Stick It To 'em

by Gary Borger

At first glance, nothing seems easier than setting the hook: When the fish takes the fly, all the angler has to do is jerk back on the rod. In actual practice, however, such a simple and rough interpretation usually results in a broken tippet or a hook torn from the fish's mouth. Furthermore, the hook-set movement must do more than just set the hook. It must put the rod in the optimum position from which to immediately begin fighting the fish. Setting the hook, it turns out, is just as much a precise skill as the other facets of fly fishing.

Striking With the Tip

Fishing with a light tippet and/or a small hook requires a delicate set. For rods up to eight weight, I consider a light tippet to be one that has a pound-test breaking strength equal to the rod weight minus one. For example, a tippet of under five pounds strength is light for a six-weight rod, one of under seven pounds is light for an eight-weight rod, and so on. For nine through twelve weight, anything less than seven pounds is light weight. "Small hook" is a relative term that has to be defined in terms of the size and species of fish. For trout or bonefish, it means anything under a size 14; for pike or bass, it would mean anything under a size 10, and so on.

Since the fish's reaction to the hook set is usually instantaneous flight, the rod should end up in a position that clears the line off the water. This prevents tangling around logs, plants, or other near-surface obstructions and removes the frictional drag that occurs between the line and the water as the fish swims rapidly this way and that. Such drag can put a severe strain on a light tippet. In addition, this final position must produce only minimal rod flexure so that there is only minimum pressure on the running fish.

Both goals are achieved by lifting the rod into a vertical or nearly vertical position; this picks up the line and allows the fisher to use just the tip half of the rod to set the hook and play the fish. Because it's so thin, the rod tip is capable of applying only a few ounces of pressure to the line, thus preserving the integrity of the hair-thin leader on both the strike and during the initial moments of the fight. But getting the rod into a vertical position is not as simple as it might first seem.

Strip Strike

If there's so much slack that lifting the rod to the vertical still won't remove all of it (as might occur when using a pile cast or puddle cast to fish a dry fly), then the angler should use the Strip Strike, quickly taking in the extra line as the rod is lifted (otherwise the hook can't be set).

I always hold the line under a finger of my rod hand so that I can easily grab it and strip it in swiftly with my line hand when the need arises. I usually start the strip when the rod is nearly vertical; in this position it's much easier to judge the amount of line that needs to be removed to set the hook. Thrusting the rod as high overhead as possible will also help to pick up the extra slack. If the strip is begun at the same time as this overhead thrust (to maximize the length of line that can be stripped), the angler can lift over 20 feet of slack in one smooth movement.

Slip Strike

This is exactly opposite of the Strip Strike and is applied when there's not enough slack to allow the rod to reach the vertical before the hook is set. In this instance, the angler must let out some line as the rod moves upward. (If the set were to occur without letting out line, the rod would bend down into its the butt section, applying far more pressure than a light tippet could withstand.)

How much line must be let out depends upon the amount of slack. The greatest amount of line has to be let out when the angler is keeping the rod tip right down on the water and retrieving a nymph on a straight line--in this instance there's no slack at all. On the strike, the line will have to flow out during the entire movement of the rod from the fishing position to the hook-set position. Allowing for line stretch, tip bending, and reangling of the line in the air, this translates into a length of line equal to about 2/3 the length of the rod. This also means you need to be ready to let the line out, either by having extra slack in your hand or by letting it flow off the reel (when using light tippets/small hooks always keep the reel's drag set as light as possible). If there's some slack already in the line, only enough extra line need be released to get the rod up. Again, keeping the line under a finger of the rod hand allows the fly fisher to release as much as needed. When the rod is nearly vertical, the finger is used to clamp the line against the grip and hold it fast as the hook is set.

Striking to the Side

Sometimes the optimum position for the rod at the beginning of the fight is not straight up but straight out to the side. This would be the case, for example, if the fish had to be immediately turned away from a weed bed or other cover. In this instance, the strike is made by moving the rod up and out to the side so that it finishes head high and parallel to the water. This movement can be made with either the Strip Strike or Slip Strike, if necessary.

Striking With the Butt

In order to prevent tearing the hook out of the fish's mouth when striking soft-mouthed species such as grayling, or white fish, I set the hook with the tip--regardless of the strength of the leader or the size of the hook. But when using strong tippets/large hooks for hard-mouthed species like tarpon, bass, pike, and so on, it's best to strike the fish with the lower half of the rod. This type of strike also allows the angler to instantly exert considerable force on the fish--to pull it from cover, turn its head, or to gain immediate advantage in a particularly powerful fight.

This strike can only be made when all the slack is out of the line and the rod is parallel to, or pointing down toward, the water. If there is any slack, it has to be stripped out before the rod is moved to set the hook. If the rod is pointing above the horizontal, then the tip has to be brought down until it is horizontal. That's why most anglers fish with the tip low and keep a very straight line when they anticipate using the strip strike. Even then, it's best to strip on the line at the same time as the rod is being lifted. The strip compensates for line stretch and assures a quick, positive connection to the fish. The line is cradled under a finger of the rod hand so that when the strip ends, the line can be tightly clamped against the grip.

The strike with the rod is made by pulling the butt (NOT the tip) straight up (or straight out to the side if that's where you need the rod to end up). Because the line is straight when the rod is lifted, the tip snaps down and the rod bends into the butt. This immediately puts pounds of pressure on the fish; enough to get the attention of even the largest tarpon.

Striking the fish correctly is essential to getting the hook in without breaking the leader and in preparing for the immediately ensuing fight. So don't be a jerk on the line; learn to use the rod to your advantage and get a line on the fish.