# missed a lot of strikes with the gurgler today



## jamie (Jan 22, 2016)

paulrad said:


> I missed a whole bunch of hits on the gurgler this evening. I was setting the hook like I normally do, but I was just coming away empty. Over and over. On a few of them I could feel the weight of the fish, but on others I was just getting nothing.
> 
> I thought it might have been my weedguard (20lb mason tied in at the front and the back). But I've used that same weedguard before with no issues. Hooks were owner mosquitos.
> 
> Is there some kind of trick to getting solid hooksets when using a gurgler?


I've found needs a 1 Mississippi pause before the hookset.


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## fishnpreacher (Jul 28, 2018)

Rod tip low and strip set. Easier said than done on a topwater bite


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## Plantation (Nov 24, 2015)

I let them have it for a second before hitting them on gurgler eats.


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## Frank Ucci (Jan 20, 2019)

Sometimes a fish will smack the fly (or lure) with his tail to stun it before he tries to eat it. If that is the commotion you are seeing, you will drag the fly out of the fish's sight before he has a chance to come back and eat it.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Just like fishing a topwater plug with treble hooks, I always let the fish basically hook itself. Just keep contact with your fly and let the fish take it.


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## paulrad (May 10, 2016)

Thank you all. Definitely a common trend in these posts. 

Gonna try to get back out and try it again. Hopefully the conversation won't be the same as yesterday. I had my daughter on the boat with me. She was just relaxing while I was getting frustrated...
Me: #[email protected]^$#%!!! Did you see that? I missed another one!
Her: LOLOLOLOL!!!


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

I make a point of telling my anglers that their first strike is usually a miss and if they’ll keep the bug moving - the fish won’t miss the second time...

I know it’s hard but you have to wait until you feel the strike... before reacting... Of course I tend to strike too soon -just same as everyone else.


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## Shadowcast (Feb 26, 2008)

Do you know what species? Reds are not anatomically built to take off the top. They usually swing and miss a few times before connecting.


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## paulrad (May 10, 2016)

Shadowcast said:


> Do you know what species? Reds are not anatomically built to take off the top. They usually swing and miss a few times before connecting.


I don't know for sure the species. I have taken snook at this location before, and that's what I would have expected to be there. But on the other hand, when these things were hitting there wasn't that distinctive snook pop sound. 

And @lemaymiami , in order to keep that bug moving when they miss requires at least nerves of steel. Normally my nerves are made of titanium. But apparently when a fish eats a surface fly, my titanium breaks down into jelly.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Shadowcast said:


> Do you know what species? Reds are not anatomically built to take off the top. They usually swing and miss a few times before connecting.


If they want it they’ll usually eat it even though their mouth is more for feeding in front or below their body. The reason most fish are missed or seem to miss the surface lure or fly us their wake pushes the target out of the way. Let it sit a second then barely twitch it and they’ll usually hammer it. If not, keep casting in that area and they will likely not be able to stand it and the reaction strike instinct takes over.


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## Backcountry 16 (Mar 15, 2016)

Glad my old shadowcast is treating you well Paul


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## Wilmywood (Oct 7, 2019)

Rod tip low, wait for a second or two for the fish to get it ints mouth then strip set. I find with reds you really have to wait


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## paulrad (May 10, 2016)

As I think about it, I'm starting to think my hooksets in general kind of suck. Because this is absolutely not the first time I've had this trouble. Sometimes I have trouble even if it's a subsurface fly also. Especially for baby tarpon! I wouldn't be surprised if I get one fish on for every 8 or 10 bites with those guys. I think I miss more strikes than I ought to. I'm going to resolve here and now to really focus on this aspect of my fishing and try to solve this. 

@Backcountry 16 I am indeed enjoying it! Every time. The other day, I went out by myself for a quick trip in the evening. As soon as I pulled away from the dock it started pouring down rain. I fished anyway. Got soaked. Didn't catch a thing - not even a bite. Still had a great time.  I'm thankful you sold it to me!


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

There’s a reason they call them rubberlips


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## Cliff (Oct 13, 2016)

I will third the suggestion that you wait a second before striking and see if it helps.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

One other thing that will help anyone that misses a lot of strikes... Many that I've seen hold their rod so that the tip is a foot or two off the water... Want to increase your hookups? Simply put the tip of your rod in the water and always pointing directly at the fly... That way if a fish even kisses your fly you have a direct connection with absolutely no slack between your stripping hand and that hook. Fly rods are built for casting - not fish hooking - point the rod directly at the fly, keep the tip of the rod in the water slightly and you remove all the "give" between you and the hook. Your hook-up ratio will soar. This also works with big tarpon....


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## Hank (Jan 14, 2019)

What Captain Bob wrote above x10000.


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## sevenweight (Sep 3, 2015)

paulrad said:


> ... is there some kind of trick to getting solid hooksets when using a gurgler?


Yes ... move away from the school of ladyfish :-/
They seem to want to slash top water (lures and flies) and sometimes I’ll miss more than I hook with a wood or foam body popper.


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## RABillstein (Jan 10, 2019)

Good points. Also it might be good to check that the gap is wide enough between the material on the shank of the hook and the point. Sometimes the bulky flies end up working against the fish trying to eat them.


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## Renegade (Aug 30, 2015)

Micro poons are notorious for not grabbing them. Honestly, I rarely struggle with reds on gurglers but poppers are another story.

My best advice is to switch to a sub-surface bait like a spun foam or deer hair head fly. That usually fixes it.

If you must stick with gurgles to keep interest, pretend nothing is striking. Pretend you can't see the swipe. Simply strip it. Don't stop. Don't speed up. Just keep it moving. Do not strip set unless you feel weight. My hook sets went up drastically when I learned to do this. 

Same advice on a Spook, or any other top water lure.


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## olbardo (Jun 20, 2019)

If you think it may be the weed guard, you could always try snipping it off and throwing it back out there. At least then you'll know.

You found the fish and a fly that they'll eat... those are sometimes the hardest parts.


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## TieOneOnJax (May 24, 2018)

lemaymiami said:


> One other thing that will help anyone that misses a lot of strikes... Many that I've seen hold their rod so that the tip is a foot or two off the water... Want to increase your hookups? Simply put the tip of your rod in the water and always pointing directly at the fly... That way if a fish even kisses your fly you have a direct connection with absolutely no slack between your stripping hand and that hook. Fly rods are built for casting - not fish hooking - point the rod directly at the fly, keep the tip of the rod in the water slightly and you remove all the "give" between you and the hook. Your hook-up ratio will soar. This also works with big tarpon....


This is the best advice out there. I always try to keep in mind the idea that if I strip one inch of line, the fly should move one inch. Not more, not less. Keeping that rod tip touching the water will make sure the weight of the line isn’t creating slack.


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## Andrew Jones (Mar 22, 2016)

I try to wait until I feel the weight of the fish before I strip set on poppers. If you have caught them on gurglers before without issue, It could be they simply weren't eating it good or just slapping at it.


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## coconutgroves (Sep 23, 2013)

Lots of good advice - main thing is don't do a strip set - just pull tight with the fish, slowly - this keeps the fly moving, but not too fast where it leaves the mouth. The fish may turn as you slowly keep the line tight and set itself.

Reds have mouths that angle down - they don't feed up like a striper or black bass, but also don't have that type of hinged wide mouth. Slow it down during the eat and you'll be fine.

Completely agree with keeping the rod tip close to or in the water and pointing towards the fly. Extend your rod arm too to ensure you don't trout set (much harder to do with arm straight as opposed to arm bent) - this will also give you room to pull the rod to set on bigger fish, like tarpon.


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## Guest (Oct 14, 2019)

paulrad said:


> I missed a whole bunch of hits on the gurgler this evening. I was setting the hook like I normally do, but I was just coming away empty. Over and over. On a few of them I could feel the weight of the fish, but on others I was just getting nothing.
> 
> I thought it might have been my weedguard (20lb mason tied in at the front and the back). But I've used that same weedguard before with no issues. Hooks were owner mosquitos.
> 
> Is there some kind of trick to getting solid hooksets when using a gurgler?


I use the "God save the queen" pause method. Looks like the delayed set is the ticket. Good luck.


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## Guest (Oct 14, 2019)

paulrad said:


> I missed a whole bunch of hits on the gurgler this evening. I was setting the hook like I normally do, but I was just coming away empty. Over and over. On a few of them I could feel the weight of the fish, but on others I was just getting nothing.
> 
> I thought it might have been my weedguard (20lb mason tied in at the front and the back). But I've used that same weedguard before with no issues. Hooks were owner mosquitos.
> 
> Is there some kind of trick to getting solid hooksets when using a gurgler?


prad, I also had a bunch of gurglers tied on tubes for juvenile tarpon. I would set the hook in the upriding position which allowed for closer casts to the mangroves without snagging and also seemed to create better hookups.


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## paulrad (May 10, 2016)

mike_parker said:


> prad, I also had a bunch of gurglers tied on tubes for juvenile tarpon. I would set the hook in the upriding position which allowed for closer casts to the mangroves without snagging and also seemed to create better hookups.


Mike, I would be interested to see a picture. Never tied or fished a tube fly. Not even sure what exactly it is.

Someone suggested cutting off the weedguard as an experiment. Funny thing is that I did exactly that. And on the very first cast I hung up on a stick, and had to bring the boat in to retrieve it and of course ruined the spot. LOL


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## mro (Jan 24, 2018)

I almost always have a rod with a popper/slider or gurgler with me.
When I have trouble hooking up I stop watching my offering on the retrieve. No feel, no set. 
Hard not to watch sometimes


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## Andrew Jones (Mar 22, 2016)

mro said:


> I almost always have a rod with a popper/slider or gurgler with me.
> When I have trouble hooking up I stop watching my offering on the retrieve. No feel, no set.
> Hard not to watch sometimes


To me, watching the eat is the whole point of fishing tops!


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## Cronced (Nov 18, 2016)

A truly enlightened flyfisher would see a missed strike as a good thing and say to himself "at least I fooled it and don't have to actually harm the fish".

An even MORE enlightened flyfisher would cut the hook off altogether just to have the satisfaction of seeing the fish bite, but not ever having to fight and harm a fish.

The pinnacle of enlightenment comes when you get to a spot and don't even cast. As you busy yourself with more pressing obligations, quietly mutter something to yourself along the lines of "too easy" or "too small."

Sounds like you have a lot to learn about flyfishing.

*Disclaimer* Some of the preceding rant should have been typed out in sarcasm font.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

The most common way that fish are injured when fly-fishing? They hurt themselves while laughing at us...


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## mro (Jan 24, 2018)

lemaymiami said:


> The most common way that fish are injured when fly-fishing? They hurt themselves while laughing at us...


So they weren't just blowing bubbles when they followed my flies...


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## Refischer (Mar 21, 2019)

I treat it like any other top water. After a slurp or smack keep the rod tip low and the bait moving slow. Fish miss all the time and will usually come back for seconds. In the pic above that is my blood from it's molars!


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## Guest (Oct 17, 2019)

paulrad said:


> Mike, I would be interested to see a picture. Never tied or fished a tube fly. Not even sure what exactly it is.
> 
> Someone suggested cutting off the weedguard as an experiment. Funny thing is that I did exactly that. And on the very first cast I hung up on a stick, and had to bring the boat in to retrieve it and of course ruined the spot. LOL


I'll try to get you a photo soon.


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## Capt. Moose (Dec 12, 2015)

Anyone have a link for the multi colored strips for tying?


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