ORIGINAL: dimebrite

guys, come on now, we're beating a dead horse now; keep in mind i'm just stating my opinion from my 22 years of experience

lastly, i will add this : wader you mentioned they may run 5 yards upstream intially; with that being said, if you arc your rod to the downstream bank upon hook up; won't this force the fish to run away from the pressure; not always, but yes, somtimes... and since everyone is so keen on mentioning FOUL HOOKED FISH; i'm gonna throw you for a loop on that one now... ive seen plenty of foul hooked fish run straight down stream upon being hooked and not stop for anything...are we going to argue about foul hooked fish swimming down stream now???? come on guys, yes, there are the text book conditions and behaviors, but in reality, nothing in life goes by the books all the time...especially in fishing

carry on

The five yards I mentioned is I think due to the fact that the fish being hooked downstream initally pushes toward the pressure ,upstrem, while shaking its head in an attempt to rid itself of whatever is causing the pressure. It is not truly an upstream run but it does make them go slightly upriver for a very brief time before they discover he pressure is not going away but actually increasing because as more flyline is now downstream under water pressure. This is when they turn and run downriver.

You are right. Nothing is written in stone. Anything can happen. But the percentages are extreme when it comes to hooked kings behavior.

My mentioning of foul hooked fish was in no way a casting of aspersions. Motor hooked fish will do whatever they want since the angler has no say in the matter.
By the way hoping to have some time off left after recovery to at least stop by for a round of hand shakes.

Not f-in' happy today.... with all this talk about rods/reels & backing I figured it was time to strip all the old backing off my reels and give them a tune up. well first one I decided to dissect was the Orvis.. Being the smart azz I am , I started to take the drag apart and SNAPPED the set screw off in the arbor.. I tried turning it righty-tighty,lefty loosey.. WRONG !!!! It's a friggin left thread screw.. Now I'm PIZZED and will have to figure either a way to tap that screw out (which aint gonna happen) or see if I can send it to Orvis for repair, which brings me to concern that since they are discontinued may not be possible...
That was the only Orvis reel I had in that size, model.. Luckily I have 4 other salmon reels to use but man I am bummed and what a way to start the day

time for seriousness HT,,

besides sheer boredom, why do you feel the need to change the backing?

The makers tell us that it could dry rot and should be changed periodically.

Once in awhile I will check the backing on my fly reels for integrity, I'm still waiting to find the dreaded rot..

or you could always snip off a few inches of fly line & backing and tie a new knot...