False Albacore - Strip or Dead Drift? Hook Set?

[Too Fly]

Hi Tom,

I haven't yet read the book, but I plan to. It looks great from what I can see.

I hope you don't think these questions are too trivial:

With a pod or pods of breaking albies(or any tuna for that matter), do you find that you get more takes while stripping the fly or on a dead drift?

What sort of hook set would you say gives the best rate of hook-up?

Thanks,
Paul

[Tom G.]

Hi Tom,

I haven't yet read the book, but I plan to. It looks great from what I can see.

I hope you don't think these questions are too trivial:

With a pod or pods of breaking albies(or any tuna for that matter), do you find that you get more takes while stripping the fly or on a dead drift?

What sort of hook set would you say gives the best rate of hook-up?

Thanks,
Paul

Paul, good questions.

If the albies are really churning up the bait, often the best retrieve is dead drift with an occasional twitch, using a weighted fly.

During your retrieve have the rod pointed directly at your fly and strike with your stripping hand. This is called a "strip strike." If you have ever fished with a good bonefish guide or seen one on TV, you'll notice they never tell you to set the hook. During your retrieve the will be saying, strip, strip, when they say long strip, they are actually telling you to set the hook. The whole point is not to strike with you rod tip, it is too soft to drive the hook home.

Tom

[Too Fly]

Thanks for the reply Tom.

I've hooked a couple different tuna species on the fly and I gotta say, it's tough to let the fly sit there in a frenzy of marauding tunas. I'll keep at it. "Practice makes perfect," or something like that?

I've fished for bones and other flats fish in the sub-tropics on several occassions. I learned in a hurry that the strip strike was the only way to go. Plus the guides, no matter how patient, will eventually rank on you for lifting the rod tip before the fish is on the reel. I've landed up to 6-7 lb. bones, but lost an estimated 10-11 lb'er after lifting the rod tip once it grabbed the fly. I've done it with albies too.

Thanks,
Paul

[Tom G.]

Thanks for the reply Tom.

I've hooked a couple different tuna species on the fly and I gotta say, it's tough to let the fly sit there in a frenzy of marauding tunas. I'll keep at it. "Practice makes perfect," or something like that?

I've fished for bones and other flats fish in the sub-tropics on several occassions. I learned in a hurry that the strip strike was the only way to go. Plus the guides, no matter how patient, will eventually rank on you for lifting the rod tip before the fish is on the reel. I've landed up to 6-7 lb. bones, but lost an estimated 10-11 lb'er after lifting the rod tip once it grabbed the fly. I've done it with albies too.

Thanks,
Paul

Paul, not lifting the rod tip is the hardest thing to get use to in saltwater fly fishing. After all in many types of fishing, like trout, deep-sea and plugging from the beach, we learned to set the hook but lifting the rod.

Sorry to hear about your big bone. That was a trophy!

Tom

[bigbonita]

Paul, not lifting the rod tip is the hardest thing to get use to in saltwater fly fishing. After all in many types of fishing, like trout, deep-sea and plugging from the beach, we learned to set the hook but lifting the rod.

Sorry to hear about your big bone. That was a trophy!

Tom

i always try to strip strike. however, on those moments when i've been caught with my proverbial pants down (i.e. fish strikes as i'm taking the fly out of the water), i instinctively attempt to strike as if i had a spinning rod in my hands. guess what? it never works. bass, blues, and albies have all done this to me. do you have any advise for that situation is it just plain ol' bad luck?
rich n

[Tom G.]

i always try to strip strike. however, on those moments when i've been caught with my proverbial pants down (i.e. fish strikes as i'm taking the fly out of the water), i instinctively attempt to strike as if i had a spinning rod in my hands. guess what? it never works. bass, blues, and albies have all done this to me. do you have any advise for that situation is it just plain ol' bad luck?
rich n

If your having trouble breaking the habit of lifting the rod to set the hook, try tucking the rod under your arm and use a two-handedi retrieve. Using this method anglers tend not to lift the rod but instead set the hook with whichever hand is moving the fly when the fish hits.

Tom

[CaptSuperfly]

Tom,

Thanks for the book. I got one for Christmas and loved it.

On the subject of the dead drift/strip issue. In my experience, there's no question that when the albies have the bait balled up and are crashing through it, a dead drift or slow retrieve seems to work best. But, I've also found times when only a fast retrieve will work.

This is usually when the albies are chasing bait "in formation" which is when you have just a few lazy albies porpoising or when a larger pod turns on its side and charges the bait in a single line (we see this a lot in the shallow areas in Gardiner's Bay etc.) For some reason, the best way to get these fish to strike is to put it right past their nose and strip fast.

For me, the best test can be if you see fish swipe at the fly when you pull hard to lift it off the water and cast again. If you haven't been getting strikes before, and they strike when you do this, it's often because the retrieve was likely too slow before.

I had a client on the boat during a tournament who would refuse to strip his fly, and insisted on dead drifting it because on previous trips he'd caught dozens by dead drifting off the Point.

Finally, with fifteen minutes left to fish, and NOTHING to the boat (a good forty shots at breaking fish) he hooked up when he slapped the water on his backcast by accident and when he went to lift the line, fish on.

Just my two cents.

Thanks again for the great book.