When do I set the hook — is it different for flies and spoons?

Completely different clocks. On a dry fly, the classic error is striking the instant you see the rise — the fish has taken the fly but not yet turned down, and you pull it straight out of an open mouth; the old "God save the Queen" pause of roughly a second lets the trout turn before you tighten. On nymphs, the opposite: set instantly on any hesitation of the indicator or leader, because a drifting nymph is inspected and ejected in a blink. On spinners and spoons there is usually no decision at all — the fish grabs moving metal and the moving line hooks it; just keep tension and sweep. Lake trout jigging is its own case: the take is often just weight appearing, so set on anything different.

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