When swinging flies for king salmon and steelhead, we’d argue that more fish are lost due to a poor hook-set than at any other point during the fight. Unlike techniques associated with traditional upstream dry fly, nymphing, or even streamer fishing, swinging flies requires a different technique to effectively drive the hook home. How so…
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setting the hook
Trout Fishing: Hold On To Your Hook Set
Today we present you with a simple tip that we’ve seen learned the hard way on, not one, but many heartbreaking occasions. When fishing for trout, particularly when fishing sub-surface flies from a drifting boat, most successful anglers agree that the most effective method of hooking fish on flies you can’t see is by setting…
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Swinging Flies – Don’t Block Your Hook Set
In any avenue of fly fishing, one thing that separates successful anglers from not-so-successful anglers is complete, undivided, fully engaged, focus whenever your fly is in the water. Many fish are lost (or perhaps never hooked at all) from anglers who’s minds were wandering or whom were not expecting a fish to eat the fly in…
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Fighting King Salmon – From Start to Finish
Last week, Deneki regular, Stuart Foxall, presented us with a great post on proper fly presentation when swinging for king salmon. In case you missed the post, make sure to check it out, here! Stu’s back today with a great follow up on what to do when all goes to plan – you know, when…
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The Strip Set – Not Just for Bonefish
“Don’t trout set,” are words nearly every saltwater angler has heard at one time or another. That’s because when it comes to hard mouthed species like bonefish it’s crucial to set the hook by stripping the fly as opposed to raising the rod in typical ‘trout’ fashion. Raising the rod does a great job at…
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Strip Setting Keeps You in the Game
If you’re a regular to our humble little blog, you’re probably aware that every once in a while we like to remind our readers that when fishing for bonefish, it’s crucial to set the hook with a long strip set rather than raising the rod. Why do we keep telling you this? Because its really, really important…
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Set With the Swing
When swinging flies for salmon and steelhead, we find setting the hook to the side (as opposed to straight up) will result in more fish to the net. We often use the phrase ‘set towards the bank,’ however we realize this can be confusing when fishing anywhere other than a big long gravel bar. The…
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Mousing for Trout – Try a Strip Set
On our Alaskan rivers, targeting big leopard rainbows with gaudy rodent imitations is not only visually appealing, but also very productive at certain times of the year. Takes can be ferocious and often unexpected. However, one of the most common faults when mousing for trout is setting the hook too early. It’s important to…
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Point Your Rod at That Bonefish
We’ve gone on a few diatribes over the years about how to set the hook on a bonefish – here’s our most thorough post on the topic. One of the points that we stress the most (partly because we’re all guilty of screwing it up from time to time) is the importance of keeping your…
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Stripping for Bonefish – Lock Your Elbow
Strip set, strip set, strip set! We’ve set it before, but to consistently land bonefish, it is important to set the hook with a long stripping motion, with the rod pointed at the fish, as opposed to raising the rod in a ‘trout setting’ motion. We’d be lying if we said we didn’t let our…
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