A short Sunday session

[lawrenceh_w]

I managed a short session on my local river (the Whitewater) today. I normally go Monday evening after work but my wife's signed me up for some keep-fit activities on Monday evenings ... still she let me go out today :D

I thought seeing as it was cloudy and quite cold (about 10C) there wouldn't be any fish rising ... but as usual I was wrong. I managed to hook and lose 2 fish in the first pool I fished on a pink post quill klinkhamer (which I'd tied in the morning). I then landed a lovely fish of about 12 ounces (guess who forgot his camera??).

I moved on upriver managing to spook a couple of fish and then came to one of my favourite swims. There were at least 4 or 5 differnt fish rising. I landed a little fellow but managed to lose 3 (!) fish of which the biggest was about 2lb! Gah! I can't work out if the hook I used was not hooking up well or if I was being incompentent. I'm going with the latter theory for the moment. I 'm using a partridge barbless shrimp hook for these quill klinkhamers. Maybe I need to find a different pattern?

[Satoshi]

Seems at least you had a good time.
I wonder if you have the same proverb as we have in Japan;

"Lost fish is always big." ;)

Satoshi

[lawrenceh_w]

Satoshi,

That saying is true the whole world over ...

Unfortunately I actually saw all the fish I lost ... which I think makes it worse. 2 of them were practically at the net when the hook pulled out :oops: . At least none of them smashed me up as the hook popped out on every occasion. I know one of the fish I lost was because I gave it some slack line, which you can't do with barbless hooks. :roll:

[WJG]

Lawrence,
This is the first year I have tried fishing klinkhammers. I tied them on a Partridge (I think) klinkhammer style hook. #14 on the package, but they look huge. Early in the season and I am hanging a bead head nymph off the hook bend. Last night I was missing far too many hits on the klinkhammer. I'm wondering if the added tippet to the bend is causing this, or the style of hook I am not used to.
Guess I will have to try the klink alone and sort it out or attach to the eye.?

Lost fish is always big, and grows with time and telling of the story.

[lawrenceh_w]

The Partridge klinkhamer hooks are massive. I tend to use a TMC200R and bend the shank slightly to create the kink. But for smaller sizes (18s, 20s) I was trying a Partridge barbless shrimp hook but I don't think this worked very well when it came to the hook hold. I've just ordered some TMC 2200BL hooks to try those out as small emergers.

[Danny S]

WJC: You may be on target with the dropper being tied to the hook bend interfering with a solid hook-up. I switched this year to tying the dropper tippet to the eye instead of the bend and my land rate has gone up nicely. Now I usually lose them due to slack line (my fault, of course), jumps, or straightened hooks. Might be worth a try to use the same set-up, same flies, but use the eye for both tie-ins, and see if the loss/miss rate stays the same.

[martin_b]

Interesting, Danny. I would think that tying the dropper to the eye would make the fly a bit nose heavy, ie. in the case of a Klinkhåmer it would not have the intended position with its body slightly submerged?
Martin

[Satoshi]

I tie the dropper to the eye because of another reason.
I buy and use barbless hooks and I often lose the dropper when I tie it to the hook bend. This seems to occur particularly when the tippet is hard.

By the way, Lawrence, I of course beleive your lost fish was big. ;)
Big fish is easy to be lost because it's big.

Satoshi

[Danny S]

A very valid point Martin!--I had not thought of that aspect.

It may very well create too much weight, but maybe a couple of wire turns at the bend of the Klinkhammer could compensate? I think the added weight may not be all that much considering the parachute style hackle should keep it riding correctly. These thoughts are just off my head--I haven't tested with a KH.

As a side note, if someone likes the thought of tying off in the eye but the weight does cause presentation problems for the dry fly, might try the wire head midge I mentioned in the FeatherCraft section. Not near as much weight as a bead, but enough to let it get down below the top fly. I like that midge because I can add as much wire at the head as I desire based on weight needs. I have no idea why the wire head is more effective, but for me, it's been beating the bead heads hands down.

[WJG]

I have heard some refer to the nymph tied off the hook bend as NZ stlye. I call it quick and easy. Usually early in the season while I am still working the winter rust off the cast and am fishing short sessions, it speeds things up and reduces tangles. As Martin suggested, the angle of the dangle with the klink is why I tried the bend. The eye should work well with a EHC or big dry.
I like to add an indicator dry to the knot tag end where I step down tippet size for the nymph. (Max. 4" length from knot) This lets both drift better but some tangles will unsue. Fair trade off when the fish are hitting.