I've got lost fish on my mind this week because of a really hot fish I lost on the Nehalem last week. Long story short: After 3 nice natives on spinning gear, I decided to try for one on the fly, which I do occasionally for winters. I waded out as far as I could to be able to cast to a likely looking seam. I was casting, stripping more and more line to extend my range/coverage of the seam. The fish hit hard and headed down the rapid. I had my drag set loose (for stripping line) and had to palm the reel. After 5 - 10 sec., I was losing control (and my hand was getting whacked by the handle as the fish peeled line) so I tightened the drag. 5 seconds later, the fish was gone....it had straightened the hook out........*^%E$^#@#@$#@&$((%^($#@#%$!!!!!!!, I gently said to the fish and my buddy!

Question: Should I have had the drag set for the fish while casting/stripping line? Do you think it would've made a difference? Isn't that tiring and bad for the reel? When I checked the drag on my 8 wt after seeing that the hook had straightened out, it had only moderate tension on it. This was a hot fish ~ 12 - 14 pounds in fast water.

I'm just getting into fly fishing for steelies myself, but if you tie your own flies, I'd use a better quality hook.

Wild Chrome

I think that in any type of fishing fly or otherwise you set your drag where you wantit and never touch it. You especially never touch your drag when you have a fish on unless you have an emergency ie. drag is so tight the fish can't run or so loose you cant reel when the fish isn't pulling.
If a fish "goes over" on you you either have to chase them or hold them tight or give them a little slack and hope they come back up. My preferennce is to chase them. However if I can't chase them there is only one thing you can do, point your rod straight at the fish and hold the spool, the fish will either turn,break off or bend the hook out. Assuming you couldn't follow the fish down river I'd say you did everything you could and the simple reality is you can't land them all.
If you feel like you weren't putting that much pressure on the fish then you might want to examine your hooks..

So Rob,

Do you leave your drag set at a moderate setting even when you're just starting to cast and stripping out line? That's not hard on the reel?

WC,

First off.....I'm not a flyfisher so take this for what's it's worth.

In my experience messing with the drag during a fight is not a very good thing to do. I keep my drag a little on the loose side and use a hand if I need to. Once the fish isn't running, then a drag adjustment can be made. Can you palm the spool on the outside rather than getting whacked by the handle?

In any case, you hand is a better gauge of how much pressure to apply than an in-fight drag adjustment.

Personally, I keep it where it should be all the time. Shouldn't hurt the reel any stripping line. Messing with the drag while fighting a fish almost always ends in disappointing results.

Also remember that it may not have been any fault of the drag setting ... tick a rock on a backcast at the hook might break even under the lightest setting ... part of the bugrod game

WC,

I adjust the drag to eliminate over run and that is it. One thing that must be remembered that the fly line has significant drag a the fish tows it around. Steelhead will wear themselves down in most cases. If fought properly I believe that steelhead will tire faster with a fly due to the drag of the line. The downstream runner is the hardest to stop. I have yet to require "the train stopping drag" that many modern reels imply is required to land fish. Congrats on the hookup, make the heart race!

Been there, done that I set my drag pretty tight, as tight as I'm going to need it when I hook up. It doesn't bother the reel at all, at least the 1598 1/2 Pflueger Medalist I use, to strip line against a tight drag. I still have the raised rim for palming the fish.

When you have one clean you as that one did here is the niftiest trick in the world - let him go until he slows down or stops (helps to have 200 yards of 30 pound dacron on the reel like I do) then feed out more line. Your fly line will float downstream past the fish, and the downstream pull will make him change directions and head right back up to where you hooked him. I had a 14 pound fish come back up through a hundred yards of impassable rapids when I pulled this trick one time, and I had another come out from under a log jam 3 times before I wore him out.

The other thing I do is use a 34007 Mustad stainless steel hook. There is no way any one of these puppies will ever straighten out or break before your leader does. They also stay sharp when dragged on rocks way better than regular steel does, and your flys never rust. Always pinch the barbs down on these, so the fish can throw the hook if you bust him off.

It's so cool to even hook a fish on a fly that I count the one's I lose just as much as the one's I land

What kind of hook was it? What weight of leder were you using. This sounds unusual, to say the least. I have rarely had a hook straighten on me in 30+ years of fly and gear fishing, and then only with very small hooks. Any reputable steelhead fly hook should require at least 25 lbs of pull to straighten for the sizes normally used (size 8 to 2). If you were using a lower strength tippet than that, you probably had a defective hook, which is a bummer to say the least.

On the drag question, i'm with the other guys. I have a drag set to about 2 or 3 lbs of tension, when I am using 8 to 10 lb test leader. hat equates to being a little more than loose, but not stiff by any means.

Bummer about losing the fish, sounds like it was a nice one.

Wild Chrome
As Bob said, set the drag tight enough that it doesn't over run when you strip but light enough that a fish can run if it wants to. Once you have it set there never touch it.

Some people are to analytical about it sometimes. I prefer to just accept the fact that lots of fish are never landed and thats that. I don't a;ways need to know why ot do something different the nest time. Some fish just get off. It's best just to accept it and not give it another thought. After all you accomplished the hard part, that is getting the fish to come up and take the fly. Thats the part that takes the talent.. congrats!

Thanks everybody.

It was a store-bought #4 woolie bugger. Not sure what the hook is, but I've landed a couple other steelies on the same fly. Probably not a high-end hook I guess. Think I'll set the drag a little tighter when I'm strippin' line from now on.

I don't think it really would have mattered if your drag was set right or not.LOL!It sounds like that was just one of those rare fish that you just have to tip your hat to for getting the better of you.Nothing wrong with that.If every fish came in easy,it just wouldn't be the same.You will always remember when a fish beats you like that.In fact,it's probably one of the better memories you will have of fish you've hooked.One of my best memories is of hooking a chrome bright chum salmon on the fly.I've never seen a fish fight like it,including steelhead.It jumped 7 times and took me to the end of my backing 5 times.I was running up and down the river bank reeling like crazy one minute,then holding on for dear life the next.In the end,I ended up on my butt in the water and the fish was gone.I couldn't shake the grin from my face for a week.Those are the kind of encouters you remember.The fish won plain and simple,just as it did in your case.Next time maybe it will be your turn.Sounds like you had a beauty on and if it were headed down the fast water,it would have been tough to stop.Don't ya just love fish like that?!

I don't worry about the drag as I have yet to catch a Steelhead on the fly. I've lost a few big fish by not being awake when they hit(summer runs) or being suprised when fishing for trout or cutts.