If you miss a strike or lose your fish with a strip set, what do you do?

Let's say you miss a strike when fishing for salt fish is your general standard response to....

  • Keep stripping like nothing happened

  • Mutter an expletive, or some utterance like "finally"

  • Stop stripping, let the fly drop for a second or two, and then strip again

  • Plan to repeat that exact cast and presentation

  • Change your rate of strip, make it more erratic or something similar

  • Note where the fish was, move on, return in 15-20 minutes for similar pass/cast

  • Check your fly/hook, make sure it is good and sharp

  • Other response- write it out

  • Know the fish won, move on and return way later


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Jake Watrous

Legend
Forum Supporter
Is returning to the same spot in 15-20 minutes a thing in saltwater? I don’t know that I’ve ever even considered that no matter what salty fish I was targeting. It may be my limited experience, but either a missed strike changes nothing or it sends the fish off and they will not be in the same area in 15-20 minutes.
 

jasmillo

}=)))*>
Forum Supporter
Is returning to the same spot in 15-20 minutes a thing in saltwater? I don’t know that I’ve ever even considered that no matter what salty fish I was targeting. It may be my limited experience, but either a missed strike changes nothing or it sends the fish off and they will not be in the same area in 15-20 minutes.

It is for me on some of the beaches I fish for SRC. Some of the of beaches I fish regularly hold fish consistently in very specific spots. If I miss a fish, I’ll often fish down the beach but return to the same location and try again.

Coho…imagine that specific fish is probably long gone in most cases.
 

Jake Watrous

Legend
Forum Supporter
It is for me on some of the beaches I fish for SRC. Some of the of beaches I fish regularly hold fish consistently in very specific spots. If I miss a fish, I’ll often fish down the beach but return to the same location and try again.

Coho…imagine that specific fish is probably long gone in most cases.
Huh. I bow to your experience.

I usually just keep flogging the water in my fan pattern and mosey down the beach, then loop back by later if I’m staying.

Your intel might be another vote for me taking up the habit of strategic Leland naps.
 

IHFISH

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
Almost always some variation of #2, sometimes just an F bomb and sometimes not even fully formed words - e.g. "ahhhuuugghh" quickly followed by at least one of the other choices. Interesting to read other folks' approaches.
 

Wadin' Boot

Badly tied flies, mediocre content
Forum Supporter
It is for me on some of the beaches I fish for SRC. Some of the of beaches I fish regularly hold fish consistently in very specific spots. If I miss a fish, I’ll often fish down the beach but return to the same location and try again.

Coho…imagine that specific fish is probably long gone in most cases.
I've found this to be pretty much spot on, and on a really good beach, those holding spots and the pecking order of who is in them changes with tidal shifts. My ideal beach would give like 4-5 different key sites, you wade with the tide, work your way through them, 5-7 minutes a site, quicker prospect casts between sites, reach the last one, fish down, X and uptide with various retrieve rates and if no hits, exit the water, make your way back to the start, pick up some trash, toss it in the Yak, drink some coffee, watch the birds for a few minutes, and do it all over.

Sometimes resident coho will often hit the same site, the exact same tide and same time year after year, despite not being the same cohort- plus that site will often overlap with key feeding sites for SRC. ie that's a just a killer spot to pin your journal geotag...
 

Pez Vela

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
I usually question the fishes parentage.... like "YOU BASTARD!?!" Once on the North Fork, I had a steelhead nearly yank the rod out of my hands, only to drop the fly before I could put the beer down! A quick cast back to the same swing, and this time I got the hook set... nice fish. (yes, that is bamboo and a Hardy Perfect and I haven't been right since)


IMG_0101 (1).jpeg
 

jasmillo

}=)))*>
Forum Supporter
Huh. I bow to your experience.

I usually just keep flogging the water in my fan pattern and mosey down the beach, then loop back by later if I’m staying.

Your intel might be another vote for me taking up the habit of strategic Leland naps.

Ha, well I would not bow to my 7-8 years of experience compared to the decades of others on the board! Just my two cents based on what I have encountered on some of the beaches I fish. On other beaches, the fish seem to be more sporadic and spread out. I have always chalked that up to good overall habitat for SRC versus spotty. For example, one beach I target that holds fish very consistently in one spot (to me…cast to eleven o’clock off the edge of the overhanging bush :).) is mostly sand but I have observed a shallow impression with some gravel and rock in the general area at low tide. There is also fresh water entering the sound about 25 feet away. Certain times of year it’s a given a fish our three will be there. Often the whole rest of the beach is barren.

It’s why I love that fishery so much. So much fun figuring out little things like that.
 
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