Question For The Strippers...

[zander]

Now that I have your attention, here is the question. I have a lot of hits on streamers where I miss the fish. Part of the reason for the misses is probably my fault with not fast enough reaction time, but when you look at most streamers like zonkers, bunny leeches etc, there is a lot of rear end to the fly and it seems like when the hook is on only 50% of the fly, you have only a 50% chance of the trout hitting the business end of the fly. Do any of you guys add a stinger hook to the end of your longer streamers?

I have purchased some of Leonard's PMS's from Lilley's and I get a lot of hits on it but like I said I miss a lot of them. That being said Friday I had a hit so hard that it pulled the tippet right out of my surgeon's knot where it attached to the leader. A stinger hook wouldn't have helped me then.

[duckydoty]

I have found that a 12 pack of Mountain Dew is the key to overcoming this situation

Some of these streamer flies can be tied as an articulated fly with a smaller stinger hook at the end. I usually cut off the main hook if tied with a stinger.

duckydoty

[Danoinark]

Zander

This is only my humble opinion but having had these same things happen to me I would agree that sometimes a shorter tale will increase your hookups, but I also feel its the nature of the beast. Remember everything is working against you at night. You can't see the hookup, you can't see the fish taking the fly, and everything relies on feel and in some cases your hearing. I believe there is not much you can do but try to improve your reaction time.

As to break offs at the tippet, what size leader are you using? I never fish at night with anything less than 8 to 12 lb straight mono tied directly to the fly line or a 6 inch leader butt of 30 lb amnesia using a loop to loop. I use about 4 feet of line. There are no knots to worry about between fly line and the fly. You might try that to see if it improves your break offs.

Dano

[zander]

That's why I asked the question:) A Mtn Dew would definately help my reaction time, even if it would increase the frequency of my trips up to the bathroom. The loop to loop is also a good idea. Do you use regular 8-12 lb mono flourocarbon fishing line or do you use the stuff advertized as tippet?

[Danoinark]

That's why I asked the question:) A Mtn Dew would definately help my reaction time, even if it would increase the frequency of my trips up to the bathroom. The loop to loop is also a good idea. Do you use regular 8-12 lb mono flourocarbon fishing line or do you use the stuff advertized as tippet?

Just plain old straight bass / pan fishing fluro, whatever I have on hand at the moment...and nope not the fly fishing tippet. Maxima is good though because of its suppleness I have found. But the cheap stuff will work and them big ol fish sure don't care what the leader costs.

Dano

[jjtroutbum]

Heck the last time I was night fishing at Tanny. I was using eight or ten pound, may be a foot or two of "Tourney Tough."Attached to a four foot bass tapered monofurrled leader. Sharpened, size eight ,4Xl long dressed mostly marabou streamers and buggers, in olive. I did well drifting, swinging, mending and stripping.No brake offs and very few knots/tangles as long I was fairly obstruction aware.

I think at night a firm solid handset while swinging them unweighted mostly and off a sinking line was the way that I increased my catch ratio.

JJ

[Leonard]

Hey Zander..

Short strikes are always going to happen..

but try this..

if your using the PMS and getting short stikes.. go smaller.. like a pine squirrel.. that useally helps..

Down sizing always seem to do the trick..

Leonard

[Terry Beeson]

OK... I get as many short strikes and misses as anyone else and I am working on the problem. But I may be able to shed a bit of light on the situation from the discussions I've had with some very knowledgeable gentlemen in the fly fishing game...

You MAY be "over setting" the hook when you feel a take. I spent the first 40 years of my life bass fishing and crappie fishing and the biggest problem with the transition from one to the other was getting the "feel" of the strike and reaction to it. For bass, you usually make a bone jarring "jerk" that will almost cause you to fall over backwards and out of the boat. With Crappie, you gently put pressure on the line just enough to bring the hook through that paper mouth. BIG difference... I know I would miss a lot of each type when I was first starting back fishing for one type - I would miss bass after only crappie fishing for a while and miss crappie after only bass fishing for a while.

Now... with trout there is a "happy medium" that you have to get use to. Trout do not have the tough mouth of a Largemouth, but they do have a bit tougher mouth than a "Papermouth" Crappie. You CAN tear the lips off a trout and I've seen evidence of this with fish I've caught... Not necessarily that I have torn them, but have caught trout with half a lip missing.

Many times we tend to over-set and actually pull the fly out of the fish's mouth. Remember - the fish has sucked the fly into his mouth. If you pull too hard and fast, you will simply pull it out of his mouth. Think about setting that hook hard... How far would the fly move if you did not have a take? Two or three feet or more? Well, that's two or three feet (or more) away from the fish. Look at a trout's mouth... Imagine a fly inside it. How far would you have to "move" the fly/hook before it would be out of his mouth? Not very far... An inch or two... But you do have to take into consideration line slack and the fact that they are suspended in water. In other words, you will have to move the rod tip a foot or so to get a set on the fish.

Have you ever readied yourself for a backcast and bring the rod tip up only to find some pressure on the other end that just happened to be a trout? If you have, you probably didn't realize that you probably, actually made the perfect set on that fish. A steady rise of the rod tip - deliberate but not bone jarring. As one "guru" put it to me, the fish feels the pressure and instinctively turns away and down. This sets the hook firm in the corner of the mouth. The real trick is to get the hook set and then get pressure on the fish without overdoing it... Not an easy task, really...

Some guys prefer the "strip set" to the rod set. I know Michael Kyle is fond of that type of hook set and I want to shadow him some time to get a better idea how it's done. I can't seem to get the strip set to work for me. But I know it does work if done right.

Actually, getting the hook set right seems to be very much like getting a good fly cast or golf swing. Once you "master" it, you wonder how you did it wrong all these years...