How to set the hook and fight a steelhead on a fly rod?

[WinterrunRon]

As if bass fishing and conventional fishing for stripers, steelhead and salmon, in addition to 35mm digital photography, aren't expensive enough hobbies, I decided to give fly fishing a try. Actually, I was desperate to lighten the load of having to carry around all those extra hundred dollar bills in my pocket. Mr. Kiene was kind enough to allow me to "deposit" those hundreds at his place, and in exchange, gave me some cool fly fishing items to get me started.

I started dead drifting using an indicator earlier this year (see "Ron Mott's first steelhead on a fly" a few articles back in this forum), but soon became bored because I missed the feeling of "the bite" that you get when drift fishing. Seeing the bite just isn't the same as feeling the bite for me.

Jeff Putnam started talking to me about swithing to swinging flys using a spey rod if I liked the feeling of "the bite" but wanted to stick with fly fishing. Determined to find a few steelhead using this method with a single handed rod, I hooked 3 nice steelhead today but all came unbuttoned after reasonably long battles (20 seconds to a minute each... urgh!). Then it struck me... I don't know how to properly set the hook when swingnig a fly.

So here's where I need advice. What's the best technique to set the hook and what's the best rod position for fighting? I'm certain there's a particular or proper technique that's best for each. What do you suggest?

Thanks for your help.

Ron

_________________
fly Very light artificial fly fishing lure of which there are two types: the dry fly which isn't supposed to sink the way it just did; and the wet fly, which shouldn't be floating up on the surface like that. An Angler's Dictionary.

[jbird]

ron

Setting the hook while swinging is almost an oxymoron. the fish will hook itself. The biggest mistake you can make is to lift the rod tip when the fish grabs. It took me a lot of lost fish to stop doing this. Point your rod at the fish. Sometimes the bite is sudden weight, keep the rod down untill the fish starts wagging its head, then gently lift the rod to about 45degrees. other times the bite is an instant smoking run...keep the rod tip down for a 3 count. If the fish istantly goes airborn....good luck! Actually just gently lift the rod to get the benefit of the bending graghite for a shock absorber. More bad things can happen than good by trying to drive home the hook while swinging.

Rod position isnt any different than gear. Something I do in the latter part of a fight, when the fish is close is, I'll keep my elbow really soft. Since you dont have much line to absorb shock when the fish does something wild close in, just give the fish your arm when he surges. You can releive a lot of strain on your tippet with a soft arm/elbow. If youve ever heard tarpon anglers speak of bowing to a fish when it jumps...same concept.

Biggest thing is, dont over think it. Its what I call analisys paralisis(sp)
Dont feel like you did anything wrong for losing 3 fish, Thats steelheading for ya.

J

[sculpin]

Don't worry about hooks popping loose to much. I have times when they all pop off and times when they all stick. The worst loosing streak for me was this last summer. I lost 22 out of 24 steelhead and the two I landed were dinks. On the swing like , Jbird posted don't jerk the rod. Also I like to swing my rod dowm stream toward the bank slowly on a take. That's if I don't blow it and jerk the rod.

Mark

[Paul Meyers]

One other I thing I consider when swinging flies [or any other type of sub-surface fly fishing] is hook sharpness. In most cases, my flies are been bounced aganst rocks on a regular bases. IMHO, this process dulls the hook point. This results in hooks not having the proper sharpness to set properly or sliding on the harder surfaces of the mouth. This might result in hooks getting set closer to the edge of the mouth and leading to a fish being on for a while and then lost, basically ripped out.

Therefore, my recommendation when swinging flies is to regularly sharpen the hook. Thus, I generally perform this when moving from one run to another or back up to the top of the same run. This is of course is assuming the cast and step approach to working a steelhead run. I'll also consider inspecting the sharpness of a hook after a hang up. Obviously, something was acting as the anchor and if that was the hook point, the pressure exerted might have caused the point to become dull. The lost fishing time to check sharpness might be worth it in avoiding the failed hookup.

Therefore, on my vest I have a hook sharpener. I picked up one of those diamond sharpeners that look like a pen. They have a cap that goes over the stone. In the section that you hold, I drilled a hole and attached that to a cord which is attached to my vest. That way it is handy and is not a sacrafical item that gets donated on a regular basis to the river. I leave enough flies as donations that I don't owe anything else.

[WinterrunRon]

jbird- Thanks... and I did make the biggest mistake which was of course lifting the rod tip (actually a muscle memory imbedded side-sweep into a rod lift hook setting motion that's hard to resist).

sculpin- I felt like the only jerk on the rod was me. Of course, very frustrating to "loose" 2 fish in a row but somehow your streak makes it seem reasonably acceptable. Kudos to you for not trading your rod in for a set of golf clubs after your experience!

Paul- Absolutely agree. I carry a similar tool on my vest and sharpen often. A friend proided me with some streamers he tied on less than quality hooks (he didn't have the good ones) and the metal was so soft, they would hardly sharpen to a fine point. I think this alone was the biggest contributing factor to my troubles. And my last donation (that day) to the river was the ONLY item I don't have on a retractable leash due to weight... my split ring pliers. Off to the store for replacement...

Thanks, gents, for the advice. I apprecitate your keystrokes. Only one follow-up question. If you point your rod or gently and calmly (this is going to be difficult for me) lift your upon the take, are you griping onto the line loosely? Tightly? Is your drag pre-set to a significant degree and you don't grip the line? If you're gripping the line tight enough to set the hook, how do you know what's enough to set the hook, yet not break the leader? Newby questions, I know...

[Darian]

Hi Ron,.... I'm in the school that holds the line under my index finger, lightly, against the grip when I'm swingin' flies.... I also, strip my line in thru that finger.... It provides control and feel/touch to the fly/grab.

Most of my Steelheading has been done with an old Pfleuger, Medalist fly reel, model 1495 1/2. This model has a drag but not a sub stopper. Later models of this reel have rim control spools.

I pre-set the drag tight enough to prevent overrun on the strike, only. My feeling here is that when the grab happens it over-stresses the leader material until the spool gets into motion and I, generally, resist adjusting the drag during the fight. I prefer to palm the rim of the reel. Also, I rarely use anything lighter than 8 pound test for leader material while fishing on the swing for winter fish (....don't really like that ).

[lincolnlogger]

Winterrun Ron, What size hooks are you using? My experience tells me the smaller the hook the more fish unpinned. There's always exceptions with steelies,some are just so hot they have the upperhand (fin). With barbless hooks you're going to lose fish. Larger hooks land more fish, but I don't think you'll hook as many.