Hi Folks,
I spent 2 days on the Corrib recently,i rose at least 10 fish to a dry wolf and i caught NONE of them, a had split second contact with 2 of them.Would somebody have a solution to my problem.How can a fish take a fly so positively and yet make no contact? Look forward to hearing from you. Thanks Jemo

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Hi Jemo,

I am relatively new to fly fishing to I am probably not best placed to give advice, however, I did receive a pearl of wisdom from an old angler who told me that when you are fishing the dry fly, always wait a second for the fish to take the hook/turn before striking.

I was loosing quite a few by striking as soon as I saw the fly being taken, but, when I waited just a second for the fish to turn, I no longer tended to loose then.

Some people may say this is nonsense but I am just passing on what I've heard along the way!

Hope you get sorted!

Delboy

Ive only started to use the dry fly over the last few weeks , somebody told me after you see the bubble at your fly say god save the queen then lift the rod . So far its worked quite well not a lot of fish missed .

There's sometimes a slight difference between wild fish and not so !

My old mate John Wilshaw reckoned that in Ireland - just occasionally - you need to start the strike before they rise ! They are that fast !

I ain't any more!

Best wishes

Steve P

This works in general circumstances, but agian, many variables at play.
If there is any slack lione on the water between the fly and the rod tip.
If you are fishing a very stiff rod, or a very floppy rod
If you have made a short cast, or a long cast, ie,. how far away is the fish?
The insect that is hatching, mayflies and caddis solicit vastly different speed of takes, and the angler needs to adjust for this when immitating the hatch.

there are of course several other factors, but these should be good for starters. Remember that fly fishing is not esey for a biginner, expecially for dry fly fishing, so the best solution to all the problems, is a little experience. Pretty soon, you will have down to a tee. Getting the fish to ridse to the fly, is more than half the job done, so soon you will be hooking them and kleeping them on

I was told that trout sometimes try to drown a surface fly first before
actually taking it into its mouth.
Bass-when feeding on sand eels will stun the eel first -then turn and take it.
I think a lot of other fish do this as well.
Maybe thats what the trout is doing.

i have had the same problem but im getting better,i strike as soon as i see the take but with my reactions thats a good second or two after they have takern it i still miss a few but i think this is when they are sinking the fly which if i think thats what they have done i give it a quick short tug and find this some times helps get them if they have indeed sunk the fly?

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With big flies sometimes the trout try and drown them first and with large hoppers and daddies you get plenty of splashy takes without the fly being taken. By 'striking' you are pulling the fly out of the danger zone for the repeat take....I have no idea if this specifically happens with mayfly (none on any of my regular waters)...sure some of the other posters could clarify this?

A general tip would be to always keep contact with the fly (very slow figure of eight).

For the record, I never 'strike'. I just very casually tighten while lifting the rod. To cure me of my instinctive urge to strike I was taught the old methods of placing the rod hand in the pocket and tucking the rod under the arm...and the other old one of saying 'God save the Queen' before striking. Either way the principle is the same...calmly lift...don't strike. Let the fish take the fly and turn to decend before making tightening.

descriptively, 'lift into' is better than 'strike'

Disagree Steve. I was always taught on corrib to 'bow to the fish' or to say 'morning mr trout' before striking. Especially on mayfly, the fish sometimes take softly before swallowing the fly, or slash at it before returing to take. I always allowed a second before raising the rod, and lost few corrib fish.