Hook up rates for dry flies?
If I hook, whether I bring them to hand or not (I imagine some are lost because of barbless hooks I employ), around 75% of the 6-10 inch trout that rise to the dry flies I fish in small mountain streams, I think I've had a good rate of success.
On most days, though, my hook up rate is closer to 50%, and on really bad days drops to 25%.
This topic has probably been discussed, by I couldn't find it with my search.
What's your hook up rate for small trout on dries?
No man can have too many fly rods;
no woman too many shoes.
I also fish barbless (ie. I smash the barbs before I tie) but I think my rate for 6-10 inch trout to be higher, more like 90%. Perhaps I just have a selective memory, I don't really keep track.
What kind of hooks and what sizes are you using? My favorite pattern for local water is an Adams Parachute in sizes 12 to 18, tied on a TMC 100. I would expect fewer hook ups fishing smaller bugs, size 20-24. I would also expect fewer hook ups on a scud hook or something like a TMC 200, due to the narrow hook gap. I recently switched to a Dai-Riki scud hook that is 'kirbed' (hook point is angled to the side) for a better hook up rate, I think it works.
All that said, I have had those frustrating days when I get lots of strikes but few hook ups. I'm not sure what is happening, do the fish miss the fly? Or perhaps they hit the leader during the take and the fly is pulled out of the mouth? Perhaps the fish make a dash for the fly and at the last minute decide it's not food, what I take for a strike is just the boil of water the fish as it turns away. For what ever reasons sometimes the fish just seem to be teasing me...
I fish small streams small trout occasionally around here, and I would expect a hook up rate much higher than what you're seeing. In my personal experience, a lot of those misses are refusals. If you feel something on the leader and don't get a hook up, I'm pretty sure it's the leader sliding over the fish on the refusal - the occasional foul hooked fish seems to support that. On the very small fish and flies there does seem to be a noticeably higher rate where they get off after being hooked, but the fact that they were hooked is clear.
I usually concentrate on finding the correct fly on my small spring creeks here and then everything clicks - even the small fish in these tiny creeks can get choosy. I was sight fishing to a small brookie last Saturday, and he'd look at and sometimes refuse every fly the first time it went over him, but once I got the correct fly (size 20 elk caddis) he took instantly.
Hope that helps.
Lost Fish
When I fish the small stream tributaries using a size #12 to a #16, I have found that
the smaller fish shake themselves off more frequently than the bigger fish do. I felt it
was do to the smaller fish seem to shake more vilently than the larger fish do. (any
comment?) I also crimp down the barb pryor to tying.
Crunchy
I think this last post may have a lot to do with it - have you noticed that it is easier to release a small fish than a large one? You can just kind of shake the fly out, and so can the fish.
There are days when I have a tough time getting hook up also. I feel (but have not kept count) that I do better when using larger flies sizes 18 - 14. Then I usually do better after the first couple hits. I find my hook up percentage drops with the sizes 20 - 26. I can can frustrated when the trico hatch starts but seem to get better as the season goes on. If I find one fault that can be corrected is striking to fast or to hard. Particularly when the fish are just sipping small flies off the surface. Give the fish a second or two to sip in the fly and then turn a bit. Then a gentle lift of the rod is all that is needed to set the hook with most shrp dry fly hooks... Good luck.
Bill A
I never really keep track of these things (if I did, I think I would be depressed)...except for several weekends ago while I was fishing the Metolius River in Central Oregon, I ran into a great BWO hatch and even had the fly dialed in pretty good...I couldn't even hook a fish (I was something like 0 for 15 or so). at first, I thought I was short-setting them, but I brought in my little emerger (tied on a scud hook) and bent the hook out just a little ways and that made all of the difference. I immediately hooked and landed several fish before the hatch finally ended. Turned out to be a great day fishing dries in the snow...all it took was a slight modification of the hook. For the same reason, I like using hooks with a straight eye on most of my dries and some emergers...it seems as though my hook-ups increase with that.
oh, and yes, it seems as though the smaller fish do thrash about a bit more frantically than larger fish....
there's my 2 cents,
Randy
"Some people fish their entire lives without realizing it's not the fish they're after."
At the other end of the spectrum, at times when I am fishing a large dry fly, size 8 - 10, I notice more misses with small fish. I always assumed they got so excited, they didn't (or couldn't) get the entire fly into their mouth. I've seen them strike at the fly three or four times without hooking up.
You gotta love their spirit!
Rex
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