Ask MidCurrent: How Should I Set the Hook When Nymphing?

The classic rod-tip-to-the-sky hook set is not always your best option when you’re fishing nymphs under an indicator. Photo: Sandy Hays

Question: When I fish nymphs under an indicator, I end up losing at least 50% of the trout I hook. Sometimes, I just feel the fish for a second and then it’s off, but I also lose fish after fighting them for a while. What am I doing wrong?
—Dave, Sacramento, CA (via the Ask MidCurrent form)

Answer: Getting the fish to eat your fly is an achievement unto itself, as it means that you’ve picked the right pattern and presented it well. But losing fish consistently is incredibly frustrating. Chances are that your problem is a result of poor hook sets. There are three components of a hook set—timing, the angle of the set, and force used by the angler—and messing up any one of them can result in a poor connection and a lost fish.

Timing: Be Quick on the Stick

Trout often suck in a nymph and spit it out almost instantly if it doesn’t feel right. Many new anglers are surprised how often they miss fish simply because they weren’t ready to set the hook in time. Staying alert and confident is half the battle, so you need to expect a strike on every drift. If you let your guard down, allow your mind wander, or start admiring the scenery, you may miss your chance. Always be ready to set the hook—it’s a hand–eye coordination game, and the more attentive you are, the more trout you’ll catch.

Ideally, you should set the hook at the first sign of a take. This requires keeping your focus and trusting your instincts. If your indicator pauses or wobbles weirdly or goes under, don’t second-guess and think, “Hmm, it’s probably just the bottom.” As guides often tell their clients, “Hook sets are free.” If there’s no fish on the end of the line when you set, you can either fish out the drift or cast again. You have little to lose by setting—aside from possibly snagging or ruining your drift—and everything to gain if it is indeed a trout.

If you point your rod upward while high-sticking, you make it more difficult to set the hook quickly. Photo: Charles Hildick-Smith

It’s important to remember that, even if you execute with perfect timing, you won’t hook every fish. Trout eats can be incredibly quick, and there will be some strikes you simply can’t react to quickly enough or even see. But by consistently setting the hook fast on any movement or hesitation of your indicator, you will hook far more fish than if you delay or only react to the obvious dips.

That said, there are things you can do to ensure that you drive the hook into the trout’s jaw as quickly as possible. First, minimize the amount of slack line on the water. If your hook-setting motion has to pick up a bunch of slack before you come tight to the fly, you’re giving the fish a few extra milliseconds to spit the nymph. Try to maintain connection to the fly or flies—this is the basis of tightline nymphing—as much as you can.

Similarly, if you are high-stick nymphing or reaching over conflicting currents, hold your rod parallel to the water, rather than at a 45-degree angle. This avoids a big sag of slack line between your rod tip and the water, and it keeps your rod tip low. If you hold the rod at a 45-degree angle, you end up moving the rod tip through most of the hook-setting arc before you ever make contact with the fly.

Angle: The Downstream Sweep Set

When you’re nymphing under an indicator, there’s usually going to be some slack on the water—for instance when you’ve made a mend to counteract the effects of competing currents—which, as noted above, can make setting the hook difficult. If you simply raise your rod tip, you’re picking up the slack first. Depending on how much slack you have between you and your fly, you might never even put any tension on the fly itself this way. No tension on the fly usually means no hookup. That’s why you need to use a downstream sweep set.

The sweep set uses the water tension on the line to create immediate tension that drives the hook point home. You’re not trying to pick up the slack; instead you’re counting on the tension along the line to transfer energy down to the fly. Think about how the current pushing on your line makes your fly swing at the end of a drift. It’s the same principle at work in the sweep set.

To make a sweep set, sweep your rod horizontally toward the bank behind you, keeping the rod parallel to the water’s surface. At the same time, haul the line with your non-rod-hand. Always sweep to your downstream side. Otherwise, you’ll drag the line across your body, where it can get snagged by your vest, jacket or any tools you have hanging from them. Once the fish is hooked, you can raise your rod and start stripping like a madman to establish a more direct connection to the fish. (In the video above, by Drew Ross of Looknfishy, you can see what this looks like in real time.)

Because most of us have been taught to raise our rod tip straight upward  to set the hook—think of the classic Orvis logo—employing the sweep set requires concentration and discipline. Make a mental note at the end of every cast to remind yourself how you’re going to move the rod tip if you get a strike. Eventually, this motion will become second-nature.

Setting the hook into the fish’s mouth and against the full weight of the fish will drastically increase your rate of catch. The downstream set is much more efficient because the line remains in the same plane, and all the motion is in one dimension. With a tight line between you and the fly, setting the hook isn’t much more than a bit of a quick wrist action. Your hook set will be so much faster, too, not allowing the fish to spit out the fly.

When you’ve set the hook well, you have a much better chance of bringing the fish to the net. Photo: Charles Hildick-Smith

Force: Gentle but Firm

The final piece of the puzzle is figuring out how much force you need to set the hook. Remember that a trout is not a tarpon and does not have a bony mouth, so there’s no need to rear back and slam that hook home. If you set too hard, you risk pulling a small hook right out of the fish’s mouth or creating a large hole, which makes the hook less likely to hold.

Another advantage of the downstream sweep set is that you won’t need nearly as much force. When you set straight upward, you have to lift your line off the water, which requires a whole lot more motion and energy than a quick downstream set. If there’s no fish at the end, you often end up launching your fly into a tree behind you.

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