Articles With the Tag . . . hook set

This video breaks down all of the important things about hook set direction, hook set distance and hook set timing.

Setting the hooks is the most exciting part of the day. For all the time we spend planning, prepping, wading, tying, casting and drifting, it’s all in anticipation of that brief moment when a trout eats the fly. You fooled a trout. So, don’t screw it up. That’s why the hook set matters most. And planning for the hookset, thinking about how a trout might eat the fly and how we will respond, makes all the difference.

A good fight starts with a solid hookset. We want it fast, sharp and — here’s the key — downstream, as much as possible . . .

I don’t guess, because I might ruin my best chance. I also do everything I can to be in contact or just slightly out of contact with the nymph, whether that’s on a tight line to my rod tip or under an indicator. And I trust my skills this way, more than I trust my instinct to set on nothing . . .

Mike had landed on a common phrase that usually triggers a response from me. It’s one of the myths of fly fishing, and it carries too much consequence to let it go. Hook sets are not free. There’s a price to pay. Oftentimes that cost is built into our success. And other times, the costs of too frequently setting the hook pile up, stealing away our limited opportunities . . .