Help me understand the physics of an interesting hookup incident

[PV_Premier]

Friday, I was out doing some trout spey and was fishing from the river left bank, swinging my fly from the center of the stream back toward the bank. I ended up snagging a fish, which in and of itself was odd, but when I got it up to me I noticed I had snagged it on the right side of its body, below the dorsal fin. Since my fly would have been swinging towards the fish’s left side of its body as it faced upstream in the current, I cannot fathom how I ended up snagging it this way. Any ideas would be welcomed.

[Mark Kranhold]

Could it have followed your fly ready to eat and then got spooked last minute and turned on the fly?

[PV_Premier]

I guess, but it would’ve had to turn under the leader, which of course was tight to the rod. I was also swinging quite close to the bottom in fairly shallow water...using a 5ips leader and a cone head fly in 3-5’ of depth.

[Carl Blackledge]

Friday, I was out doing some trout spey and was fishing from the river left bank, swinging my fly from the center of the stream back toward the bank. I ended up snagging a fish, which in and of itself was odd, but when I got it up to me I noticed I had snagged it on the right side of its body, below the dorsal fin. Since my fly would have been swinging towards the fish’s left side of its body as it faced upstream in the current, I cannot fathom how I ended up snagging it this way. Any ideas would be welcomed.

PV-Sometimes you just accidentally "snag" a fish and there might not be a reasonable answer to us humans :)

Carl Blackledge

[Brian Clemens]

I've had it happen to me several times as well, hooked right side pectoral fin area when swing river left, and left side when swinging river right. I think there are a few possible scenarios 1) I feel that the fish physically misses your fly as he comes to eat it, turns on it and takes off, turn and burn, but totally misses it and gets hook in the pectoral fun area. Especially when they are super grabby, 2) the fly hits some type of funky water and at the last second before the grab the fly undulates making the fish miss your fly and then gets hooked in the pectoral fin, kinda like how a fish misses your skater as its moving across the surface. The fly is still moving and they miss their target due to the current 3) the fish comes up to side swipe it to knock it out, all the while hooking itself in the pectoral fin area, 4) lastly sometimes you can't explain the unexplainable and crap happens.

[Carl Blackledge]

Brian,

With all due respect to your theory. I can't remember the last time I was eating and missed my mouth..LOL

Carl Blackledge

[mike borba]

"the physics of and interesting hookup incident"...well when a man loves a woman... ask your parents!

[PV_Premier]

"the physics of and interesting hookup incident"...well when a man loves a woman... ask your parents!

Now that’s funny

[Ralph]

Friday, I was out doing some trout spey and was fishing from the river left bank, swinging my fly from the center of the stream back toward the bank. I ended up snagging a fish, which in and of itself was odd, but when I got it up to me I noticed I had snagged it on the right side of its body, below the dorsal fin. Since my fly would have been swinging towards the fish’s left side of its body as it faced upstream in the current, I cannot fathom how I ended up snagging it this way. Any ideas would be welcomed.

Being "tight" to the fly is not the same as the fly being in a straight line from the rod tip. Micro currents can, and usually do, move the fly in all kinds of directions. The line is indeed tight to the current, but not necessarily tight in a straight path. I have had anglers in total disbelief when I show them underwater video of their drifts. They'll swear on a stack of bibles they were "tight to the fly" when in fact they were simply tight to the current. The other common reason, as mentioned above, is a last minute refusal that can snag a fish just about anywhere.

[DLJeff]

I agree Ralph. And the fish doesn't even have to have been making a pass at your fly. I've actually watched and felt my leader wrap around a second fish as i was drifting it toward another fish. The second fish was not interested in my fly, but caught the leader on a pectoral fin or in its open mouth couldn't tell which, which of course spooked that fish causing it to dart down and away. I felt the tug and tugged back, which set the hook. In fact, I recall having that happen tarpon fishing in a small rio the Yucatan.

[4Nativetrout!]

The dynamics/variables associated with foul-hooking are complex but there are some constants. I have done various studies on foul-hooking both with flies and lures. I have also backed it up with underwater observations. Generally, fish that are foul-hooked tend have the hook point insertion at or near "hard" edge structures like fins or other body parts. In some of my observations viewing tight lined lures/flies, it was the fish reaction to the line that trigger a movement (quick turn) that then triggered the angler to strike. This forced the lure/fly to travel along/over the fishes body usually on or near one of those edges. Once the lure/fly hook point travelled across the structure it provided enough leverage/edge for the hook point to set-in. I saw this on swung flies and dropper flies...just some food for thought as fish that get hooked are not always going for what we think/hope they are....

[Brian Clemens]

Brian,

With all due respect to your theory. I can't remember the last time I was eating and missed my mouth..LOL

Carl Blackledge

You are comparing apples to watermelons. Hahaha
All I can say is this, how can one fish grab my flys several times while swinging across the river and not get stuck. How can 1 fish grab my fly on the dangle, I feel the weight of the fish and as I bring the rod up to start fighting the fish, how does it pop off. I know I'm not the only one.

[Mark Kranhold]

I hate those dangle takes, low percentage landing ratio on those. IMO

[Ralph]

Brian,

With all due respect to your theory. I can't remember the last time I was eating and missed my mouth..LOL

Carl Blackledge

Carl, stuffing grapes into your mouth is a fair deal less complex than catching grapes thrown at you. Fish miss their target all the time. I have video to prove it. One of the most memorable was watching a trout lunge at a back swimmer that was clinging to a stick poking from the mud. The bug escaped but the fish pulled the stick out of the mud and carried it around, chewing on it, for a solid 30 seconds. It apparently couldn't believe it had missed a sitting target.

[Dave E.]

Ever watch a kid in high chair try to eat? Food goes everywhere, they even get some in their mouths from time to time.

As this video shows, fish sometimes seem to be able to do what many NFL wide receivers can't.

https://fb.watch/3twcOkDZ5J/

Feeding seems to take some experience to master......I'm still working on it.