Playing, Landing and Releasing Fish

Here i show to you some tips on how to playing, Landing and the most important, how to release a fish without injuring him.

Thy Rod and Thy Arm When playing fish, think of your arm as an extension of the fly rod. Keeping your rod tip high and arm extended above your head provides additional shock-absorption and makes it less likely that your line or leader will touch an underwater obstacle. Larger fish, especially once they are closer, can be beaten more quickly with sideways pressure, but extending your rod arm when they surge away is good practice.

Avoiding Break-Offs Sudden movements of a fish or setting the hook too hard are more likely than a steady hard pull to cause a tippet to break, because the tensile strength of monofilament and fluorocarbon is greatly reduced by high-speed stretching.

Don’t Touch That Drag Don’t adjust your drag during the playing of a fish unless you are very familiar with the drag system. It’s almost impossible to measure the amount of pressure your drag is adding once a fish is on the line.

Practice for Big Fish If you plan on fighting big fish, first learn how much pressure you can put on a fish by tying your tippet to a fence post or other stationary object, reeling the line tight, palming the spool, and pulling as hard as you can without breaking the tippet. Practice keeping your rod at a 45-degree or lesser angle to the fish to ensure that you do not break the rod and that you are pulling with the bend in the butt of the rod and not the tip.

The Saltwater Strike In saltwater, swinging your rod tip up or to the side when you see fish take the fly — especially if you are not first tight to the fish — can cause the hook to pull and make it much harder to get a good hook set. Unless a fish is speeding toward you as it east the fly, feel for the fish with your stripping hand first, then raise the rod only after putting tension on the line with your stripping hand.

Always play and land fish as quickly as you can, but especially in warmer water, when additional stress may prevent a released fish from surviving. Rick Hyman photo.

Play and Land Fish Quickly Always play and land fish as quickly as you can, but especially in warmer water, when additional stress may prevent a released fish from surviving. Most trout prefer water that is 50-68 degrees fahrenheit, and brook trout and cutthroats prefer even colder water. If you know that the water where you are trout fishing is 70 degrees, pay particular attention to releasing fish quickly, and if the water is 75 degrees or higher, simply don’t fish. Bass and saltwater fish are more tolerant of heat, but you should take special care in reviving any fish that is landed in water over 90 degrees.

Releasing Fish You don’t usually need to handle a fish or take it out of the water in order to remove a hook or take a picture. Remove flies with forceps or a similar device, and use a net rather than your hands if you must control the fish.

Check Your Bait Especially when casting often or in strong winds, examine your tippet and fly every four or five casts. Wind-knots (overhand knots) weaken your tippet by at least 50 percent, and tippets can get tangled in your fly or even knotted around the hook bend — things you won’t notice on a fly that is 40 feet away. Also check the action of the fly on the surface or in the water next to you; trout flies that don’t float well or straight and saltwater flies that “foul” (have materials wrapped around the hook bend) often prevent fish from eating a well-chosen fly.