how do fish get unhook when your reeling/stripping them in??

[fresnoflyman]

OK i know it's a stupid question, but this had happen to me way too many time and it's always when it's a big fish. ok here it is, how does a fish get itself unhook right after it got hook? is it because im just stripping it in and not actually yanking the rod back to get the hook in the fish enough. i dont want to yank it's mouth off, but like today i went out fishing toss a nymph in, bam a fish GREAT.... then huh with in maybe 2-3 seconds it unhook itself, then a big one again this time it really bend my rod. wow what a fish or what strength... but the fight didn't last a minute, i try playing with it, keeping it off balance, rod at around 10 O,clock. but it still got lose i don't know, i think my hooks are sharp enough. im learning alittle but kind of at a point where i dont know how they get off. the little fish when they get hook they tend to stay on till i take it off their mouth... i was thinking shouldn't that be the same to the bigger fish?

ok, so when you anglers get a nibble or a bite what do you do right away? using nymph that is.

because i tend to just slowly pull in, should i pull it really fast then play with it, i don't know any info will help.
i keep on losing the big fish and dont know why.
anything under 12inch i can get it. but seems like if it's bigger it just want to get lose.

[hap]

They all want to get lose...

Several things to consider... If the big fish are always hooked "on the swing" the fly is in their mouths and you are directly upstream, which means you are hoping the hook sticks as the fly comes out the front of the mouth. They often miss lips...

To counter that, as soon as you feel a take drop your tip and point almost exactly at the fish, then set the hook with reasonable force sideways... So if you are fishing "River Right" with the current running left to right, set the hook to your right. This moves the hook across the mouth and with a little luck, down into the corner of the mouth.

If you are stillwater fishing the idea is to drop the tip and then set the hook sideways. There is usually plenty of time.

Another thing to look at is the hook. Some bent nymph hooks make putting steel behind lips difficult. If you can tie on wide gape scud hooks you will likely find better hook-ups.

Long shank hooks are also harder to keep big fish on due to the leverage the big hooks allow. Short shank hooks turn into the fish as they go, but long shank are often leaned back against the opposing jaw and ripping free.

Then there is "high-sticking" which does too much lifting and not enough retrieving... It also makes rods break.

How about hook sharpness? I do not sharpen good hooks until they need it and most often toss the fly at that point. Mustad is okay and Gamakatsu is at the top of my list. Tiemco and Daiichi are somewhere in between. Most of my basis for this is salmon hooks I use by the hundreds every year... but it seems to carry through to the other hooks as well.

Gamakatsu is working hard at making some very cool hook designs for specific fly tying apps...

A strip set, rod dropped to point right at the fish and line hauled hard while swinging rod to set hook with combo to increase line speed, will work well for bigger fish, but 12" fish certainly do not need that...
art

[Sully]

How about......

Since they arent pulling back on the line....they have both HANDS FREE to take the hook out of their lip!!!!..

[Big Bad Wulff]

I bet a lot are lost when you swing your rod to the left or right...essentially changing the pull angle on the fly and working it loose. I try to hold straight up and try not to do this although sometimes it just isn't possible.

Some just aren't hooked well to begin with.

[Steven McGarthwaite]

Larger Fish are smarter fish, otherwise they would have been something elses dinner, long time ago. I am not saying that that fish are intellectual, quite the opposite, but they do have survival instincts that have been breed into their specie over the millenniums.

You can only place so much tension on the fly line, and the weakest point is the tippet, which has the lowest breaking strength.

When I have a hit on my line, I count "One-Mississippi, Two-Mississippi, Three-Mississippi", while I am counting, I am also lowering my fly rod tip, and taking in any line slack as I point the tip-top guide at the direction of the fish.

At "Four- Mississippi", I do a long hard tug on the fly line, I then swing my fly rod tip to the left or right, depending the direction of the fish from my position.

A fly rod that is held closer to the water surface with less angle of the line with the surface, imparts more tension in the horizontal plane, than if the fly rod tip was held high above the water.

As the line is retrieved, the fish will rise to the surface, and I swing the fly rod past me to the rear, and I net the fish with my rod behind me, instead of above me. Saves on replacing tip sections, from overloading rod tips....

I fish from a Pontube, for large Largemouth Bass, on a regional lake that is "Catch & Release Only" , so I regularly catch Bass over 4 pounds on a daily bases when fishing.

~Parnelli

[fresnoflyman]

thanks all.... very helpfull....and that does makes good sences bigger fish are smarter and also that some times hooks dont hook up right... i just wanted that big fish so bad, to take a nice picture and said i cought a big one on a fly rod.

but im learning and having fun.
i also just learn that i am spend alot of money on fly fishing...

[Cold]

Sometimes, I'm just convinced that it's bad juju.

Case in point: When I started fishing, I used a SciAngler kit and caught my fair share of fish for a beginner with the fly rod. Fished that way from summer into November, when my cold, numb hands betrayed me and I accidentally yanked a guide right off my rod.

So, I postponed getting both the heavier rod for steelhead and the lighter rod for small streams and made a hasty purchase, picking up a good big-name, fairly entry level rod that, in all honesty, I didn't really want. It was a filler, a 5wt to take the place of my beloved cheap kit rod.

From day one, I couldn't seem to land a fish. Any fish. It took me 26 hookups to land my first fish. 26 trout, bass, bluegill, steelhead....every single one managed to throw the hook after a short battle.

My dad didnt believe me at first, but after fishing with me three times and watching every fish throw the hook, he was stumped too. Finally I got one, and there was talk of "breaking the curse", but even after that, I averaged one fish landed for about every 10 hookups.

The spring after that, I found a great deal on one of the 3wt rods I'd been eyeing up before I broke my 5wt and I jumped at the opportunity...both to get the newer, lighter rod and to finally be able to put down my 'cursed' 5wt. Got the 3wt, rigged it up, and landed over 90% of fish from day one. One year and 2 rods later, that 3wt is still a fish-catching machine.

Good juju? I think so.

[herefishy]

I'm pretty sure I don't lose as many fish with my slower rods than I did with the broomsticks.

[anglerdave]

When fishing for trout, I do a lift of the rod and pull with the line hand to set the hook. I may also let the fish pull against the rod tip for a couple of seconds or two to make sure the hook is set. Also, when fishing small nymphs, midges (size 18 and smaller) etc, I open the hook gap with my forceps a bit. This also seems to help with hooking and keeping them hooked.

When fishing for smallmouth I point the rod at the fish and then pull with my line hand as I pull with my rod hand. I do not lift the rod like I do when fishing nymphs for trout.

[Uncle Jesse]

I did extensive research and testing on this subject Sunday afternoon. I came to the conclusion the problem is cowardly fish. They never practice catch and release and cannot imagine we would either I must have had over a dozen strikes on dries with an emerger underneath without landing anything. A couple tried to snatch the rod from my hand, still no luck.

They are just cowards.