Whether you’re following an indicator or dry fly with your rod tip, or swinging flies, you do not want to set the hook in an upwards direction, instead, set in the direction that the fly is moving. To aid in remembering this, I encourage clients to really follow their drift with the rod tip, that way when they need to set, they can just continue the motion with the direction the rod is already moving and quickly eliminate the slack.
When fishing for trout, salmon, or steelhead in moving bodies of water, there is one thing every fish has in common and that is they are all facing upstream. If you set with the current, towards the inside bank, you are helping pull that fly into the fish’s mouth. If you set straight up, or even worse, set in the upstream direction, you are pulling the fly out of the fish’s mouth. Just remember, always set with the current!
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