10 Tips for Fighting Trout

The fish you land teach you something; the fish you lose teach you everything.” This is the quote I live by as a full-time guide. Yes, you will break off fish that can leave you with heartache, but the knowledge gained will help you win the next time you hook up. In a fight, being mentally prepared is a massive factor in winning the battle quickly. Most important, it ensures the health and safety of the trout so it can swim off and fight another day.

I will never forget the day my client lost a trophy trout for completely avoidable reasons, and I decided to develop a trout fighting template to help clients land large trout quickly. I have learned that most large trout can be landed in five minutes or less, even using 6X tippet and size 22 flies. In more common situations, you can have the trout in the net in less than one minute by learning to apply maximum pressure without reaching the breaking point of the tippet.

The battle between angler and trout is one of the most exciting and nerve rattling experiences in fly fishing. In that intense moment it feels like time is standing still. The following tips will help calm your nerves, and allow you a chance to gain control. Whether you’re fishing drys, nymphs, or streamers, battling a resident river trout or a lake monster, these techniques will tire the fish quickly, and successfully allow you to safely release the trout to fight another day.

[These fish-fighting techniques are meant for typical trout encounters. They are not intended for other species or other environments such as saltwater. The Editor.]

1. Don’t Break the Plane

Most trout are lost in the first ten seconds or the last ten seconds of the fight. This makes the hook-set one of the most important factors. It impacts everything that happens afterward. Although trout will sometimes turn to take a fly, they most often face into the current while feeding. Your goal is to pull the hook into the back corner of the jaw—the most effective placement for a hook. You often have considerable slack in the line as part of any dead-drift presentation, so you need to rapidly lift and sweep the rod tip downstream to take up slack and set the hook in the most secure location. Do this too hard and you will break off the fish, so keep your hook-set motion in a contained space in front of your body. It should be a motion that uses your wrist and forearm only. I always tell anglers to not break the plane of their shoulder on the hook-set, this prevents you from applying excessive power by moving your hand too far. That’s most often the cause of a broken tippet. It’s harder to break the tippet if you keep your hand right in front of your shoulder.

2. Watch the Tip

Fish are often lost by watching your feet, the reel, or peering intently at the fish. I’ve found that it helps to coach people to watch the rod tip. If the tip goes straight and loses tension, it’s time to reel quickly. If the rod tip is deeply flexed, you know you are applying maximum power. If the rod tip lurches downward suddenly, it’s a signal to let go of the reel handle and let the fish run. If you pay attention to the rod tip, you can use your peripheral vision to keep track of the fish, move your feet, and you should be able to find the reel handle without looking down at the reel.

3. Absorb the Shock

The first reaction made by a trout is often an enthusiastic leap or a series of powerful head shakes. This is a response to the pressure the trout feels from the fly. These movements can be so powerful and rapid that if you don’t compensate adequately, it can break the tippet or dislodge the hook—especially in the early phase of the fight when the trout still has plenty of energy. Knowing how to adjust to these violent movements can prevent the fish from spitting out the fly or breaking off. Again, watch the rod tip for clues and keep track of the fish in the background. When a trout makes those powerful head shakes or leaps, move your arm and the rod down and toward the fish to decrease tension during the moments where the fish may break the tippet, and then return it back to the original position. This allows your arm to become a shock absorber.

4. Let Them Run

After the initial head shakes or jump, trout often resort to a series of powerful runs. This is the fish’s way to escape or retreat from a threat. With only a few thrusts of a tail the fish can move several feet in a river. Two things apply drag while the fish is running 1) the drag from the reel and 2) the drag of the line against the rod guides. When the fish is running and taking line, a rod in the vertical position applies maximum drag because the angle creates more line friction. Most often it’s best to let the reel do the job it was designed for . . . let the reel do the work by lowering the rod while the fish is running away from you, and keep your hand away from the reel handle. When the fish stops or pauses, raise the rod to increase tension and begin reeling if you are able.

5. Keep a Short Leash

When trout run, they expend energy. But distance between you and a fish gives them an advantage and reduces your ability to negotiate around obstacles and maintain proper rod angles. The more line you have out, the less control you have over the trout. After a fish runs you should do everything possible to retrieve line and shorten that distance. It is similar to walking a dog, you want it to stay as close to you as possible when you are training it. And like walking a dog: The best position for you is to be right beside it so you can apply maximum sideways pressure, which tires fish quickly and helps move them into slower, shallower water close to the bank. If the fish runs downstream you may have to chase after it, because pulling the fish upstream and against the current puts you at a disadvantage. Pulling straight upstream is when you are most likely to have the hook dislodged.

6. Switch Angles

After those first runs, jumps, and head shakes, it’s time for you to take control and apply maximum pressure to exhaust the fish quickly. There is no one “correct” rod angle for every situation, but in most cases the rod should be held low at a 45-degree angle to apply maximum pressure using the powerful butt section of the rod. Making the fish work at all times is the key here. Using the tip of the rod to lift straight up applies very little pressure, but there are situations where you’ll have to hold the rod high to navigate the line (and the fish) around big boulders, logs, or other obstructions. As soon as you can get around these hazards, get the rod low again to create the smallest angle possible between the line and the surface of the water. Don’t lift with the tip of the rod, pull with the butt section.

If you can pull downstream when the fish is steadily swimming upstream, you are making the fish work against your pressure and the current. It also pulls the hook at an angle that is most likely to hold purchase. Another great angle is low side pressure, as this controls the head of the fish. Trout always swim in the direction their head is pointed, so if you can pull the head of the trout in your direction—whether you are in shallow, on the bank, or on a boat—you are winning the fight.

In his classic Scientific Anglers video series on fly fishing for steelhead, Lani Waller coached anglers to constantly change the direction of the pull to keep the fish off balance. This is good advice for any big trout. Switch between pulling the fish backward and pulling it sideways and you’ll never give the fish a chance to rest.

7. Play From the Reel

For many fly fishers, the initial reaction upon hooking a fish is to grab the reel. Perhaps this is due to the fact that many anglers were introduced to fishing with conventional gear where there is never “loose” line. For small and medium-sized trout there’s often no need to use the reel at all. You can ignore the loose line by pinching the line under the finger of your rod hand, and stripping the fish in quickly. With trophy trout, loose coils of line can be a hazard. They can wrap around the reel foot, rod butt, your feet, hands, branches in the water . . . if something can go wrong it will go wrong. If the fish takes an initial big run, sometimes the fish solves the problem for you. You can carefully allow the line to slide through your fingers until the fish is on the reel. When a trophy trout stays close for a slugfest, you’ll have to trap the fly line with one hand and reel up the slack with the other hand. Once the line is safely stored on the reel, you have made it to first base in landing the fish.

8. Think Quick

A spinning reel has a clutch so you can hold the handle or reel even while losing line. With a fly reel, you’ll break the fish off if you try that, so as a general rule, keep your hand off the reel handle. Your reel drag and the pressure from your rod angle should be “working” the fish. You don’t tire a fish by cranking at the handle, that’s how you break them off. Use your rod pressure to move the fish, quickly use the reel handle to reel up the slack, and then let go of the reel right away. This will allow you to make gains on the fish, but it will keep your hands clear when the line rips off the reel. This helps you land the fish and also keeps your knuckles bruise free. Near the end of the fight, when the fish is tired and moving toward you, crank the reel for maximum pressure as you lever it toward the net.

9. Net Headfirst

Always try to net the trout headfirst and when it’s near the surface. Deep scooping or chasing the trout from behind rarely works. The best way to is use rod pressure to move the trout’s head where you want it and merely slide it into a stationary net you have positioned near the surface. There are also times when the trout is thrashing on the surface, opening a window for you to quickly scoop the fish.

Headfirst is essential, as you want the net to be out in front in case they bolt. Trout can sense a net behind them, and you can never move a net through the water as fast as a trout can swim. In rivers, lead the trout downstream and allow the current to drift the fish into the net.

A net with a longer handle is always an advantage. I use a Fishpond Nomad El Jefe Grande net that is 52+ inches long. A longer net with a larger opening will always allow you to net a fish quicker than an old-fashioned short net with a small opening. The only downside is carrying the larger net. Nets with a soft rubber bag are far better for the fish than the alternatives, which are often playing the fish too long, tearing mouthparts off the fish, grabbing and squeezing the fish, or beaching and damaging the fish. All these undesirable actions can be avoided by quickly reaching out and netting a healthy fish before it’s completely exhausted.

10. Careful Release

The end of any trophy trout experience is not when the fish slides into the net. The emotional finale is watching the fish swim off healthy to fight another day. One question I have been asked many times over the years is: “Do you rock the fish back and forth in the water before you release it?”

The answer is no. Trout are oxygen depleted when you get them into the net, and that depletion can build up harmful lactic acid in their muscles. They need water flowing over their gills, but backward movement doesn’t help. The water must move in through their mouth and out past their gills. Cradle them gently underneath the water so they are not exerting energy, and allow them to recover and pump water over their gills. Do not squeeze them. As long as you see those gills pumping they are on the road to recovery. Face them upstream in a gentle current to increase the flow over their gills. Don’t try to revive them in swift water as they may be swept away before they are fully recovered. Also try to avoid silty backwater areas as the water may be warmer (less oxygen) and mud and silt in their gills cannot be beneficial. Hold the fish gently until it is strong enough to swim away under its own power. You’ll never need to push a trout away, it will go when it is ready.

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Landon Mayer is a Colorado fly-fishing guide and Fly Fisherman contributing editor. He lives in Woodland Park, Colorado. His most recent book is Landon Mayer’s Guide Flies: Easy-to-Tie Patterns for Tough Trout (Stackpole Books, 2022). landonmayerflyfishing.com | Instagram: @LANDONMAYERFLYFISHING