Thanks, already installed the loop, guess the only thing left to do is fish it and see what it does.

I'd be interested in hearing how it turns out.

mbarker, if that's one of those store-bought braided loops, you might want to get Robin to build you a double catch loop instead. I tried the store bought variety and was sorely disappointed in their durability.

Nope, not store bought. Basically stripprd the coating off Used some red fly tying thread and a needle. Created my own loop ,strike indicator, and coated the thread with head cement. probably not the best way to do it, but it has worked for me in the past.

I'll be casting it on my 5wt BVK. If it dosn't work out, guess I could use it on my 4WT custom that I just built. Still need to get a reel and line for it. LOL

It sounds like you're in good shape then.

I've seen few guys catching bunch of White bass using fly fishing.So I ran off and bought a fly fishing combo. Spent 2 hour practice on casting but man it is so dawn hard to cast...
I need to learn how quick ...

The best and most frustration-free way to learn to fly cast quickly is to find a local Certified Casting Instructor and learn from a pro. I'm really kicking myself for not doing that sooner. It's so completely different from "conventional" casting that it's incredibly frustrating to try to learn it on your own. I really feel bad for those folks that taught themselves in the pre-YouTube days.

Salt water, or any sunny fishing, protection from the sun

New Question from a new user but not a new fly fisher...

I've been fly fishing on and off for 8 or 9 years, and I've probably caught hundreds of fish on fly rods...mostly trout (I used to live in upstate NY and later WA where I fly fished a lot) and also some bass and sunfish. All of the fish I've caught have been under 2 lbs or so...up to 15 or 16" trout and maybe up to 2 lb bass. Enough to put a bend in a 4 or 6 weight rod but not really a 'fight.' All of 'em have been easy to 'strip' in. I've never used the 'drag' on my reels nor have I ever had a fish pull off line into the backing.

Question: for those of you who have caught big fish on a fly rod. How do you fight them? Let's say you're fishing a streamer and you've stripped in about a third of the line when a 5 or 6 lb bass hits it. Then what? Can you strip in a 5 lb bass? Do you let the fish take the line out and then reel it all back in? I've caught nice bass in the 5 lb range on a bait casting reel and on a spinning reel...usually you just horse them in...especially with 20 lb test. I've never really caught a big fish on a fly rod. Same question goes for anyone who has caught a big salmon, steelhead, or trout for that matter. If I ever tied in to a big 20-40 lb fish I'd have no idea what to do.

Welcome to our little pocket of weirdness on the internet, beat army.

I think the biggest determining factor would be how strong your tippet and leader are. If I'm gunning for largemouth with my big rod, I'm probably using at least 12lb mono for my tippet. The largemouth down here tend to play out relatively quickly, especially during the summer when our lake water temperatures can easily get into the 90s. In that specific scenario, the fish probably doesn't need to be on the reel, but you could try it for practice. Just remember that most bass want to get back to protective cover when hooked, so they're going to take you back into the brush if you give them the chance. I do think we give bass too much credit for "trying to break us off" in heavy cover. That fish has no idea that wrapping your line around that jagged old stump will cause it to fray and break, she just wants to get back to her dark hole where she hopes whatever grabbed her can't reach her.

If however, you hang a hybrid striper while flinging a 3wt for bream with 4lb test line, onto the reel you must go (or so I hear). The gentleman in this article was fishing for striper on the Guadalupe River with his 8wt when he hooked a 36.65 lb striper on 14lb test tippet.

Fly fishing writers are fond of talking about the "scream of the drag", but the sunfish family generally don't give us that opportunity. Stripers, their half siblings, cousins, and the carp are probably the only fish in our great state that would cause a fly flinger to actually need their drag.

Personally, I have come to really enjoy getting to feel a good fish fight by stripping them in. One of these days I'd love to get a good fly line burn and hook a good (non-carp ) fish that I NEED the drag to land.

I've been fly fishing for about a year (warm water exclusively so far)and the biggest bass I've landed on my 6wt was about 4lbs. I was using 3x tippet and a #6 wooly bugger on a pond that didn't have a lot of cover, so I let him get on the reel. It probably took me 5 minutes to get him in. I like to get any bass over about 2lbs. on the reel because I use small to medium size flies.

Panic.

Great question.



Maybe he takes some line while you're reeling like mad to take up the slack on the reel end, ideally, while maintaining some tension on the line at both ends. (It's been done by using an index finger to press the forward line against the rod while running the slack/reel-in portion of the line through the third and fourth and fingers. Yeah, and it might be about as graceful as a 300 lb. ballerina.)

"Big fish" is relative to the tackle, to which TXRR alludes. I've never hooked a 40 pounder on fly gear, but I've been pretty much owned by single digit red drum and channel catfish while I was using moderate-action five weights.

My arbitrary preference is to try and get every fish reasonably possible "on the reel"�although that may be kind of a misnomer since it's still more about the angler and the rod. Getting the line stowed (on the reel) seems sensible, and fighting that way just seems, to me, more satisfying.


Probably�especially on gear and tippets heavy enough to cast wet mop heads�but, do you want to?

Here's hoping we can all get into fish�jack crevalle , bonefish, mackerel, crazy carp�that will make whether to take up the slack a moot question.

go hook up with one, you'll figure it out

I'm still pretty new to flyfishing and I have a question about rod action. Are certain action rods better for certain situations (i.e. wind, playing large fish w/ light tippets, etc...)? What action rod do you prefer and why?