Troutbitten

Nymphing has gotten a little tougher over the years, because the trout are a little more picky. I think that’s fair to say. And while the flies I used to find in the trees were mostly Wooley Buggers and Adams dry flies, these days, everything looks like some version of a Perdigon.

More anglers are nymphing than ever before. So trout see artificial nymphs in the drift more than ever, and they’re bound to be a little tougher to convince.

Surely, the most common advice for fooling more selective fish is to go smaller with the pattern. Often that’s a good strategy that meets the moment . . . but not always.

When we do want to fish smaller flies, how do we go about it? The fact is, larger flies drift differently. Heavier flies can get down more quickly. And getting a #18 into the strike zone really requires a different strategy.

Here’s the spoiler. There are many ways to get small, light nymphs to the trout. Bigger beadheads and lighter tippets are probably the most current and popular option, but overlooking other ways is selling yourself short. Trailing a small nymph behind something heavier is a good way, as is tagging it above. Then there’s split shot on the leader and drop shot below the flies -- all of these options work with and without indicators on the line.

My friends Austin Dando, Bill Dell and Dr. Trevor Smith join me for a fun conversation.

RESOURCES

ARTICLE: Troutbitten | Drifting Light Nymphs
ARTICLE: Troutbitten | Are Light Nymphs More Natural? Is Less Weight More Effective?

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My friends and I have spent decades chasing trout all over the wooded valleys of our home waters and on some fun destination trips. I always say that if you spend enough time on the water, you’ll find everything you need out there. Jokingly, I say that about fishing gear. You’ll find nets, tippet posts loaded with tippet, hemostats, nippers and even full fly boxes . . . just by fishing a lot.

You’ll also find all the techniques necessary, with time on the water, a willingness to solve the mystery and with good attention to detail.

So we’ve all had the similar experiences like that. We’ve all found a bunch of nets, and we’ve all stumbled upon deep river knowledge — things like what it actually takes to get a true dead drift on a dry fly in a soft edge seam next to some fast current.

But when you fish long enough, you also encounter the special things, the unique things, the stuff that maybe only you’ve seen, you’ve heard or maybe you’ve felt out there.

So we want to share a few of those river stories tonight. Some are funny and others might teach a lesson.

My friends Austin Dando, Bill Dell, Trevor Smith and Josh Darling join me for a fun conversation.

RESOURCES

PODCAST: Troutbitten | Freewheelin' S19, Ep10
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Freewheelin' S5, Ep7
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Freewheelin' S1, Ep7

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This podcast is all about about your waders — wader care and wader repair. You might think that if you take care of your waders, they’ll last forever, but that's surely not true.

My son Aiden asked to loan a pair of my old waders to a friend the other day for a fishing trip. And I said, "sure, but they all leak." Every pair of waders I’ve ever had has ended with leaks.

Waders are like anything else. Nothing lasts forever, but you can absolutely lengthen a wader's lifespan by taking care of them. Things like washing your waders, turning them inside out when it matters, and just being careful about what you’re walking through extends the life of waders significantly.

All of us in this conversation have been fishing long enough to have gone through many, many waders. We’ve also been in the game long enough to know how to patch waders. I’m constantly surprised by how many anglers tell me they got a pinhole in their waders, so they sent them back. That’s not how it used to be. Every die hard angler that I knew used to have a good supply of Aquaseal and they knew how to use it.

So here are our thoughts and experiences about taking care of your breathable waders and patching them effectively when the inevitable happens.

My friends Austin Dando, Bill Dell and Josh Darling join me for a good conversation about landing nets and carrying methods.

RESOURCES

ARTICLE: Troutbitten | Critical Wader Care - Advice From the Companies Themselves
VIDEO: Troutbitten | Waders On, Waders Off - Stop Wasting Fishing Time
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Gear Fixes S15, Ep7
PODCAST: Tech Talk About Boots, Waders and More - In Deep With Kevin Sloan - S19, Ep7

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This one is all about fishing nets. We cover net types and sizes, handle length, bag depth and hoop width. We also discuss how each of us carries the net and how we access it quickly. Because if all of this is not well thought out, problems are sure to follow.

The truth is, the net is one of the heaviest and most cumbersome pieces of gear we have out there. So for the frequent angler, these decisions about where to carry that weight and how to have the net ready for a quick draw and an easy return are fundamental to a smooth system.

The net choice and how you carry it should not  be an afterthought. In fact, you just might base other gear decisions around your net requirements.

My friends Austin Dando, Bill Dell and Josh Darling join me for a good conversation about landing nets and carrying methods.

ENTER YOUR EMAIL AT THE LINK BELOW TO GET $10 OFF YOUR FIRST ORDER WITH PONCHO
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My friends are here with me to begin season twenty-one with a conversation about doing the opposite. Because if you’re struggling out there on the water, if the net hasn’t been wet in a while and the trout seem to disagree with everything you suggest, then maybe you should do the opposite.

To quote Jerry Seinfeld’s advice to George . . . “If every instinct you have is wrong, the opposite would have to be right.”

My friends Austin Dando, Bill Dell, Josh Darling and Trevor Smith join me for a fun look at making decisions that can really change things.

ENTER YOUR EMAIL AT THE LINK BELOW TO GET $10 OFF YOUR FIRST ORDER WITH PONCHO
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For this season finale of our skills series on fighting fish we take questions and comments from the podcast audience. We cover the following:

-- Fighting and landing big trout in small streams.
-- Fighting trout in shallow water, and keeping them down.
-- Drag settings.
-- Strip sets.
-- Landing two fish at the same time.
-- How location and water type affects decisions.
-- Cranking the reel vs pumping the rod.
-- More on rod choice.

My friends Matt Grobe and Bill Dell to wrap up this season.

Here's the Episode List for Season 20

1. The Hook Set and What Comes First
2. Where to Fight Them (Water Column and More)
3. Fight Them Fast (You Pull or They Pull - Work With a Trout)
4. The Fighting Position
5. Side Pressure
6. The Last Ten Feet (The Finishing Moves)
7. Wrap Up 

Resources

CATEGORY: Troutbitten | Catch and Release Safely
CATEGORY | Troutbitten | Fighting Fish
ARTICLE | Troutbitten | Fighting Fish -- The Last Ten Feet
VIDEO | Troutbitten | The Casting, Drifting and Fighting Position - It's All the Same
PODCAST: Troutbitten | How to Handle a Trout
ARTICLE: Troutbitten | Are We Taking the Safety of Trout Too Far?
READ: Troutbitten | Work With a Trout and Not Against It
ARTICLE: Troutbitten | Fight Fish Fast

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Troutbitten Instagram

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This podcast is all about the the end of the fight. Everything we’ve walked through in the previous episodes gets you to the point where the fish is within range and just about ready for the scoop. A lot can go wrong at the end of a fight, so there’s a lot that needs to be done right. We cover body, fish, net and rod positioning, all in relation to the river currents. We talk about when we get the net ready and what to do with it.  We cover trapping the line with your trigger finger and what to do with the reel's drag. We also talk about when to scoop, what to scoop and where to scoop -- as in, the landing zone. And we go over net preferences too.

Perhaps most importantly, we talk about the concept of spreading your wings at the end -- where the rod hand goes back and the net had reaches out, so the fish’s head comes to the top of the water, and the trout glides into your waiting net.

Perfect, right? Yeah, we also talk about less than idea situations and address some mishaps -- how to deal with things when it all starts to fall apart.

My friends Matt Grobe and Bill Dell join me for a thorough breakdown of the last ten feet.

Here's the Episode List for Season 20

1. The Hook Set and What Comes First
2. Where to Fight Them (Water Column and More)
3. Fight Them Fast (You Pull or They Pull - Work With a Trout)
4. The Fighting Position
5. Side Pressure
6. The Last Ten Feet (The Finishing Moves)
7. Wrap Up (With Stories)

Resources

CATEGORY: Troutbitten | Catch and Release Safely
CATEGORY | Troutbitten | Fighting Fish
ARTICLE | Troutbitten | Fighting Fish -- The Last Ten Feet
VIDEO | Troutbitten | The Casting, Drifting and Fighting Position - It's All the Same
PODCAST: Troutbitten | How to Handle a Trout
ARTICLE: Troutbitten | Are We Taking the Safety of Trout Too Far?
READ: Troutbitten | Work With a Trout and Not Against It
ARTICLE: Troutbitten | Fight Fish Fast

Visit

Troutbitten Website

Troutbitten Instagram

Troutbitten YouTube

Troutbitten Facebook

Side pressure puts real leverage on a fish. It's where control begins and power originates. All the other skills before this one set us up to maximize side pressure, with the right angles and a great plan for landing the trout of a lifetime.

I think the opposite of side pressure is upward pressure, or pulling up with the rod tip, and we don't want to fight the fish at the surface. So while side pressure can keep the fish lower in the water column, upward pressure brings a trout to the top, often way too soon.

So with a low rod angle, pulling to the side as much as possible, we force the trout to fight not just the current pushing downstream in its face, but also our constant pressure to the side. A trout wants to hold the current that it’s in, and by pulling sideways, the trout has to work against that pressure to stay in its current. And nothing wears a trout down quicker.

My friends Matt Grobe and Bill Dell join me for a deep dive into real side pressure.

Here's the Episode List for Season 20

1. The Hook Set and What Comes First
2. Where to Fight Them (Water Column and More)
3. Fight Them Fast (You Pull or They Pull - Work With a Trout)
4. The Fighting Position
5. Side Pressure
6. The Last Ten Feet (The Finishing Moves)
7. Wrap Up (With Stories)

Resources

CATEGORY: Troutbitten | Catch and Release Safely
CATEGORY | Troutbitten | Fighting Fish
ARTICLE | Troutbitten | Side Pressure - What It Is and How to Use It
VIDEO | Troutbitten | The Casting, Drifting and Fighting Position - It's All the Same
PODCAST: Troutbitten | How to Handle a Trout
ARTICLE: Troutbitten | Are We Taking the Safety of Trout Too Far?
READ: Troutbitten | Work With a Trout and Not Against It
ARTICLE: Troutbitten | Fight Fish Fast

Visit

Troutbitten Website

Troutbitten Instagram

Troutbitten YouTube

Troutbitten Facebook

Landing a good trout is more about planning, quick thinking and good technique than luck. And in this episode, we talk about being ready for a big fish. With a little forethought and preparation, with even slight adjustments to body positioning, we put ourselves in the best position to show a picture of a lifetime rather than tell the story of another trout that got away.

A few months ago I published a video to the Troutbitten YouTube channel with the title: The Casting, Drifting and Fighting Position — It’s all the Same. What we talk about in this episode, very much mirrors that last part of that video.

We Cover These Key Concepts

-- The Fighting stance (a Galloup idea)
— It’s an athletic position, centered, balanced and strong
— Uses large muscle groups. compact and not extended
— Ready to move and adjust
— We’re also ready for the hook set from here
— The “Orvis” pose
-- Arm slot
-- Position in the river
— Where we put our body determines the kind of pressure we can put on the trout
— Our job is to guide the trout into the places we want it to be.
— Don’t be along for the ride. Be in control

Here's the Episode List for Season 20

1. The Hookset and What Comes First
2. Where to Fight Them (Water Column and More)
3. Fight Them Fast (You Pull or They Pull - Work With a Trout)
4. The Fighting Position
5. Side Pressure
6. The Last Ten Feet (The Finishing Moves)
7. Wrap Up (With Stories)

My good friends, Matt Grobe and Bill Dell join me for this season.

Resources

CATEGORY: Troutbitten | Catch and Release Safely
CATEGORY | Troutbitten | Fighting Fish
VIDEO | Troutbitten | The Casting, Drifting and Fighting Position - It's All the Same
PODCAST: Troutbitten | How to Handle a Trout
ARTICLE: Troutbitten | Are We Taking the Safety of Trout Too Far?
READ: Troutbitten | Work With a Trout and Not Against It
ARTICLE: Troutbitten | Fight Fish Fast

Visit

Troutbitten Website

Troutbitten Instagram

Troutbitten YouTube

Troutbitten Facebook

Thanks to TroutRoutes:

Use the code TROUTBITTEN for 20% off your membership at
https://maps.troutroutes.com 

Thanks to Skwala

Use the code, TROUTBITTEN10 for 10% off your order at
https://skwalafishing.com/

This third part of our Troutbitten Skills Series is all about the guiding principle of fighting fish fast. We talk about how this mindset guides our decisions and our movements for all the other skills. Because we want to fight trout fast we use side pressure and we position ourselves for maximum leverage. We thing about current direction and fighting zones, all in an effort to fight a trout fast. Because the longer a trout is on the line, the more chance it has to get off.

We also cover these key concepts:

-- The tug-of-war. Either they pull or you pull.
-- How the stalemate becomes a mistake.
-- Knowing the strength of your tools.
-- Understand the power in the rod and the line.
-- How fast is too fast, and when to ease up on the pressure.
-- Utilizing drag settings

Here's the Episode List for Season 20

1. The Hookset and What Comes First
2. Where to Fight Them (Water Column and More)
3. Fight Them Fast (You Pull or They Pull - Work With a Trout)
4. The Fighting Position
5. Side Pressure
6. The Last Ten Feet (The Finishing Moves)
7. Wrap Up (With Stories)

My good friends, Matt Grobe and Bill Dell join me for this season.

Resources

CATEGORY: Troutbitten | Catch and Release Safely
CATEGORY | Troutbitten | Fighting Fish
PODCAST: Troutbitten | How to Handle a Trout
ARTICLE: Troutbitten | Are We Taking the Safety of Trout Too Far?
READ: Troutbitten | Work With a Trout and Not Against It
ARTICLE: Troutbitten | Fight Fish Fast

Visit

Troutbitten Website

Troutbitten Instagram

Troutbitten YouTube

Troutbitten Facebook

Thanks to TroutRoutes:

Use the code TROUTBITTEN for 20% off your membership at
https://maps.troutroutes.com 

Thanks to Skwala

Use the code, TROUTBITTEN10 for 10% off your order at
https://skwalafishing.com/