Missing bites

Last week i was fishing my local club water. I had about 5 bites but i could NOT connect with the fish, even when i did they just came off straight away.

I was fishing a barbless hook because they dont allow barbed hooks at this fishery, but i always had a reasonably tight line with the fish.

anyone know what i am doing wrong? not striking roperly?

thanks

There are often times when trout "come short" to a fly.

One of the most common is when you are fishing directly down wind. Trout have a tendency to swim up wind, especially when eating various life forms just below the surface. As a result, when the trout takes your fly, the resulting strike pulls the hook out of the mouth, or into the hard parts at the front of the mouth. This can result in a lot of missed takes.

The answer is to get side on to the wind or fish into the wind. The resultant strike will tend to hook the trout in the side of the mouth or scissors. A trout hooked there generally do not come adrift, barbless hook or not.

Another expedient is to make sure you use soft materials for tying your flies. The trout have a tendency to hold onto them that little bit longer.

Hope this helps.

What bait and what size hook were you using?

I think Ron's answer just about sums it up.
I used to have a heck of a problem casting into the wind and missed a lot of takes too.
I bit the bullet, didn't cast as far- often quite near the bank and found that as I got better, I could cast quite well into the wind. I missed fewer fish then.
Just one other thing; I have had recent experiencies of fish straightening my hooks.
Sometimes, I have been compelled to fish smaller flies- esp dry flies such as midge etc. I have tied them down to size twenty hooks. Whilst I have hooked into fish quite decently sized, they have pulled so hard they have easily straightened the hook. The only answer is either to go to a bigger hook size or to play the fish much more gently. Difficult when the animal is motoring for weed cover or tree root.

One of the biggest advantages in casting into the wind is that the breeze helps your backcast go out straight behind you.

Because of this you will often find that the forward cast sings out through the rod rings beautifully.

Another of the biggest advantages of being able to cast against the wind is that rainbow trout follow the wind, they are after all the insects that get blown with it.

And finally, if there are a large number of anglers on the water, you can bet that they will be on the upwind shore, many of them catching nothing.

You can have a vast amount of fishing space available to you by becoming a good caster.

Another good point Ron.
But the backcast, which is an essential point in making a good presentation is too; good; but often, the wind drives the forward cast down hard onto the water.
I try to cast lower and near to the water and shorter too. My local water gets a lot of wind problems. The bailiff says that I am the only person who dosen't mind fishing in high headwinds.Windy and cloudy days for me mean a quick full bag and plenty of sport.
Missed takes are often the bain of the fly fisher- short rises, timidity and overfed fish being the main causes.
All we can do in the put and take fisheries is persevere.
Have to admit, I am getting p***ed off with the pond chucking branch of fly fishing.
But in Kent, the only wildy river is the Stour which would cost about 2 thou per year for about five fish!
Just about the same as flying out to the Canadian southern states and catching lake trout!

sounds like a blunt hook to me. possibly you had turned the tip over on some thing.

That's why I generally prefer a big reservoir Ian. These places are still huge challenges and a top quality rainbow is still the hardest fighting thing with fins, size for size in British freshwater.

I am fortunate in having a top class reservoir within 4 miles of where I live, that only costs ?3 a visit.

Chucking into head winds demands skill, and controlled power. It's a bit like hitting a golfball well. You also need to learn the double haul technique, and to stop the line just before it hits the water.

I'm an old fart these days and I can't cast like I could 25 years ago.

But I can still outchuck most youngsters, which gives me a little cheer from time to time.

And there are a few tricks to casting into the wind that often professional instrictors do no teach.

Charles Jardine helped me a lot. I found I could cast just as far with technique rather than brute force. I do a tighter rollover on my casting in high winds. The mearest reservoir to me is Bewl water. That's an hour and a half's drive.

Thanks for your inputs fellas, much appreciated..

My local club lake gets quite alot of wind as its quite out in the open, and ive never really tried casting into the wind.. so next time i go ill give it a try, as for fishing side on to the wind then i agree its good, my grandad outfished me, lol.