3 Tips for Swinging Flies for Trout & Other Species

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3 Tips for Swinging Flies for Trout & Other Species. Photo Louis Cahill

Some time back I read a great fly fishing article on MidCurrent titled, Beyond the Swing by John Likakis. It was a fly fishing techniques piece packed with tons of information about the how-tos of swinging flies. It’s a great read for any angler wanting to become more competent and effective at swinging flies for trout and other species. If you happened to miss reading this one, please check it out after today’s post. After I read John’s article, it inspired me to share three swinging fly tips of my own. Each tip is meant to help the anglers out there who’ve just recently started swinging flies on the water.

3 Rookie Tips for Swinging Flies

Tip 1: Don’t Hold Your Rod Tip Too High Off The Water When Swinging Flies

One technique flaw that I see a lot of my clients’ make on the water when they’re swinging flies is they hold the rod tip too high off the water. In many cases, when you do this during the swing, it will create a belly of slack between the rod tip and the fly line on the water. Slack makes it more difficult to detect subtle strikes during the swing. To fix this problem, I tell my clients to always keep the tip of the fly rod on or very close to the surface of the water during the swing. Doing so, it keeps slack to minimum and they find it much easier to feel bites during the swing. The only times, in my opinion, that you want to raise your rod tip off the water during the swing, is when you’re performing a Leisenring lift or you need to raise the fly up in the water column so it doesn’t snag the stream bottom. Before all you veteran swinger junkies start bashing me with comments, understand this tip is for anglers that are newbies to swinging flies.

Tip 2: Don’t Set the Hook Too Hard When Swinging Flies

One of the hardest things for me to learn when I first started swinging flies was adjusting my hook set. When you swing flies correctly you don’t have near as much slack in your fly line during the drift as you do when your presenting a fly on a dead-drift. Since you don’t have all that slack to eliminated during the hook set, you don’t need as big or hard of a hook set to successfully hook fish. I’ve found a smooth, conservative sweeping hook set works best when swinging flies. Especially when you’re fishing tiny nymphs or wet flies. Only if you’re streamer fishing and you’re worried about a big hook penetrating to you want to give it extra power during the hook set. Furthermore, since you’re hooking most of your fish directly downstream of you, it can be really easy for fish to give you a few head shakes after the hook set and spit the hook. After you’ve felt tension, and gotten a successful hook up on the swing, take your time during the early stages of the fight, so you don’t pull the hook free. Once the fish stops shaking its head, you can then raise your rod tip and begin increasing your fighting pressure.

Tip 3: Don’t Forget About Adjusting Angler Position

They’re are times when even the best cast and presentation you’ve got won’t allow you to swing your flies into the kitchen. Sometimes the only way for you to get the fly in front of the fish, and get an eat, is to adjust your position in the water between you and your target (take a few steps out, downstream or upstream). A prime example of when you’d want to do this is when you’re trying to swing your flies against the far bank. Often in this situation the drag from different current speeds you’re fishing across will speed up your flies too fast and suck them out of the strike zone before you can get your flies to the fish. A lot of the time if you just reposition yourself, you’ll find it makes all the difference in getting that perfect drift.

Keep it Reel,

Kent Klewein
Gink & Gasoline
www.ginkandgasoline.com
hookups@ginkandgasoline.com
 
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4 thoughts on “3 Tips for Swinging Flies for Trout & Other Species

  1. The question I always after reading articles about swinging wet flies is what exactly is the correct speed. I read about the importance of speed but I don’t often see advice on how best to judge if the wet fly if moving too fast.

  2. This is exactly what my slow mind needed 🙂 This makes a lot sense, so thank you! Frankly one of the best things about anglers and fly fisherman in particular is that I have yet to meet anyone who hasn’t been willing to share their advice when asked.
    Keep up the good work, this is a great blog.
    all the best

  3. Pingback: Tippets: Dun Magazine, Autumn Streamers, Rubber Fly Reels | MidCurrent

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