Dukes 1/7

[S.Trutta]

Fished Dukes this past Saturday in section 1. Definetely getting tougher with the super clear very cold water (38 F) Fished my usual spots and usually productive patterns with very little action. I foul hooked a fish (by accident) in the back that i had on for 10+ minutes that was an absolute pig. Got him very close several times and he was in the mid to upper 20's. Wasnt very upset when he broke off because i HATE snagging fish. Landed a 18inch bow a little later in the same run. Fished some slow slick water from my knees with a small midge and no indicator and took a lovely 18 inch brown that made my day. Thats only the 4th brown i have ever caught in dukes. Managed one more 18 inch bow right at the end of the day, and lost another about the same size a few casts later. Ended up with 7 for the day, but three were foul hooked so really only 4 taken in the mouth. My 2 TU buddies managed only 1 fish between them, so 4 isnt too bad. Anyone else foul hooking alot of fish? I hate it and was wondering if there was something you could do so reduce the frequency of that. I know dredging the bottom with nymphs is the problem, but then again, thats how you have to fish to catch the fish!

Rich

[UGAflyfisher]

Me and my buddy fished section 2 on saturday and had pretty good day... Probably half of them caught were foul hooked. I think it was because there were so many fish in one run that it was hard for a hook not to get stuck in them. We weren't trying to snag them because we did see the fish actually feeding and we did hook some in the mouth but sometimes the indicator would even go down like a strike and it would end up being foul hooked. Also I noticed on one fish that we caught that when we first got the fish on it was hooked on the bottom fly but after a run upstream the second fly had become lodged in the tail, seems like a logical explantion for foul hooks sometimes. Other than that it was beautiful day and we caught some good fish including one 25 inch bow and 21 inch brown.

Shine

[S.Trutta]

I agree. When there are that many fish, particularly large fish, stacked up in a run, its almost unavoidable to fish nymphs deep without occasionaly snagging a fish in the back or the tail. I hooked some fish in the mouth too, but just got really frustrated when i would see the indicator rocket back, only to set the hook and see a fish hooked in the dorsal fin. I had one fish several months ago that was amazing. i had him hooked in the mouth on my top fly. After a jump and a strong tug my rod went limp for less than a second and then i was connected again. When i landed him the top fly was free and the dropper was stuck in his tail!!! The fish pulled loose only to get stuck again with the dropper. Let me ask you this question...do you ever hook fish in the head or lower underside of the jaw and wonder if they took it and you pulled the hook out into their head? I know when they are in the tail or fin its probably a foul hook, but i have a hard time believing a smart fish is going to let something like that drift right into his face without doing anything.

Rich

[UGAflyfisher]

On a large fly and stuff that is visible I've seen trout move away from the fly as it moving downstream so maybe its just them moving out of the way of a fly or the line in some cases. Who knows but it seems like in the winter I end up with more foul hooks I guess since the fish are so stacked up in those runs...

Shine