Michigan Trout Unlimited
MICHIGAN Trout
Learned Methods to Land More Trophies
18
by Jac Ford, Country Anglers
Summer 2022
My passion for acquiring knowledge about fly fishing continues even after seventy years. I’m absorbing more knowledge every day on the water by reading, listening, watching, and experimenting—mostly on the water while fishing or guiding. After decades of fishing, teaching in classrooms, and mentoring on the water, I wanted to pass on some of my acquired knowledge by authoring my book, The View from the Middle Seat, Lessons Learned from a Life-Time of Guiding. Time on the water and pure luck catch fish every day, but fly anglers with the most knowledge and techniques in their quiver increase their probabilities of achieving success exponentially. The first six chapters in my book relate to chasing trophies with streamers. All the streamer chapters are important, but at times performing varied retrieves during different conditions, streamers, and trophy venues will get any fly angler more immediate results. Fly anglers focusing only on selling their streamers to fish will attract trophies, but with proper rod and line control during the retrieve, more opportunities for more hook-ups occur and ultimately more in the net. To maximize the effectiveness of the retrieve and provide more than trophy fish attractions, the retrieve must create the opportunity for a fly line to become completely relaxed of tension during its pause. Why Retrieves Are of Most Importance First, let me make this clear; a lot of different retrieves catch fish. Many streamer anglers have read about and adopted the Linsenman/Galloup retrieve as a result of their valued book, Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout, or have been lucky enough to have been guided by Bob or Kelly. In recent years after Linsenman retired from guiding, I took over one of Bob’s favorite clients. During our inaugural float together, Godfry confirmed his past experiences with Bob in just a few retrieves: a slightly upstream cast with downstream rod tip twitches for action and only retrieving line when required. The rod tip creates pause and action, one of the best methods for attracting trophy fish. This being our first float, I asked Godfry, “What’s the largest trophy brown you ever caught with Bob?” He quickly replied, “Well, I’ve caught a few larger, but I caught a 29 ¼ incher with Bob.” That reply quickly blew the air out
of my sails. My immediate thought was, well, I won’t be impressing him today or maybe any other day. My next thought was should I change his retrieve? The answer to that question was simple: not now! Maybe not ever. Godfry is now 87 and during a recent float with me landed a solid 25-inch male brown with that same retrieve. Another great book that a good friend, George Daniels, authored, Strip Set, has much to offer relative to streamer fishing. George includes retrieving with a strong emphasis on strip setting as the trophy eats the streamer—another important technique. I could go on with other examples that work, but for the last decade, I have experimented to find ways of improving the retrieve in streamer presentation, pause, and the critical hook set process. In other words, how can I get more trophies in my client’s net? After months of fishing, guiding trips, and much experimentation through trial and error, I concluded that the retrieve process could improve the number of chases, eats, hook-ups, and fish in the net. Yes, the retrieve is that important. To improve results relative to enhancing the depth control of the line, movement of the streamer, and improve the rate of tight-line connections between the rod (rod must be pointed at the steamer), line, and streamer during the hook-set process, I refined the rod-hand-elbow and strip-hand-elbow technique. This technique involves using the rod-hand-elbow and the strip-hand-elbow moving back and forth, simultaneously tightening and loosening the line as the retrieve process occurs. The steps to this retrieve process begin: 1.
After reaching the hands out in front of the body, with your left hand, place the line under the index finger of your rod hand.
2.
Pull back both elbows and hands simultaneously— the left to strip the line and the rod hand to retrieve the line and move the rod backward.
3.
Once your hands are spaced at the desired length, drop the line in your left hand, grasp it close to the rod, and strip again. Repeat continuously at various speeds and lengths as desired.
What happens during this retrieving process is incredible: •
You have better control and increased distance and
