Tuesday Tip: How to Set the Hook and Fight a Fish

Welcome to another installment of “Ask an Orvis Fly-Fishing Instructor,” with me, Peter Kutzer. In this episode, I demonstrate how to correctly set the hook when you’re fishing for trout and other small fish and when you’re stripping a fly for saltwater species or freshwater big game. The way you set the hook makes a huge difference in your success rate, so knowing the correct motion for a given situation is important. Many a flats angler has been ridiculed by his guide for losing a fish to a “trout set.”

Next, we move on to fish-fighting technique. Although the classic fly-fishing pose involves the rod tip held high above the angler’s head, this is actually an inefficient use of the fly rod’s power. Instead of fighting a fish off the tip of the rod, you want to bend the butt section. OrvisNews.com editor Phil Monahan and I use the scale on a BogaGrip to demonstrate how much more force you can generate by fighting “off the butt section.” Especially when you are fighting big fish, the faster you can tire them out and turn their heads, the faster you can land them. Guys like Stu Apte have preached this method for decades because it works.

Good luck!