Well, I was going to write something about bowing to fish, should you be fortunate enough to hook a larger, airborne missile. So I queried ‘bow to fish’ and to my surprise there was a different take on bow to fish.
Some how 'bow to fish' produced this imagery. She does seem to know what she is doing.
So, I kept looking for the visual to best clarify my written words about fighting the bigger fish that goes airborne and how to lower the rod (‘bow’) toward the water. This provides slack in the fly line because the theory goes the fish will crash down on the water and below upon a slack leader thereby reducing the chances the line tension would break the leader or dislodge the hook. After the fish hits the water you regain tension to the fish. If a fish, as some species do, has a tendency to jump a lot, it is important to learn this technique whether fishing for tarpon or chasing airborne Kamloops trout while sitting in a pontoon boat. Slack does not mean too much slack…a learned, intuitive response to provide just enough slack then regain it to keep pressure on the fish. Side pressures versus upward pressures are beneficial in steering the fish. Of course, if you are hanging on for dear life then make sure you enjoy ‘the moment’.
So you can see this whole bow to the fish is only as close to fly fishing as the fletchings on the butt of that arrow.
