I had an interesting day over the weekend. I went fishing with some new friends Todd and Jared, in fact Todd will be one of my teammates for my upcoming tournament, The America Cup. My new friends were very good fisherman! They knew what they were doing, how to do it and where to fish.
We were fishing the Blue River and having some success, the weather was perfect, clouds, sun, rain, clouds and rain again, typical day in the mountains. I started to notice these guys were losing fish. They would hook up, play the fish for a minute then lose them. These guys were too good to be losing fish and in a tournament like the upcoming America Cup every fish counts. What I saw were 2 guys holding their rod tips very high in the air; this is what all fly fishermen are taught from the beginning.
About 15 years ago I was fishing with Tim Heng and Rick Messmer on the Eagle River. Tim is a legend; you may know his flies, Heng’s BLM and the Autumn Splendor. He gave me one of the best tips ever. During that trip I lost a couple of really big fish. I wasn’t sure why, so Tim walked over and told me something amazing. The next fish I caught went straight down stream, Tim had me put my rod tip in the water and start stripping up river, what happened next…that fish swam right up to my feet and I was able to net him.
Why?
When you hook a trout or any fish the hook make the fish uncomfortable they don’t like the pressure, if you hold the rod tip high they just want to fight and jump to get rid of it. When you lower the rod tip in the water, the angle and pressure on the hook changes, it feels better to the fish and then they just follow the line.
Do you ever watch Bass Masters? All the bass guys dip their rod in the water for 2 reasons, first, they don’t want the fish to jump (more chance to lose the fish) second, and the bass goes with the line because it’s more comfortable.
Do you want to learn more tips like these? One of the best ways to learn is to be surrounded by the best fisherman possible and to watch them. The America Cup is an international fly fishing tournament coming up Sept. 20-23, 2012. They are looking for volunteers to help! If you have the time and want to learn more click here
LINK. The America Cup has become a partner with Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing and all net profit from the event will go to
PHWFF.
Once I told Todd and Jared about this tip, they didn’t lose another fish and were amazed at how well it worked!
September 20-23, 2012 I will be competing along with 60 other amazing fisherman. I can’t wait to learn more from them. Come find me and I will be happy to give you most of my secrets.
Thanks,
Tim
Please follow me and like me on Twitter and Facebook
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Just a follow up on Carp Slam! I got a 28.25 inch Carp. The only one our team got. It was low water and tough fishing! That fish was good enough for 6th place. At lease I got one!
Tim now lives in Denver after ten years of being a fly fishing guide and shop manager in Vail. Tim has become an urban fisherman focusing on fishing within an hour of Denver. He uses his fly rod to fish for anything he has time for and he fishes often. You can follow him on Twitter @TimFishmanEmery or like him on Facebook.
Tim's day job is a Real Estate agent and property manager in the Denver area. Rumor has it, he will buy you a fly rod if you buy or sell a house with him!
we need to fish together because I'd love to see how this works... you are removing the rod from the fight doing it this way.
epic, Not removing the rod from the fight. It's still bent, just creating the angle under the water. Your facing down river and drop the rod so the angle is straight above the fishes lip instead of pulling it's head to the surface. Make sense?
That does make more sense... we still need to fish together so I can watch it in action. hehe
It's also referred to as fighting the fish from the butt of the rod, rather than the tip. It puts more pressure on the fish, but you also have to know it doesn't protect the tippet as well, so with light tippets you risk breaking off more often. This method is a must if you fish salt water, else you'll be forever trying to land big fish. The second "trick" is to never let the fish settle into a fight, keep'm moving. Anytime their not moving switch the rod to a new position and get them moving. Moving fish tire far quicker. Finally, other than the risk of throwing a hook, in reality jumping fish come to net faster than those that don't. Takes more energy to jump and they tire quicker. In my opinion anyway.
Yes ePic we do need to fish. I have some training days coming up. Email me and we will see if we can put things together.
FlyRodn- You are right about the light tippet, I don't fish much less then 4x, but I use this technique on every fish I catch even using 6x. If you can get the fish above you in a river and get it to the net sooner, you don't have to tire it out. Just my opinion!
Great tip Tim! This is what I was taught for small fish before heading out to france with the USA youth team. One thing I do want to mention though is that this technique is tough when fishing small tippet sizes as Floyrodn stated. In France 7x and 8x was all that I used and you had to be very careful even with small fish while doing this as it puts much more pressure on your tippet. This is also another great way to land fish in the lake venues as I learned with the perch and roach in France, same way the bass guys do it. Good Luck at the Cup this year. Wish I could get enough time off from lacrosse and college to make it. Its always a fun comp to fish!
Thanks Pike, We will miss you. Do you want tie some comp flies for me?
Contact me tim@fishexplorer.com
