Fly Fishing

Dusboy7 · Location: Port Republic,VA

When should you strip or use your reel to reel a fish in?

kory_k · Location: New York, NY

Good question and I am sure a lot of people have differing opinions on this, but here is my 2 cents.

First of all, one of the most important things to do when playing fish on a fly rod is to maintain tension on the fish throughout the fight. Otherwise you can easily lose the fish, especially if you are fishing with barbless hooks. In order to do this, you frequently have to strip your line especially when a fish is first hooked.

Since this is the freshwater forum, i am only referring to freshwater scenarios since in saltwater, the fish will almost always be on the reel whether you want it to or not. Very Happy

Once you have hooked the fish, whether you get the fish on the reel depends. If you are fishing small brook trout in a tiny stream there is little need to get the fish on the reel since there is limited room for the fish to run and the fight isn't likely to last long, stripping the fish in usually is easiest and works great...of course if you have a zero weight and a small reel and like your fish on the reel you can still put it on the reel but it isn't necessary. If you are fishing a bigger river to bigger fish that require light tippets, then frequently the fish will run after you hook it putting itself on the reel. Sometimes though, the fish will run back at you requiring you to strip the line again. Basically all that really matters is that you keep tension on the fish to prevent it from throwing the hook.

There are several advantages to having the fish on the reel as well such as maintaining uniform pressure, not burning your finger when stripping, not getting your line snagged on your feet or something else when the fish runs etc.