force in the #5+ range. But
ensuring that there is no slack in the line.

--riverman