Skills

Head Up, Game Over

It’s better for the fish if you land and release them quickly.

Kirk Deeter

February 16, 2024

Head Up, Game Over

When you are playing a trout to the net, it’s all about angles. If the fish is pointed nose-down, bulldozing toward the bottom, it’s not ready, and if you try to horse it in, that’s when you are likely to break off.

When its head breaks the surface, however, the fish loses its leverage, and is at your mercy. I’m not talking about a jumping fish, of course. I’m talking about when the fish rolls at the surface, and you see its nose above the water. That’s the exact point when to apply the pressure. If you are relentless, as you should be, you can almost skate them across the water and right into your net.

Don’t give them back their leverage. It’s better for the fish if you land and release them quickly. Once that head comes up, it should be game over. Give them the business. There are limits, of course, but even a 20-incher on 5X tippet should be easy to land if you keep the rod bent, apply good pressure and keep its head just a little bit above the waterline. This becomes a good habit after you practice long enough.

Dog on a Leash

Speaking of that low rod tip and fighting fish: Even in a trout river, and even with an eighteen-inch trout, the endgame, as you pull the trout toward the landing net, is almost always better when the rod tip is low.

Sure, go ahead and fight them up high. But I watched the late, great Tom Whitley, who was an absolute master on the South Platte River in Colorado, make more anglers happy and create more big fish photos with his clients by teaching his sports to drop the rod tip near the water and steer the fish toward his landing net. I swear, it was almost like watching them walk a dog on a leash.

Fight them up high, steer around the rocks, but once that fish is tired and in a flat water landing zone, you can drop the rod tip almost in the water, and pull them toward that net. It’s almost like they’re walking home.