re: Flyfishing question

quote:

---

Depends on the fish and the guy fishing. I’ve never gone trout fishing but a friend of mine in Washington goes a lot and he puts fish on the reel all the time. I almost never put fish on the reel unless it’s a fish that feels big for whatever my tippet is because the drag will protect the tippet better than me.

---

In my experience most flat water trout can be stripped in...but in current they usually wind up on the reel. Steelhead and salmon of course almost always wind up on the reel...I do not know if I have ever stripped either in on a long rod. For the most part any fish big enough to fight on the reel is on the reel before you realize it. There is an awful lot going on, at least for me, between the time I get tight on say a 10 pound redfish and it is on the reel and stripping line. You do have to act as the drag if you have a lot of slack line from stripping or casting though. A lot of people act as the drag even when the fish is on the reel. I find that I am either too heavy handed or too light while the reels drag, unless its worn out, is far more consistent than I am.