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

By Kent Klewein

Swinging flies is a super effective way to target any species in moving water. It’s deadly when it’s done right. Here are a few simple tips to help you get better swings.

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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