Boatside Fly Techniques

[ttabaleulb]

Ok, my season is winding down and there is a part of it that has been troubling me all year. I am having a tough time figuring out a way to get a good solid hookset on a fish when they hit on a boatside maneuver. I've had a couple heartbreakers throw the hook after what I thought was an ok set. Just lost another one today.

The issue is that the flyrod just doesn't have the backbone for a good set that close to the boat. And, trying a strip-strike isn't an option. At least not that I've been able to figure out. I'm starting to second guess my hook sharpening technique too.

Basically, when a fish hits at boatside, I end up setting directly up or straight away from the fish. I'm wondering if I should maybe try going toward the fish instead. Do you guys try that at all even with conventional gear? I've had all the fish on for at least a couple of seconds that hit on the 8 but have not been able to put one in the net.

Anyhow, any advice/comments would be greatly appreciated.


Jay

[Red Childress]

Hey Jay,

Have you tried offsetting or bending your hook point outward before?? I used to do this to my single hook steelhead rigs for drifting sacks/single egg presentations and it really helped my hook up ratio with a noodle rod.

[ttabaleulb]

Red,

I have not tried that yet. Its definitely worth a shot. Its just been tough gettin the mechanics down using the flyrod since the opportunities for a fish are generally so few for Musky.

The fish I lost yesterday actually hit underneath the front of the boat. It followed on a circle and then I tried draggin the fly on a straight shot to the other side of the boat with the fish hot on the bait. Just as the fly went under the boat, the fish hit without me seeing it. I pulled up, felt two headshakes and away it went!!

[Red Childress]

I assume that when you are trying to perfect the art of catching a musky on a fly, the opportunities for skill refinement are greatly reduced to say the least. :)

[toothyfishman]

If you get another shot at one anytime soon I think I would do like you mentioned and set towards the fish. You really don't have much backbone with a fly rod to move the fish and set it hard pulling away or up but just a straight towards the tail would give continued set as you continue your hook set that direction and hopefully the fish swimming forward would also help drive the hooks home.

Seems like logic thinking anyway? I'm sure the toothy critters have other plans in mind but........

Maybe a trailer treble on the fly?

[lowbidder]

Jay,
I seem to remember a thread on here from this spring maybe? For some reason I cannot find the thread search tool.

In the thread the possibility of getting deeper penetration of the hooks by removing the barbs was discussed. The "point" was made (pun completely intended) that by removing the barbs, the hook point could penetrate farther into the jawbone.
I was researching a pike trip to either Manitoba or Saskatchewan earlier this year and most of the camps / outposts now require barbless hooks and they're still getting great catch rates. Their intention is to reduce the number of injuries to the fish and reduce the amount of time "out of the water". Consider this... Fly fishing is one of the hottest things right now for Pike in that region. A lot of guys going up there are taking their fly gear because they're having so much success on them. Maybe you should do a little snooping around their sites and see if you can pick up some tips?

Mike

[ttabaleulb]

toothy,

I am gonna give that a try on my next shot at boatside. The thing is that the fish I lost a few weeks ago was a similar situation. Unfortunately, thats when the steel leader got caught on the last eye of the rod. I felt that I got a decent set on that fish and could have had a shot at puttin it in the net.

lowbidder,

Thats interesting info. I do pinch down the barbs on all of my hooks. However, they are not truly barbless. Maybe I can do a little more work with that barb to flatten it even more. I'll definitely check that out and see if I can find some more hints and tips.

Ultimately I'm havin a blast gettin tortured by these fish. It just seems that the fish in the 30's have no problem gettin in the net. But once they break that 40" mark, they know what to do to send my bait flying back at me as they drift back into the deep. LOL I can't even wait for the weekend to come, so I'm blowin off work a day this week to get right back at em!!! Damn this addiction anyhow!! :D

[Trauts]

toothy,

I am gonna give that a try on my next shot at boatside. The thing is that the fish I lost a few weeks ago was a similar situation. Unfortunately, thats when the steel leader got caught on the last eye of the rod. I felt that I got a decent set on that fish and could have had a shot at puttin it in the net.

lowbidder,

Thats interesting info. I do pinch down the barbs on all of my hooks. However, they are not truly barbless. Maybe I can do a little more work with that barb to flatten it even more. I'll definitely check that out and see if I can find some more hints and tips.

Ultimately I'm havin a blast gettin tortured by these fish. It just seems that the fish in the 30's have no problem gettin in the net. But once they break that 40" mark, they know what to do to send my bait flying back at me as they drift back into the deep. LOL I can't even wait for the weekend to come, so I'm blowin off work a day this week to get right back at em!!! Damn this addiction anyhow!! :D

Just make sure you take a picture of the bait in either your forehead or Jeff's when the bait comes sailing back and nails you! It would be good to laugh at you for once, rather than you laughing at me for doing something like that!

[ttabaleulb]

LMAO That would be one heck of a good picture. That is as long as its in Jeff's head and not mine. I guess thats another great reason to go barbless. makes it A LOT easier to get out of human flesh!!

[ppalko]

A possible problem is that some flies end up getting stuck in the teeth of the fish. When you set the hook, the fur, feathers, etc get stuck and prevent the fly hook from turning into the outer parts of the mouth. I don't have a definite solution but up sizing hooks to the largest possible size might help. I agree with removing the barb and also opening the hook gap a bit. I've been tying articulated flies lately (have yet to use them much due to other commitments) and am curious how they "hook" fish. Some of the synthetic furs will get stuck easier than others so maybe experiment with materials.

[ttabaleulb]

ppalko,

Thats a good point and I'm sure that might come into play also. To be honest, I believe that the equipment side of things is up to par. I still have NASTY trout habits that rear their ugly head time and again. LOL From the action I've had all year, I'm hoping that means that I'm figuring out some presentations and fly patterns that these fish dig. The rest will just have to come with practice. But I also know that these fish LOVE kick your butt as soon as you think you've figured something out about them. LOL

I'm half tempted to put a shock collar around my neck so that I get zapped everytime the rod goes above my shoulder on a hook set!! LMAO

My goal is to get this stuff figured out so that I can consistently give myself a shot at getting these fish in the net with the flyrod. I believe its just a matter of how long its gonna take me to do that. LOL