Thy Rod and Thy Arm When playing fish, think of your arm as an extension of the fly rod. Keeping your rod tip high and arm extended above your head provides additional shock-absorption and makes it less likely that your line or leader will touch an underwater obstacle. Larger fish, especially once they are closer, can be beaten more quickly with sideways pressure, but extending your rod arm when they surge away is good practice.
Avoiding Break-Offs Sudden movements of a fish or setting the hook too hard are more likely than a steady hard pull to cause a tippet to break, because the tensile strength of monofilament and fluorocarbon is greatly reduced by high-speed stretching.
Don’t Touch That Drag Don’t adjust your drag during the playing of a fish unless you are very familiar with the drag system. It’s almost impossible to measure the amount of pressure your drag is adding once a fish is on the line.
Practice for Big Fish If you plan on fighting big fish, first learn how much pressure you can put on a fish by tying your tippet to a fence post or other stationary object, reeling the line tight, palming the spool, and pulling as hard as you can without breaking the tippet. Practice keeping your rod at a 45-degree or lesser angle to the fish to ensure that you do not break the rod and that you are pulling with the bend in the butt of the rod and not the tip.
The Saltwater Strike In saltwater, swinging your rod tip up or to the side when you see fish take the fly — especially if you are not first tight to the fish — can cause the hook to pull and make it much harder to get a good hook set. Unless a fish is speeding toward you as it east the fly, feel for the fish with your stripping hand first, then raise the rod only after putting tension on the line with your stripping hand.
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