FS Digest

Hello! I’m looking to begin fly fishing next spring, but I’m a bit confused on action. Should you strip the line to give the fly action, or twitch the rod? When you do have a fish on, should you crank the reel, or strip the line in and then crank the line after the catch is said and done? Cheers, and thanks!

--
by ThatWalrus420

FS Digest

Generally, stripping streamers in is the best method for streamer fishing. And when fighting a fish, try to strip the line in instead of reeling. If, however, the fish pulls enough line that it starts to pull drag off the reel, use the reel to bring the fish in. Generally, unless you target big fish, the reel is only used to store the line. Cheers.

--
by trachion

FS Digest

I try to keep my rod tip still as possible to maintain constant contact to feel for strikes. Fishing streamers requires stripping. Use a variety of strips until you find what works. Try to use one type of strip per cast, generally helps isolate what type of strip the fish are liking

--
by Flycariousindustries

FS Digest

You strip streamers. You can get creative and mimic various bait species with them.

--
by nottaprodigy

FS Digest

Strip. There's no wrong way to strip, but there's certainly better and worse ways, and there's typically a right one for the situation. I usually do two or three casts with the same stripping pattern before changing it up if I'm not getting attention. However, don't be afraid to change it up even after some strikes. Long strips with pauses, short jerky strips, two handed speed strips, random strips. Try everything and be ready to change it.

In all situations though, you want to rod tip still and pointed in the direction of your fly. High tips, low tips...there's alot of nuance to that (Generally, the bigger the fish, the lower the tip...though there's a whole lot of detail I'm steamrolling over), but you should always have the most direct line-to-fly connection you can.



Yes. This one is a little bit of preference and a little bit of the fish you are hooking. For most freshwater species, stripping line manually to fight is more than sufficient. In fact, it's preferable for more or less anything under about 6wt because you need to be feeling everything between your fingers and the hook since an aggressive head turn or quick run could snap your tippet. As you get into bigger fish on bigger lines, it's less about sensitivity and more about strength. Steelhead, Salmon, Redfish, Striper, etc can run off with your entire fly line and a third of your backing in the time it'd take you to reel up any slack, so generally you want them fighting 'from the reel' and letting the drag manage their runs. This is why a lot of 6wt+ rods are paired with large arbor reels; they can reel up line more quicker than smaller mid- or small-arbor reels.

But some of it comes down to preference too. One of my mentors fights big kings with his hands no problem (his thumb and index finger are practically armored at this point) and I see plenty of guys using palm drags on 3wts even for the smallest fish. It really just comes down to what you, as an angler, are most comfortable with.

--
by NoahtheRed