Hitch Tube Leader Length?

[craigewan]

Hello everyone - here is my first post on this forum - I am going to have a go with some hitch tubes I have tied up recently but I'm not sure about length of leader to use?

I will be fishing a single hander on a couple of spate rivers and I just wondered if anyone had advice on length and breaking strain? Also does an intermediate short polyleader help with presentation or should I just join the leader to short braided loop?

Any advice would be appreciated - thanks

[Speyducer]

Hi CE,

Hitch tubes are fished on the surface as a wake lure, and the flies/tubes are usually quite small - 1/2" to 3/4" tubes usually, although both smaller & larger can be used, depending on the river, and the target fish.

Thus the setup, regardless of target species, is a floating fly line, whether a DT, WF, Spey line, windcutter etc. Tend to avoid shooting heads & Skagit lines!

If the line you are using has multi-tips, then use the floating tip, and you don't need a ployleader.

Best to nail-knot some stronger leader butt - perhaps 15-20lb bs to the end of the fly line ~ 2ft of this, and then use between 6 and 15 feet (depending on rod length, but also spookiness of fish & water clarity) of level mono leader tied to this leading to your hitch tube. The strength of this leader should probably be 8 to 12 lbs bs, depending on target size of fish.

Hope that helps some.

Mike

[craigewan]

Thanks for the advice Mike - I am determined to get a fish using this method - may have to wait a wee while if the river go up with this rain though!

[ravenscraig]

Just Back from the Isle of Lewis where i got a Sea Trout on the Hitched Tube on the River Creed and also rose a Salmon, I was using a 1/2 "willie Gunn plastic Tube and 8ft leader, I also got a Salmon on the Deveron with the same fly and set up in June, I was using seaguar but would either put Flotant on it or use mono that does not Sink as i was struggling to keep it on Surface when retrieving back...Hope you get a Fish Craig !!!

[flyfisherman]

Hi Craigewan

I had the chance to fish a little stream of about 8m width that pours into East Ranga a couple weeks ago with the hitch fly. We saw 6 salmon entering this little river probably because East Ranga was muddy. I fished with a single hand rod of 10feet, floating line and a normal monofil leader of about 15pounds strength. The leader was around 15feet long.

I was lucky to hook 4 nice salmon, lost two, landed two of 82 and 76cm. The important thing is to lift the rod and fish the hitch slow. If lifting the rod is not enough then slightly pull the line with your left hand, wait for the V of the hitch on the surface and suddenly you see a wave behind your fly, just wait til you feel the salmon heavy on the fly and then lift your rod more to strike...

Have fun
Flyfisherman Markus

[salmo]

The hitch is one of the most exciting ways to present a fly and I fish the hitch with an 11ft6" Guideline LPXe. You can use a longer rod but the shorter rod allows better control of the speed by drawing line in with the free hand. The V wake is clearly important and as already pointed out it should not be too fast. Similarly it should not be too slow, and in really slow flows or back eddies, the line has to be drawn in to get the speed correct.

For leaders I have found that the shorter the leader the better as it seems to tangle less (maybe my casting is to blame). It is not pretty casting and the set down is far from gentle but the shorter line will straighten out quickly before passing the fish.

Start with a small hitched clear plastic tube and if the fish are not hitting move up to the hitched sunray. This can make the fish quite agitated and takes can be very aggressive ;D

salmo