Had an incredible days dry fly fishing at my local c+r lake yesterday. Fish rising all over the place from the moment I arrived and it stayed that way all afternoon/evening. I decided to try a simple, small CDC pattern and started getting takes straight away - the majority of which I missed! I proceeded to try all sorts of strikes from instant through to allowing the fly line to move before lifting - none of which produced any consistency in terms of hook-ups. With all of the misses I felt nothing - no bumped fish (maybe explains why I was getting so many takes if I wasn't spooking them too bad?). Anyway, I finished with 9 fish (5 browns, 4 'bows) with 4 or 5 lost - I'm too embarrased to say how many takes I missed but it was lots. I spoke to the owner as I was leaving and he suggested twisting the hook off to the side slightly - has anyone tried this and are there any other suggestions for what I should have tried?

Word of warning if you are going to start bending hooks be careful as you may weaken them . An off set hook can help in all walks of fishing but i would have thought it best to get hooks that are made that way .
Anyway i think 9 fish on the bank was a good session , well done

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Cheers Danny

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Twisting the hook, known as offsetting, will help. The venerable John Goddard recommends it, so it must be worth a try. I'm sure we've all had sessions like yours where the fish seem to be taking but don't hook up. To find out why, you'd have to ask a fish.
It's all part of the mystery and wonder of fly fishing.
Just keep trying.

I tend to tie my flies on B175's (I use plenty of CDC!) - is there a similar type of hook that is off-set?

Thanks for your responses.

It's inevitable you are going to miss some takes. I'd think 9 fish caught was pretty good going. You could try using off-set hooks or delaying the strike a couple of seconds but fish on C&R waters can get a little "wary" at times.

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Try smaller flies?

I had something similar the other day. But if you see your fly line moving you should be ok.....?

If your line was straight and rod tip down, try pulling the line sharply with your hand instead of lifting the rod to strike them

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John Danter

Hi', James, and welcome to the FFF.
Missing definite takes can sometimes be due to the position of the rod at the time the strike is made. Many still water anglers fish with the rod held horizontally all the time. This is certainly good when retrieving lures at a fair rate, as the fish, on taking the fly, is usually hooked as you make the next pull. So, a strike is not always required, except, perhaps, to make sure the hook is set. If you lift the rod from horizontal to tighten into a fish on a take with a static line, say fishing dry fly or letting a team of wets drift on a floater, there is relatively little lateral movement of the line for the first 45 degrees of radial movement of the rod. If the rod is held at 45 degrees at the time of the take, the rod movement from 45 to 90 degrees, vertical, is very much more effective.
You can satisfy yourself on this point by tying a length of string on a garden cane, and lying the cane and extended string in a straight line on the floor. Then, keeping the butt of the cane from moving about, rotate it through 45 degrees,pulling the string along the floor. Now try it with the cane set at 45 degrees from its original position, and rotate through another 45 degrees, The movement of the end of the string towards the cane is a good deal greater. My old mate was one of the best hookers of trout on dry fly that I have ever seen. He invariably retrieved the fly as it drifted downstream towards him by raising the rod tip. His casting was so accurate that the fish was covered as the rod reached about 45 degrees from horizontal. he did'nt miss a lot!! That's a fair bit to read, but it could help. TC