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the fish quit bitin', cause the river's a risin', so I'm gonna do a little writin'... Fighting fish with a doublehander. A more complicated issue than appearances might convey. As a simple lever, a shorter rod is definitely a superior tool for fighting fish. However, on a single handed rod one uses (with the exception of "special rods" designed with a fighting foregrip) one hand on the rod, while on the doublehander a wise angler uses BOTH hands stationed far enough apart to fulcrum the rod during a fight. In my experience this tactic pretty well levels the playing field between single handed rods and doublehanded rods up to 13 1/2' when talking about how much pressure can be applied to the fish and how much strain the angler has to bear during a fight. But when rod length surpasses 14', the ability of an angler to maintain strong pressure on a fish for more than a few minutes diminishes very rapidly. I have seen scores of "manly" flyfishers reduced to whimpering, trembling mounds of spineless flesh after 10 minutes of fighting sea-liced 22 to 32 pound King salmon on 15' 10 weight doublehanded rods. The leverage is definitely against the angler. Personally, I opt for strong 14' 9 weights such as the Sage 9141-4 when pursuing Kings in that size range. If I had my druthers, I would have a 13 1/2' 10 weight specially made just for King salmon flyfishing. The capability to direct STRONG pressure for extended periods of time would be far better accomplished with such a rod... Simple common sense dictates that landing fish with a 14' rod is much trickier than with a 9' rod if one is a responsible enough angler to try and KEEP WILD FISH IN THE WATER. There are 5 more feet of rod to contend with, which makes it that much harder to get close to the fish for tailing. Successful accomplishment of this maneuver can only be learned through trial and error, but here are some things that I have found helpful. Use as heavy of a leader as possible. !5# & 12# are my standards for winter steelheading, the 15# for murky water, and the 12# for clear. Pressure your fish hard and to the limits of the tackle. Maneuver to a "soft" area of current for the landing process. "Command" the fish heavily after the initial runs and jumps are finished - steelhead can be landed and released while they are still quite "green" if one can break the "will" of the fish early in the game. Lead the fish upstream of your position and then use the current coupled with a timely release of extra line to "drop" it back down towards you to tail. It often helps to be kneeling for this operation so that one's looming, towering , hulking figure doesn't spook the fish. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. You're going to lose a few learning to do this - it's part of the game! ... The added length of doublehanded rods will cause the loss of more fish than a single handed rod simply because of the higher angle of pull on the fish. This can be alleviated by fighting the fish while keeping the rod tip on or close to the surface of the water. If you want to say goodbye, keep your rod high! But if you want to say hello, keep the rod low! Guaranteed to give results!...