When you fish long enough, things break. That’s the nature of life, really . . . things fall apart. But if you're resourceful, you put them back together.

Sometimes it’s out of necessity. Honestly, a couple decades ago, I simply couldn’t afford to go through gear as fast as it was wearing down, so I learned to patch waders, fix a fly rod, mend a fly line, resole my boots, sew tears in my fishing vest and fix my landing net.

Likewise,  we’ve all run into those moments on a fishing trip where we need a quick fix for a broken rod tip or a wader patch . . . whatever it is.

We all spend a lot of time, money and effort to get to the river and go fishing. But as we all know, even the simplest gear failure can change the day — it can ruin your trip. But by carrying a few things like zip ties, electrical tape, tension straps, Dacron and maybe a sewing kit, field repair or maybe just fifteen minutes spent at the tailgate can save the day.

Also, part of a life on the water is the maintenance and preparation — doing what you need to do — to keep your fishing gear stocked, functional and ready to go.

Being a versatile angler, like we talk about so much, requires a lot of stuff, and if you don’t think it through and keep on top of it, gear failures can hold you back.

That’s what the guys are here to talk about tonight.

My friends, Matt Grobe, Bill Dell, Dr. Trevor Smith and Steve Sawyer join me for a great discussion.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | All the Things
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Versatile Angler - S3, Ep15

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This episode is all about breakthroughs. For each of us, as a personal account, what have been the biggest changes, or the biggest steps forward, in our fishing?

I call these breakthroughs because they're the landmarks or discoveries or changes, along the way of learning, where we can look back and say, “Now that, really made a big difference.”

We talk a lot about a life on the water. And really, each of us here at Troutbitten has fished for most of our lives. And the truth is, it’s not really been a hobby or a pastime as much as it’s been part of our lives for a long, long time. Fishing fills our thoughts and plans. Other fishermen tend to be our closest friends. All of this means a lot to us.

I’ve written articles and the guys and I have talked about how to stay in the fishing game for a lifetime. And we all agreed that the mystery, the problem solving, that active nature of fishing — of making things happen — rather than a passive way of fishing, has been a main driving force behind our long term interest.

And precisely because we’re always working on improving, we’re often looking for that next big breakthrough — the next tactic, the next style, the next fly, maybe a leader, the influence of a friend, some other piece of gear, some knowledge about the trout themselves, maybe a new river . . . whatever. And I know as I look back on my own years of fishing, I can put my finger on a half dozen landmarks — things that, for me, changed everything.

I’m also constantly searching for that next breakthrough. And that’s where so much of the enjoyment of fishing begins for me.

So these landmarks, or these breakthroughs are surely different for everyone. This is another favorite question I ask of new anglers that I meet. I love hearing their stories. So that’s what we’re here to do with the Troutbitten guys tonight.

We’re just here to talk. There’s no real tactics here, nothing instructional, just a conversation about some moments in time or the discoveries that have kept us fishing and kept us motivated throughout a life on the water.

My friends, Matt Grobe, Bill Dell and Josh Darling join me for a great discussion.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | How To Stay in the Fly Fishing Game for a Lifetime
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Why We Fish - S13, Ep6

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For our Season 15 Intermission, my wife, Becky, joins me for a lighthearted look at what's going on in the Troutbitten world. We talk about the upcoming leader sale in the Troutbitten Shop (May 23rd).

We talk about the New Trail Troutbitten beer, the upcoming book on Fly Fishing the Mono Rig and a bunch of videos on the Troutbitten YouTube channel.

Becky also covers a couple favorite fishing terms near the end. :-)

Resources

VIDEO: Troutbitten | Fish and Film - Tight Line Tracking, Nymphs in the Wind
SHOP: Troutbitten | Category | Leaders

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The trout is prized as a gamefish because it’s picky. It’s selective. Often, it requires a refined presentation to fool a wild trout. And in large part, that’s the draw toward fishing for them.

In every region, in every stream, trout habits can differ from others in neighboring watersheds. And across the fishing landscape, we find places and even moments when trout are more picky — more choosy — about what, where and how they want to eat their food.

We’ve all seen fishing change in just a few minutes. We’ve happened upon bite windows, or periods of time with trout feeding more regularly, where we happen to have the right fly and the right presentation to meet the preferences of those fish. Likewise, we’ve all had a good thing going, where we’re catching trout quickly, and it all just shuts down.

So there’s a lot to this idea of selectivity.

And in this episode, we dig into what makes a trout selective. The quick answer is the theory that angler pressure makes trout more picky. There is no doubt about it. For sure, our fishing, our presentations educate the already picky trout what not eat, where and when.

But many other reasons for selectivity are natural. Meaning, they have nothing to do with anglers fishing for trout. These factors, like low water, stable water temperatures and the prevalence of one easy food form, can also make an already picky, tough to catch fish, even tougher.

This is a good topic.

My friends, Matt Grobe, Dr. Trevor Smith and Austin Dando join me for a great discussion.

Resources

PODCAST: Troutbitten | Angler Pressure ONE - What it Does to the Fish - S7, Ep1
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Angler Pressure TWO- What it Does to the Fishing - S7, Ep2
READ: Troutbitten | We Don't Want Easy Fishing

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There are two ways to tell the experience of an angler: how he holds a fish and how he keeps his secrets. The latter is probably more important.

A seasoned angler intuitively understands the vulnerability of a river. Spot burning is a real thing with real consequences.

Good anglers understand this concept. Good people understand this concept.

Every piece of river is someone else’s favorite place. So we respect the spots — for others, if not for ourselves.

Here's the article:

READ: Troutbitten | Respect the Spots! A Fisherman's Thoughts on Friendship and Spot Burning

Here's the Riverside Video on YouTube

VIDEO: Troutbitten | A Fisherman's Thoughts on Friendship and Spot Burning

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Let’s talk about fishing big rivers. For the most part, all of us here at Troutbitten are river anglers, meaning not much stillwater. Furthermore we’re mostly wade anglers. We spend most of our time wading rather than floating, because we enjoy it, and because in a lot of cases, wading gives us the best chance for success.

But over the years I’ve noticed some misunderstandings about where and how we fish. I hear from a lot of reader, listeners and watchers of Troutbitten stuff. And one thing that frequently comes up is an assumption that all of our waters are small to medium sized. But that’s not true. Each of us spends plenty of time on big rivers. We all have our favorite rivers outside of this region. We’ve all traveled. And even around here, we have opportunities to fish big rivers.

So, what’s big? I’ll say a big river is one that you could float. And it’s probably the kind of river where you can’t wade all of it.

So we’re here to talk about fishing big water. In previous podcasts, we’ve spent some time talking about specific tactics and strategies for fishing small water, so let’s do the same for big rivers.

Each of us has a few tricks and some plans for getting the most out of a big water trip. We’ve made the mistakes, and we’ve all shared among ourselves how we eventually learned to not only manage big water but have some of the best days of the season.

I always say that fishing big water and fishing it well takes a lot of discipline. We talk about all of that and a lot more in this podcast

My friends, Matt Grobe, Bill Dell, Austin Dando and Josh Darling join me for a great discussion.

Resources

VIDEO: Troutbitten | Reading Water in Levels, Lanes and Seams
READ: Troutbitten | Never Blame the Fish
READ: Troutbitten | Fishing Big Water -- One Key Tip

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We spend a lot of time thinking about tactics and working on techniques. We devote our energies toward finding fly patterns, tying up our confidence flies and testing new flies. We research new waters and explore unfinished sections in familiar waters. We spend a lot of time doing fishy things. This is a life on the water.

The guys and I have been talking a lot about reading water. It’s one of the biggest deficiencies we see while guiding — just choosing the right piece of a river for your next cast. It's about understanding what water should receive the most attention and what water gets gets a pass.

As an angler, reading the water really comes down to understanding what a trout needs. We read water for depth, speed and structure, in reference to what a trout prefers. And when we talk about reading water, we’re thinking about it all from an angler’s perspective. If you’re kayaking down a river for recreation, then how you read water will be pretty different.

Everyone can pick out hydraulics and learn to read current seams. Those are the elementary building blocks of reading trout water. Then we take that knowledge and combine it with what a trout needs. And we eventually have a truly specific, knowledgeable approach to reading a river. Day to day, across the world, wherever trout live in rivers, creeks and streams, their needs are the same.

My friends, Matt Grobe, Bill Dell, Dr. Trevor Smith and Austin Dando join me for a great discussion.

Resources

VIDEO: Troutbitten | Reading Water in Levels, Lanes and Seams
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Reading Water, and Cherry Picking vs Full Coverage S1, Ep6
READ: Troutbitten | Reading Water - Finding the Invisible Potholes

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Here's  a topic that starts with an interesting question: What puts more trout in the net? Is it knowing your water or knowing your tactics?

Of course, the easy answer is . . . both. Refine your skills and learn your rivers. Then put all of that together, and you have a great formula, not only for catching trout but for having a lot of fun.

The truth is, as frequent anglers we’re always involved in improving. It goes way beyond filling the fly box with new patterns. We know our deficiencies, and we’re working to fix them. We also know you can only really tackle one thing at a time. So if you’re out there fishing, or maybe even on the way to your next fishing trip, what are you working on? Really, what will put more fish in the net? Is it better to focus on the tactics and techniques, or is it better to learn the river itself? Basically, that means reading water better and finding fish.

So we’re looking forward to this discussion. It’s a good concept, and we all have some opinions.

My friends, Matt Grobe, Bill Dell and Austin Dando join me for a great discussion.

Resources

PODCAST: Troutbitten | How Woodsmanship Catches Fish - S11, Ep6
VIDEO: Troutbitten | Reading Water in Levels, Lanes and Seams
READ: Troutbitten | Read Trout Water
READ: Troutbitten | Fish Familiar Waters

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Here are twelve tips for delivering a fly into waters that are heavily canopied, with greedy branches, ready to grab your fly and make life difficult. The best small stream fishing happens in these places. We call it brush fishing.

Learning to cast a fly on small streams forces an angler into proper form. There is no forgiveness, and every error comes with consequences.

But the reward is there. Small streams demand real accuracy. We learn to punch the fly under limbs and around tree stumps. And we learn to finish the cast with intentional placement of the leader, most often with slack, sometimes laying the line over a log, rock or gravel bar.

Small stream trout are often forgiving, but the environments are not. The brush demands our full attention and excellent form.

Here's the VIDEO version of this podcast:
VIDEO: Troutbitten | Riverside -- Twelve Small Stream Fly Casting Tips

Here's the ARTICLE:

READ: Troutbitten | Twelve Small Stream Fly Casting Tips

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Across the country, there are rivers, creeks and streams stocked by the state,  often referred to as put and take (they put trout in, you take them out). And especially early in the season, opportunities for stocked trout can be a solid choice. Other places stock fish under catch and release regs or delayed harvest. Also, some rivers, for various reasons, cannot support wild trout populations and they are entirely reliant on hatchery trout. In other places, it’s a mix of wild and stocked.

Troutbitten has always been primarily focused on fishing for wild trout. Because most anglers would more often choose a wild or natural experience over a manufactured one. So I use the word, experience, because not only are stocked fish produced or raised in a hatchery, once they’re in the river, the experience of fishing for stockies is usually pretty different than fishing for wild trout. And that . . . is what we want to talk about in this conversation.

In other podcasts, we’ve already talked a lot about the value differences between wild vs stocked trout. We’ve gone through the hierarchy of river trout, as we put it.

So upon that foundation, in continuation of those discussions, let’s talk about how our approach changes when the trout are stocked and not wild. Let’s think about water selection, patterns, strategies, and the other things that make fishing for stocked trout more successful. What changes and what is different compared to targeting wild trout?

My friends, Matt Grobe, Bill Dell and Trevor Smith, join me for a great discussion.

Resources

PODCAST: Troutbitten | Wild vs Stocked - The Hierarchy of River Trout
READ: Troutbitten | When Fishing For Stocked Trout, It May Not Pay to Be Ambitious
READ: Troutbitten | Natural vs Attractive Presentations - Convinced or Curious

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Use the code, TROUTBITTEN10 for 10% off your order at
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