Fly fishing advice, what to do once you hook one

[leeaspell]

Finally tried my fly rod a few times and managed to catch a few fish. I lost more than i caught. That leads me to this question.

What do you do about all the line you have stripped back when you catch a fish? Do you just try to hand pull the fish in? I tried to spool the line back on but it would take so long I would loose the fish. Is there a secret to this.

[DiabeticKripple]

If the fish is small, just hand strip it in.

If its larger, what I do is set the hook, and start reeling the stripped line in. If the fish wants to run, then let some of the stripped line out through your fibgers, I it comes closer strip some line in.

Basically I reel when I can until it's all in.

[SNAGGLEPUSS]

I take the fly line from the first guide of the rod and hold it between my lips while i reel in all the unspooled line

[Guitarplayingfish]

Originally Posted by DiabeticKripple

If the fish is small, just hand strip it in.

If its larger, what I do is set the hook, and start reeling the stripped line in. If the fish wants to run, then let some of the stripped line out through your fibgers, I it comes closer strip some line in.

Basically I reel when I can until it's all in.

x2.... It is a lot easier to fight large fish when the line is all in... than use your hand to determine appropriate drag, reel when opportunity arises... watch out for strong runs, they can snap you off if you are trying to reel in when they decide to bolt.

[BeeGuy]

If the fish is small or there isn't a lot of line out, you can just keep the line coming from the first guide in between your index and middle finger. Squeeze the line with those 2 fingers if you want to apply some drag, and use your free hand to strip line in.

If the fish is larger, or you have tons of line out and you want to fight the fish from the reel, assuming the fish hasn't taken all of your loose line out,

keep the line coming from the first guide in between your index and middle finger as before

have the line coming off the reel in between your pinky and ring finger.

This will allow you to control the fish with your dominant fingers, while allowing you to reel in the loose line with your free hand and feeding it through your less dominant fingers so that it goes back on the spool evenly.

Alternatively, you can pinch the line against the handle instead of running it between 2 fingers.

This should help you avoid holding the line between your lips.

This is what I do, self taught, don't know any other way.

The main issue with lost fish I assume is a result of not keeping tension/pressure on it while your trying to deal with a mess of line.

Done correctly, it should look like this: