Line Pressure

[EdB]

just a quick question. When i lost that big fish yesterday in the middle of the river i had my rod real high and i had alot of pressure on the line. Drag was not real tight but he was really pulling. When he came off the line snapped back from the middle all the way to the shore. Did i have to much pressure on it? I was trying to keep him out of the fast run in the middle of the river. Did i just pull the hook out myself by appling that much pressure or should you just let him run into the fast *hit. Wondering what the pros thought.

[Guest bigbadbrent]

side pressure side pressure sideeeee pressure..

 

Holding high will slow a fish, side pressure will stop one.

 

 

Think of it this way, the fish is using the water agaisnt you by turning its body, if you use side pressure, you're using the water agaisn't it. The instant the fish switchs to use it agains't you, flip your rod to the other side, so its off balance again. You'll land big fish, faster doing this. Just keep switching side so it cannot gain its balance, and you'll be fine.

 

 

If its so big that you can't stop it, you need to put enough pressure to slow it down, let it do its thing, then slowly work it back to you. Let it run, then reel reel reel.. Battles are won in inches, not feet.

 

 

(btw, you had too much pressure, but chances are it was your tippet that broke with the way it popped off..if its running hard hard hard, point the tip at the direction of the fish till its done running, then back to side pressure)

[rusty]

I don't know...if a fish gets waaaay out there I like to get the rod nice and high to keep as much line off the water as I can.

 

I also think 90% of people don't apply anywhere near enough pressure on fish on the Bow. Can't see why it takes some guys 10 or 20 minutes to land a fish. You gotta lay the boots!

 

What are you using for tippet? For nymphing I wouldn't go anything less than 3X and I usually go 2X.

[Guest bigbadbrent]

Russ, I gotta agree with you. Side pressure just really helps stop the fish from getting way out there. You can also definitly use a combination of side pressure and height, just be sure to keep tension and keep 'em off balance.

 

 

TS, i also use 2 or 3x for nymphing, sometimes smaller if i'm nymphing winter with #18 - #20 midges, and even then i go as big as i can but still fit through the hookeye

[monger]

It would be a good experiment to learn how to fight fish with no backing on the reel. This would force people to learn how to slow/turn fish and subdue them quickly.

[EdB]

I'm useing 3x and the tippet din't breay. I still had all my gear on. I actually checked after to see if the hook bent because of how far back towards me the line shot. Thats wy i thought i may have just pulled it right out myself. I will try the side to side thing as well. I allways thought you should keep the rod high. I remember Toolman saying once that he would climb the bank to fight a big fish. Ah well. live and learn i guess. I do land the big ones but that was the first time i have had my line rocket back towards me so fast that it made me duck.

[Brownstone]

once the fish gets far out side pressure will only cause more line to catch the water causing more drag on the line and hook set .. you want to get your rod up, get as much line out of the water as you can, pull up on the fish and make it swim towards bottom to tire. In close you can "steer" the fish by using pressure from the side and try not to give him the opportunity to get out or down.

[toolman]

You are right Ed, I will try and get high up on the bank, if possible, too keep line off the water, as Rusty mentioned, but also to apply lift pressure to make the trout work a little harder in the faster surface currents. It's important to keep the trout facing upstream and not allow them to turn down river and use the currents against you. Side pressure will get them turned around most times. Also, don't muscle the trout too hard on the initial panic run, let em' go a bit and they ususally won't go far and will burn up a little steam. Then, turn their snouts up river and put the pressure on them. When you lift on the trout, they will try and go deep, rather than run to the other side of the river. But, the main reason I like to apply lift pressure is ....it makes the trout jump like wild Broncs! YEEEHAAAW!

[EdB]

thanks Greg. i had my rod right over my head as i recall trying to keep him up. He was just stoped dead in the middle of the river by a real fast seam and i couldn't move him at all, then pop....out it came.

[Nick0Danger]

By switching side to side to fast and repetedly you can bore a larger hole in the fish and when is does something funky it has a better chance of tossing the hook although i do like side presure. Seeing what happens here.

[EdB]

Also getting a fish off balance i dont buy that one, there in water and swim not like they they will trip or anything.

thats awsome.......

[Guest bigbadbrent]

Nick, you'll see a fish has to reposition itself everytime you move the rod tip. The more times its repositioning (and the further it went from the last spot) will mean more energy spent, aka faster landing time

 

 

Sounds to me that he had hooked you into the bottom or into a tree or something, if it was just sitting there while you had pressure on it

[Hawgstoppah]

I like side pressure when they get close, but on the initial hookset / run / jumps, I give 'em pressure and a high rod tip. I don't think it matters too much what you do with it as long as you maintain steady hard pressure... otherwise you'll be talking about a lot more lost fish than this one that just plain owned ya. It happens.

 

Watch a new zealand video, there fighting fish MUCH larger (well, for the most part anyways) than we are.... and they got those rods... WAAAAAAY up.

[Weedy1]

Simple physics. The closer the fish is to the angler the larger the pivot angle becomes, thus the more effect the side pressure will have.

 

 

This is what really happens at 100ft. You will have to get the line out of the water to have control.

 

[PlayDoh]

[Weedy1]

I take it you liked my fish Playdoh?

[lonefisher]

weedy that guy must be really short..... either that or thats a 6 foot brown

[SteveM]

weedy that guy must be really short..... either that or thats a 6 foot brown

 

Actually, I'd put the object at the end of the line at 8-9 feet; I compared it to the 12 ft measurement from the end of Weedy's little rod

to the end of his big rod( see Weedy's diagram). BTW, the object at the end of the line looks very much like a torpedo; I don't care

how you pressure it, you ain't gonna land no torpedo!!!

[EdB]

nice pics Weedy. makes sence when you look at it like that.

[reevesr1]

Weedy, where do you find those backwards swimming torpedo fish??

 

Looks like you remember your trig!! sine(theta)=Opposite/hypotenuese

[ogilvie]

Line Pressure from very fast water can be a big problem for many of us. I have had many Steelhead 'Horseshoe" me during many outings,on both small and larger rivers. But most of the hooks have been from 1/0 to #6. Over the past 4-5 years I have taken to fishing almost exclusively with a Stinger style fly either on a Tube or looped hook. Useing Gamakatsu or similar style Egg/Octopus/Tube hooks in the #2-#6 size have produced much better landing rates. Last year I began useing the same style set-ups for landing Trout and some Salmon in the smaller rivers useing hooks as small as #12. Great for Stone Flies,Small Leeches,Minnow Patterns and others. The Smaller hook has a lot less impact on the fishes ability to head shake the hook free and definitely reduces the size of the injury from the inbedded hook! This is also a great option for leech patterns.

C

[BRH]

Wondering what the pros thought.

 

I don't know if I'm doing this correctly or not but if the quote comes out funny ... it's 'cause of me.

 

TroutSlayer ... The whole reason for keeping your rod tip high is to get the fish on the rod ... not the line. While it does lift more line out of the water the higher you raise your rod tip, the difference in the amount of line out of the water is insignificant. The closer the fish is to you, the less significant it becomes. If a fish is out 60 feet and you have your rod pointed straight up in the air, raising your arm above you head and keeping your rod pointed straight in the air is going to elevate you rod tip about 3 feet. The amount of extra line you're going to lift out of the water is only about 4 feet or less ... an insignificant amount.

 

When I say the reason for keeping your rod tip high is to get the fish on the rod is meaning to say, have the fish fight the rod instead of fighting the line. The lower you point the rod at the fish, the more you're fighting the fish on the line instead of the rod. I'm not suggesting this is the issue with your experience, only that there may be some misconceptions as to why you hold your rod high. And holding your rod high doesn't mean raising your arm and standing on your tippee toes. Holding your rod high means pointing it straight up to the sky. This is the biggest problem I have with people learning to fight fish. I have an exercise I do with a stalk of grass to demonstrate why you hold your rod high. If you're fighting a fish with the line (pointing the rod at the fish), as soon as the fish jerks his head, the fish is gone because there's little or no give in the line. If you're fighting a fish with the rod (the rod tip pointing straight up at the sky), when the fish jerks his head the rod flexes, just as it's supposed to do, and the fish is still on the hook.

 

I don't subscribe to the side-to-side tactic as mentioned by other posters. Sure you use side-to-side fighting techniques once the fish is within landing distance or to maneuver him around an obstacle but that's once he's within 20 or less feet. If you've got a good fish on and he's out there a ways, moving your rod from side to side is going to have marginal impact if any impact at all other than making you feel like you're actually accomplishing something. If the fish is out there a ways, the side to side thing is for your peace of mind, nothing to do with fighting or landing the fish.

 

The other major problem fishers have with fighting a fish in the Bow or other streams like her is that they seem to think their job is to pull the fish to them. It's like their feet are planted in cement. If you're fishing the Bow and you've got a good fish on ... get mobile man! The key to fighting and landing a big fish in a stream with a current is to attempt to continually fight the fish perpendicular to the current. If the fish goes downstream, get on your horses buddy and hoof it downstream with him. If the fish runs upstream, certainly move upstream but be aware he's going to be coming back down before too long. If you've planted your feet in cement and the fish runs downstream, now you're not only fighting the fish but you're fighting the current as well. To demonstrate how futile it is to attempt to fight and bring a good fish back upstream in the Bow, take a stick (any one pound stick will do), hook it and throw it as far as you can out in the current. Once it swings past you and the current pulls the line tight, pull the stick back to you against the current. You can do all the side to side crap you want but it isn't going to make the retrieval any easier. You can also raise your rod as high in the air as you can, even stand on your tippee toes with your rod extended above your head and it isn't going to make the retrieval any easier. Next time, throw the stick as far as you can into the current then walk down the bank keeping the stick directly out from you and retrieve the stick. I'll guarantee you'll find it a lot easier to retrieve the stick the second time. Easier even if you don't hold your rod high and have all your line in the water or do any of the side to side crap. Now imagine the stick is a good fish. You've increased your chances of landing the fish exponentially by moving up and down the stream with him.

 

As to why your line broke, there are a number of reasons that could explain it. Certainly, you could have not been giving him enough head and only you can determine if that's the case or not. Debris on the river bottom could have cut the line. There could have been a knot in your leader causing it to break. Your leader could have been damaged creating a weak spot. You could have been attempting to fight him on the line or he may have been downstream using the current to his advantage. For anyone to tell you what happened is impossible other than to just offer possible explanations.

 

With regard to fighting a fish, why is it that many fishers want to retrieve the fish as quickly as possible? Isn't the biggest part of the experience the fight? "Give 'im the boots". "Heel 'im". I don't get that! So what if it takes 20 minutes to land a fish? If your pleasure is derived from fighting the fish, let him run ... play him for all he's worth and if it takes 20 minutes to bring him to hand, take pleasure in knowing that you and he had a terrific battle and that you're going to remember him and the battle for days to come.

[wongrs]

has anyone on here ever tried relieving pressure on big fish? i've done it a few times in the past couple years when fish have gotten downstream of me and as soon as the pressure was off the fish (still some pressure though), they stopped, turned around and swam back upstream of me back to their lie where i started to fight them again. i think i might have read MTB mention that once before.

 

and i'm talking 20+ inch fish. anyone else had that experience?

[monger]

Pseudonym, do you have any concerns about the amount of lactic acid that builds up in the fishes muscles after a 20 minute fight? Is this an issue or just folklore?

[maxwell]

lmao uhhhhhhhh yea.. well put monger......... i like too catch and release em more than once........ lactic acid kills alot of fish.... sidepresure is key too landing big fish in a decent amount of time while still enjoying the fight....... but not leaving them for dead afterwords

 

ed when your hog takes that big run down and out.. swing your tip downstream and too the side.......... the fish will turn and show the current his side and swing too the shore no problem..... when they fish is downstream it must not swimg faster than teh current just too breath..... so a little sidepressure and turning them abck into the current and towards shore is key..... IMHO