HOOKÉ
Part 5: Be fighting fit
This month, Don Stazicker urges you to test your tackle’s stopping power as he examines the intricacies of playing fish
"Few fishermen know how hard they can pull with their tackle before it will break, yet knowing that safe pull is one of the most important parts of playing a fish." — Lee Wulff (1986)
WE’VE ALL experienced it: you strike, the fish surfaces, and you realise it's far bigger than expected. What happens next?
Some anglers become so cautious they let the fish dictate the fight and eventually lose it. Others take control and land it quickly. Most of our experience comes from catching average fish. Repeating the same techniques — keeping the rod tip high and hand-stripping line — builds habits that work well on small fish but can prove costly when something more powerful takes off.
Like drivers who never explore their car's full braking or acceleration, many fly-fishers do not know how much pressure their tackle can safely apply. Gary Borger summed it up perfectly in Presentation (1995): "Treat every fish as if it were a big fish."
Whatever the fish’s size, use the same care in fly selection, tackle preparation, stalking and presentation, then fight every fish efficiently by getting it onto the reel and using the correct rod angle. Those habits will prepare you for the fish of a lifetime.
Fight every fish efficiently by getting it onto the reel and using the correct rod angle
The angle or your rod during the fight will affect the speed at which the fish can be overpowered.
THOMAS TSCHERNE
Rod angles
We're often told to "keep the rod up." That advice is well intentioned, but misleading. A fly-rod's flexible tip protects light tippets while the stiff butt generates power.
At 90° (rod high), only the soft tip works, giving excellent tippet protection but limited stopping power. At 0° (pointing directly at the fish), the rod cannot cushion the tippet, but maximum pressure comes from the reel drag and palming the spool.
The ideal compromise is 30-45° above the horizontal — much lower than many anglers employ.
Richard Walker suggested a simple experiment in Stillwater Angling (1953): tie your 8lb line to a doorknob and try to break it with steady pressure. Most anglers are surprised to find it's virtually impossible.
At 30° or less: The lower the rod, the more the strength in the rod's butt and the reel's drag will come into play.
At 60° plus the fish will have the upper hand: The rod's power and the effectiveness of the reel's drag are minimal, but light tippets will be more protected.
30-45°: The ultimate position for fighting a fish, when you have the upper hand, are using your rod and reel's potential, yet still have the option to add more or less pressure when needed.
Using a 9ft seven-weight saltwater fly-rod held at 30°, I measured the maximum steady pull I could generate: 4.75lb. Despite weighing 200lb and working out regularly, I couldn't break 5lb tippet under a steady load.
If you've broken stronger tippet while fighting fish, the cause was likely to have been shock loading, poor knots, snags, a fish’s teeth or the drag of a submerged fly-line. 5X tippet (around 4lb-5lb breaking strain) is the transition point. With 5X or stronger, I can confidently pull hard with the rod around 30°.
With lighter tippet, I raise the rod to about 45°, reducing the force applied while allowing the rod to protect the tippet more effectively. For the very lightest tippet materials, I might use a 60° angle. You can therefore use the rod angle as a simple way to regulate the force you apply to the tippet and the fish.
Put simply: High rod = low force; low rod = high force.
Could you play a human?
Watch how Don fared with Loop’s Opti reels and Track and 7X rods here.
Test your limits
You don't need specialised equipment to understand your tackle’s capabilities. Tie your tippet to a solid object and gradually lower the rod from vertical in 10° steps. At each step, pull back hard, applying steady pressure. Eventually, you'll reach an angle where the tippet breaks. Repeat the test with different strengths of tippet.
Every rod has its own characteristics, so the critical angle will vary with rod design and tippet strength. With tippets above about 6lb, the angle approaches the horizontal.
Finding out how much pressure your own tackle can safely apply is one of the most valuable lessons you can learn. Make time to test it — you'll fish with far greater confidence when a truly big fish takes.
Playing a fish off the reel, rather than handlining and having fly-line around your feet, is always advisable.
Reel functions
A fly-reel has two essential jobs: it should release line smoothly under controlled resistance and retrieve it quickly without tangles. Some anglers claim reels are only for storing line. Anyone who has fought a powerful fish in fast water knows otherwise.
Watch someone hand-lining a running fish and you'll see the rod tip jerk as line slips through their fingers. Each jerk stresses the tippet and hook hold; it may also alarm the fish. Using a good reel with a smooth drag keeps the rod under constant load, doesn’t cause jerks and therefore protects the tippet and hook hold.
Understanding drag
Whether it's a simple click drag or a sophisticated disc drag, every system aims to release line smoothly at a consistent resistance. A reel with an exposed spool rim allows additional pressure to be applied by palming the rim when needed.
Smoothness matters more than maximum drag. If excessive force is required to start the spool turning, a fast fish can break the tippet before the drag works. This is often described as high start-up inertia, although inertia is only part of the story.
The weight of the fly-line and backing also contributes to rotational inertia. Large arbour reels require less backing; this reduces weight and consequently contributes to an easy start-up
The weight of the spool, particularly if much of that weight is around the periphery, will create rotational inertia. This is the tendency of the spool to resist changing from a static state to one where it is rotating. The weight of the fly-line and backing also contributes to rotational inertia. Large arbour reels require less backing; this reduces weight and consequently contributes to an easy start-up.
Startup resistance is also influenced by static friction between drag surfaces. Static friction occurs when the spool is at rest; dynamic friction, which occurs once the spool is moving, will be less. A good analogy is pushing furniture on a smooth floor; it takes more effort to get the furniture moving and much less effort to keep it moving.
Disc drags may experience higher static friction than dynamic friction, but well-designed systems minimise this difference. Click drags behave similarly: the pawl (the clicker) requires more force to climb the first tooth than to continue clicking once the spool is rotating. It’s possible for the start-up resistance of a click drag to be higher than that of a well-designed disk drag.
A reel with a sophisticated drag allows for fine adjustment.
Setting the drag
Click drags offer zero or minimal adjustment, while disc drags usually have a wide range of settings. Too little drag allows the spool to overrun, producing a backlash and often a lost fish. I watched a friend's click-drag reel explode into an unrecoverable tangle when a 6lb New Zealand rainbow charged downstream.
I set my drag so I can strip line rapidly from the spool without causing an overrun. I check the setting by pulling line through the rod guides with the rod bent. I’m testing for drag caused by guide friction. This usually results in me backing off the drag slightly. The drag should release line once the rod is well bent.
If you’ve determined the critical angle for your tippet, you can set the drag to release line just before that angle is reached. You’ve now got a set-up where you can pull back hard and know that, before the tippet breaks, the drag will release line. It’s very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve this kind of accuracy if you hand-line your fish.
Avoid adjusting the drag during a fight. It's easy to overtighten and impossible to reduce quickly if the fish accelerates. If you need slightly less resistance, simply lower the rod tip to reduce friction through the guides. If more force is required, you can palm the exposed spool rim. If your reel lacks one, you could pinch the fly line, but it's easy to forget to release it during a sudden run.
A larger diameter reel will spin less with a fish on and will retrieve line much faster — both give you more control.
Decisive dimensions
The greater leverage of a large-diameter reel reduces startup resistance. It will also rotate more slowly, which is safer for the angler when a fish runs. High retrieval speed is another major advantage.
It's important to distinguish between a large diameter and a large arbour. The arbour is the centre of the spool around which the line is wound. A large-diameter reel may still have a small arbour. Large-arbour reels maintain a more constant spool diameter, so drag pressure and retrieve rate change very little during a fight.
My Loop Opti Dry Fly reel has a large-arbour spool with a large diameter of four inches. It retrieves one foot of line per revolution. This doesn’t vary much as the line leaves the spool and the drag force remains remarkably consistent.
A small 2½-inch reel, with a tiny arbour of half-an-inch in diameter, retrieves less than eight inches per turn when full and barely 1½ inches per turn when nearly empty. As the reel empties, it takes longer to reel in, and its click drag gets stronger because of the reduction in leverage. With reels like this, it’s hardly surprising that fly-fishers resorted to hand-lining!
Large-arbour reels maintain a more constant spool diameter, so drag pressure and retrieve rate change very little during a fight.
Reel maintenance
Old grease and neglected bearings increase startup resistance. Clean and lubricate reels according to the manufacturer's instructions, remembering that some drag components should not be lubricated.
Disc drags should be backed off during storage to prevent the drag surfaces becoming compressed. Click drags can safely remain engaged. And always remember to reset the drag before fishing. This is especially important if you’ve allowed someone else to use your outfit.
Applying side strain to turn a fish is more effective when it is close than at distance.
Don't just stand there
Many anglers hook large fish and simply hold the rod high while watching them run. The first few seconds are critical. Before the fish realises what has happened, apply side strain to turn its head and prevent a long run. This is most effective while the fish is still close; once it gains distance, side strain becomes progressively less effective.
If a fish gets below you, use side strain to pull it into slower marginal water rather than allowing it to fight in the strongest current.
Before the fish realises what has happened, apply side strain to turn its head and prevent a long run
Don’t think you have to stop an upstream run at all costs. Turning the fish often sends it racing downstream, where it gains the advantage. Moderate pressure frequently keeps it upstream, fighting both you and the current.
Move your feet. When you can, follow a fish that's running downstream; aim to get below it if possible. If it runs towards you, step back and reel in to stay connected.
Sometimes the fish jumps well to one side of the line. The line has been pulled into a submerged curve, creating enormous water resistance that can break the tippet regardless of your drag setting. Raise the rod high to lift the line clear of the water and restore a straight connection.
Ultimately, a fast and efficient fight will reduce stress on the fish, as will the speedy removal of a barbless hook.
THOMAS TSCHERNE
Landing the fish
Land fish as quickly as possible. Shorter fights improve survival after release. Keep the fish on the reel to avoid loose line and let the drag absorb any last surge.
The last few feet are often the hardest. Instead of tilting the rod backwards, which can damage the tip, turn sideways and extend your rod arm behind you while keeping the rod angle low. This brings more of the powerful butt section into play. By netting a fish when it’s further away, you can apply more pressure with the butt of the rod.
A long-handled net helps, but the ideal solution is for a companion to net the fish while it's still well away from you, allowing you to maintain a low rod angle and maximum control.
Know your tackle
Do you really know how hard you can pull? If not, tie your tippet to a solid object and find out. Understanding the limits of your rod, reel and tippet will give you the confidence to fight fish harder, land them faster and lose fewer of those fish you want to remember for a lifetime.
PHOTOGRAPHY: RICHARD FAULKS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Don Stazicker
Don Stazicker is the president of Cressbrook and Litton Flyfishers in Derbyshire, England, and co-author — with Peter Hayes — of The Flies that Trout Prefer: Why they work and how to tie and fish them.
