[walking buffalo]

A couple of thoughts that may not have been covered yet.

Drag on the fly-line can cause a pretty significant tension with the current. Almost all of the "Big ones that got away" from me on the Bow have been in the same scenario. The fish gets a head of steam down and across stream resulting in a belly of line that is near the breaking point due to the drag on the line. I know that some of the fish wrapped the line below a rock before heading upstream....

Possible Solutions.... do what you can early on in the fight to keep the fish from getting a significant amount of line. Put the pressure on early. Try to keep the fish downstream rather than down and across, by using the rod tip. Follow them downstream as possible. Don't wait for them to get a ways downstream, start following immediately....

Get your line out of the water.... When possible, tip high and line in a direct tangent to the fish.

Beef up your tippet. - If you are willing to catch fewer but bigger fish, go to a 1 or 0x. For sure this will lower your hookup rate, but will give you the advantage in landing the big ones. If using a 4x tippet, a couple pounds of drag pressure only leaves you with a couple pounds pressure to move the fish....

Use only one fly. The tandem rig will cost you hooked fish as the second fly often snags rocks/debris during a battle with a big fish. Yes, you may experience fewer hookups, but this is the trade off for increasing your chances to land the big ones.


Since making these changes to my fishing style when I target the bigger fish, my landing rate of 25"+ fish skyrocketed....