As a beginner I had an enjoyable but frustrating day a Fewston Reservoir today. Crept along the bank and found a perfect little bay, hidden from the strong wind with lots of overhanging trees and plenty of terrestrials being blown on to the water. Fish rising all over the shop so got near and roll cast a large black/green hopper with a slow retrieve got plenty of takes. I failed to hit a single one! Now the takes were really "splashy" so I'm thinking did I actually miss the take and the splash was actually the fish turning back down to the bottom after tasting the fly. The rises were very aggressive for the naturals with the fish actually clearing the water just a few feet in front of me on occasion.

I did not have any slack as I was retrieving the fly, I waited about a second after the splash before lifting in to the fish but every time there was no resistance at all and the fly was already out of the fish's mouth.

On one occasion I missed the take and did a perfect re-cast, got the same fish to take again as soon as the fly hit the water but missed again!

In short I am chuffed in that I found the fish and got the right fly and presented it well enough to encourage a take but a little disappointed to come home without a catch.

To miss that many takes (about 7 or 8!) to me signals that there is something I am doing wrong. If these splashy takes are refusals then why is the fish refusing so late, if it is a definite take that I am missing then how do I go about improving my timing.

I would stress that the area that I was fishing was mill pond still as it was very sheltered and there was a lot of food on the surface with terrestrials and midge hatches.

The infinite wisdom of the forum is requested....

Sure we have all had similar experiences at some stage in our career; presume you were 'striking' at the splash?. I was once told by a vastly more experienced angler that trout can whack the fly with the tail, intending to drown it, then return to take it properly; the advice was to wait for the leader to tighten, rather than strike at the splash.

A

To be honest you probably weren't doing a lot wrong, it's happened to most of us. As duckfoot1606 says, maybe for the pull after the splash before lifting, if you can hold your nerve that is!

Don't strike at all just keep retrieving your fly back, (figure of eight) this will tempt the fish.

If this fails then the fish want the fly moving so cast out and strip the fly back just under the surface with short sharp pulls!!

I agree like others have said its just one of those things, the next time you could hit every one.


You could try a different fly of a lighter tippet sometimes it makes a difference other times not a dot.

good luck next time


Gary

Totally agree with duckfoot I have seen this situation countless times when I have had clients dapping for sea trout and brownies.
The same situation applies when using any dries on river or lake.
It comes down to a matter of timing that can only be learned by experienced.
When a fish splashes at the fly he does indeed so with his tail in an effort to drown it and take it as a 'wet'.
On his approach or run up to the fly he is swimming upward and forward.
Sub surface he tail slaps the fly .
At the same time momentarily swimming downward away from the fly.
He then turns back upwards mouth open to take the drowned fly.
line tightens.
Pull into fish.

JOHN

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yes, trout tend to sometimes try to sink 'terrestrials', especially larger ones, such as daddy longlegs and the like, before actually 'taking' them. You could have tried using a slow glass intermediate line to present that very same fly just a little bit deeper subsurface, and retrieve figure of eight style, and some sharp pulls. As someone here said earlier, or wait after the splash ... for the fish to 'take' but it is indeed ... difficult .. as the adrenaline in the fisherman gets the better of him.
J.J.

All the above is good advice but there is also the possibility that the "large hopper" was just too large. It is not uncommon for fish to come up and look at overlarge flies and then turn away sharply when they decide it isn't what they want. It might be worth trying a smaller offering. Changing flies isn't always the easiest thing to do when you are getting takes but there is no point carrying on with something that isn't working, I know because I've done it often enough


Andy

very true also .. when I read this thread, was like I could've written it we all went through this. I was fortunate enough to have an angler standing a bit further and actually showed me what to do. After his advice, I took fish indeed. When I started out with buzzers, it was an friendly gentleman equally, who responded to my swearing ... and showed me the way to do it ... maybe he got just annoyed with my swearing every 15 minutes... and needed some peace and tranquility ...
J.J.

I just learned sub surface fishing...If your fly was heavy enough it may have sunk the leader to below the depth the fish were feeding at. The fish may take a look then A: to get it high in the water your pulling it too fast...looks un-natural...or B They were not actually looking at your fly when they rose because it was too deep and they were taking food in a line but above your fly. try using a floatant or grease on your leader to stop it sinking so far....Worked for me.

I had this book advised on the forums "Mastering the Nymph" By Gordon Fraser.

Before this I only fished dry flies to fish I could see rising....It tought me that a "boil" is not a rise....and a whole lot about fishing at a given depth!