Title: Message
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Cranky ol' Mike Maxwell (said with all possible
affection) used to advocate the same thing. His premise was that with
quality modern hooks, if a fish grabbed it was either "on or gone" and the high
position had enough give to drive things home and allow the fish to
turn.
Phil
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 11:31
AM
Subject: RE: Steelheading and the strike
loop
I have, for the past few years, used a similar technique. Instead
of using a loop of line I simply keep the rod position high on the
swing. pretty much as we were taught for waking flies. Alexander
Grant talked about this high rod position technique back in the 1800s in Fine
and Far Off. He was convinced the hook up ratio improved as the fish had
time to turn before the strike. Like AG I also fish this way with a sunk
line. I am also convinced it results in more and better
hookups.
Fished the Snoqualmie a little today to try out
my new 8 wgt sage speyrod. Good rod -- a little stiffer than even my 9 wgt
but plenty of power and I was easily putting out over 90 feet on a single
spey side. The river is up and clearing and I didn't touch a fish. Of course
that could be my preference (like Leland's) to use a floating line and
traditional style flies swung.
I've started using a strike loop after being
introduced to it last year on the Deschutes. You simply keep a bit of line
loose (~1.5 feet) between your hand the the reel. When a fish strikes, this
line plays out first, giving the steelie time to take the fly and turn
before you tighten up. Amazing how fast that bit of line disappears on a
strike! Worked well on the Deschutes and Methow last year and I've heard it
also works as well when skating a dry.
Anybody else use this? Have another technique
you use?
Jay
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