Hey John: You're absolutely right regarding the lack of a mechanical advantage when using a fly reel. Unless you spring for a large-arbor reel, taking in line with the reel is tremendously inefficient.
In my experience, the main problem with stripping line in by hand while fighting a fish is in keeping adequate tension on the line so that the fish doesn't throw the hook. Now, this isn't really an issue with smaller fish, but, in my experience, when you hook into a 5 lb rainbow, you simply can't play the fish effectively when stripping in line by hand...especially if you're using a light tippet and have concerns about the fish breaking off. Take my advice for what it's worth (not a hell of a lot when compared with some of the amazing tyers and fishermen/women on this list!), but here's what I do: When I'm fishing, I try to keep my rod hand forefinger on the line as it runs down from the guides to the reel; with any extra line hanging down in-between the reel and my finger. If I'm lucky enough to get a strike, I immediately tighten my grip on both the line running through my finger and any line in my line hand, and set the hook. Then, if the fish is big enough to get me worried about my tippet, all I have to do is keep the rod tip up and let the fish take line from me. My finger (working in conjunction with my line hand) keeps some tension on the line; hopefully keeping the fish hooked. Once the fish has taken all the slack, I can start fighting with my reel, using my line hand to palm the reel if I feel that additional drag is necessary. Now then, if the fish is small and there's no worries about my tippet; I'll either strip or reel, depending on how much slack line I've got at my feet. If there's a bunch of line, I'll often strip; simply to save some time and play the fish as quickly as possible. Anyway, this is just the way I do it; and I'm sure there are plenty of other ways that work better, but I hope this at least gives you some ideas. Rix Benson __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your site http://webhosting.yahoo.com
