Learned Methods to Land More Trophies

by Jac Ford, Country Anglers

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

speed of the movement of the streamer. • As you retrieve/strip the line back simultaneously with both elbows and hands, it’s the same beginning action of the strip set technique. Therefore, all that’s required is the follow-through (accelerating as far back as the body allows the hands to go, then swinging the rod tip to the side and powering the bend in the rod). • As the hands move forward to the front of the body, so does the rod tip, reel, and line creating slack in the line off the rod tip. • The slack in the line allows the line to sink deeper into the water and relax. As the line relaxes, the tension in the line, tippet, and streamer disappears, allowing an increased pause. Without tension in the streamer, it is free to move about—dance, swing, and dip. • When a trophy eats a relaxed streamer fly, it is sucked back into the mouth—a streamer with tension cannot be sucked in.

I have a lot of confidence in this strip-set retrieve method as it enhances the streamer’s action by decreasing the tension in the fly line, which in turn relaxes the fly. Equally as important, it increases the probability of hooking trophies as the monster sucks the fly into its mouth—the rod and strip hands are pulling backward simultaneously in the strip-set mode. The hook is buried into the fish’s jaw with no cognitive reaction required.

An example of this retrieve facilitating the hook set is as follows: My client came to target trophy browns on the famed trophy water on the Au Sable River here in Michigan. During the first five hours of drift fishing, Kevin’s streamer turned the heads of a half-dozen worthy fish, but he didn’t seal the deal on any of them. Not hooking up on any of the trophies was beginning to wear on both of us, especially since a couple of them approached within two feet. Kevin asked, “What am I doing wrong?”

My reply: “Kevin, don’t let it get to you.”

The conditions were perfect, the bite was on, and the casting was on the mark. We waited in anticipation, as each line cast felt as if it was the one going to get a trophy. Still, we were missing so many.

What makes a fish miss a streamer? • Tail droop or too much tail swing in articulated streamers, causing the hook points to be pointed in the wrong direction at impact. • Hooks too close together, the front hook blocs the point of the rear hook. • Dull hook points. • Fish miss as the fly is stripped away. • Fish eating a moving target, caused by not having long enough pause between strips.

That’s It! Kevin had quick hands. His straight-line strip looked good, but were the pauses long enough? After watching his streamer as it was retrieved several times, it was apparent. Literally, too minimal of a pause. I released the boat anchor to the river’s bottom. “Kevin, we need to change your retrieve. I do not think your streamer’s pause is long enough. Your quick hands are causing the streamer to briefly hesitate but not pause.”

I had him watch me demonstrate the strip-set retrieve. “With this retrieve, every time you strip by pulling both hands and elbows back, pausing, and then coming forward again with both hands, the rod moves toward the line in the water, forming a loop at the end of the rod tip. In essence, each retrieve that moves the streamer to provide action is a strip set too. You hook the fish without having to do anything special. The loop releases tension in the line, ultimately providing a pause in the movement of the streamer. This gives the predator time to move to the fly and eat it. Without tension in the leader, the streamer is sucked back into the trophy’s mouth. Then as the stripset repeats, without thinking, the trophy is automatically hooked solid. That looks good, Kevin.”

It was getting near the ninth inning and not another chase; it was wearing on Kevin. I said, “Kevin, remember why we chose the trophy water. We are not here to see many fish, but the ones that show themselves will be worthy of our efforts. Stay on your game. It looks like the lack of follows is getting you down.”

As we went around an inside bend on the right side of the river and began fishing the slack water, an incredible shadow came out of the depths downstream of the streamer. This monster met the streamer at one of its pauses, and the strip-set retrieve hooked the brown the instant his mouth closed.

It torpedoed downstream and jumped. Kevin gained control by stripping the line, eventually bringing the fish to the right side of the boat.

The first time this monster came into the net, it jumped three feet out of the net and back into the river and, still hooked, tore downstream again. When the line was eventually stripped in, Kevin brought the fish under control on the other side of the boat and back into the net. We took both hooks out of his jaw and measured the fish at twentyseven and a quarter inches.

Jac’s Retrieve Tips

1. As weather and water type vary, so must the retrieve. 2. When the water temperature drops, the trophy’s energy slows, and so must the retrieve. 3. As the water temperature increases, the speed of the retrieve gradually increases as well. 4. After a brief or long pause, the rod hand then moves toward the line/streamer, and the fly line relaxes, allowing it to sink deeper. 5. As the line is relaxed and sinking, the leader and streamer are free from tension, enhancing the movement of the streamer and the ability of the trophy to suck it back deeper into the mouth as it eats—the number of hooked trophies increases as the fly is further into the fish’s mouth. 6. The strip-set retrieve creates a relaxed line that will drop deeper, getting the streamer into the fish’s water column. 7. As the leader loses tension, so does the streamer enhancing its ability to move freely, and as the length in time of the pause of the streamer increases, the ability for the fish to engulf and swallow the streamer increases as well.