Troutbitten

For our Season 12 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 (August 21). We talk about the New Trail Troutbitten beer, the event and the video. And we talk about the Fish and Film series on YouTube.

Becky and I also answer a bunch of fun questions from listeners.

Resources

VIDEO: Troutbitten | Fish and Film - One Morning For Versatility
VIDEO: Troutbitten | Beer and Friends -- Good Times and Good Stories with New Trail and Troutbitten
SHOP: Troutbitten | Category | Leaders

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Orvis

The leader should match the moment and match the angler. It should match the fly, the river and the wind conditions. Adjustments are necessary, and when they're performed often enough they become intuitive.

An objective look at real goals for the dry fly, along with the true capabilities of the leader materials at hand, will lead anyone down the path toward a great leader formula for dry flies.

While many anglers might consider the leader as an afterthought, we believe the leader is the most consequential element in the system. The leader always matters, but it’s most important while trying to achieve dead drifts with a dry fly.

My good friend, Matt Grobe, joins me to discuss dry fly leader design. Like me, Matt looks for every opportunity to fool trout at the surface.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Dry Fly Fishing
READ: Troutbitten | Dry Fly Fishing -- The Forehand and Backhand Curve
VIDEO: Troutbitten | Casting Forehand and Backhand
READ: Troutbitten | The George Harvey Leader Design
VIDEO: Troutbitten | The George Harvey Dry Fly Leader -- Design, adjustments and tips
READ: Troutbitten | That's Not a Dead Drift
VIDEO: Troutbitten | Real Dead Drifts -- Up Top and Underneath

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The drag free drift -- a high percentage of the time, that’s what catches trout on top. So aiming for perfection on a dead drift sets the baseline. And if you get those great drifts, but they won’t eat it, try some animation. Think slight, small and subtle for those movements to the fly, and you just might fool some trout that are keyed in on motion.

Everything works sometimes. So we’re ready to try anything. But we spend the most time with tactics that produce with the highest rate of return. That’s just common sense.

Whatever fly you're fishing, whatever bait, lure or fly you’re presenting across the spectrum of fishing, it pays to watch the food form you’re trying to imitate. In this case, watch how a mayfly rides on the water. Set up and watch rising trout for a while, and see if they’re eating caddis that are dapping and skittering, or if they’re eating something unseen, perhaps just under the surface. Also, get close to the water and see how a carpenter ant or a hopper behaves once it’s made the mistake and found itself on the water. How do these bugs move, and how do the trout respond? Imitate that with your fly.

My friend, Matt Grobe, joins me for this second episode in our dry fly skills series.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Dry Fly Fishing
READ: Troutbitten | That's Not a Dead Drift
VIDEO: Troutbitten | Real Dead Drifts -- Up Top and Underneath
READ: Troutbitten | Dry Fly Fishing on the Mono Rig

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Season twelve begins. It’s a seven-part skills series dedicated to dry fly fishing. My friend, Matt Grobe, joins me to build the framework — a method and a system — for presenting dry flies to trout.

In this first episode, we ask when and why we fish dry flies. What’s the reason we might choose to fish dries over streamers, wets or nymphs?

We argue that dry flies are the heart and soul of fly fishing. The visual aspect is fun and exciting. And the pleasures of top water fishing should not be missed.

Also, presenting dry flies is what makes fly fishing unique. And learning the skills to cast a dry teaches you everything about what a fly rod can do.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Dry Fly Fishing
READ: Troutbitten | If You Can't Fish Dry Flies, You're Missing the Point

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Skwala

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Orvis

 Prospecting is a strategy for covering water. It’s about pace. A lot of what we do, day to day on the water, is searching. We’re looking for activity. We’re trying to find feeding fish.

Sometimes we’re looking to find the fish themselves, and other times, we know the trout are there, but they won’t eat, so we’re faced with the choice to change tactics or change flies . . . or we can move on and look for the next opportunity.

All of that can fairly be called prospecting. But for this discussion, we want to think about how covering water and looking for the players — for the hungry ones, is a unique strategy. It’s a lot different than settling in over risers or even working a hundred yards of some pocket water with nymphs.

The truth is, we’re searching for something on every cast, no matter what our approach is. But what we call prospecting is a bit different. It’s about canvassing an area, casting a wider net, searching for that next fish and then the next one. Then we take that data about where and how trout are feeding, and we use it to inform our next decision.

Often we might dedicate a whole day to prospecting. And on other days, it’s a prospecting approach that helps us dial in the rhythms of trout. So we’d like to find where trout are feeding and what they’re feeding on most. Then we might sort of change gears to a more targeted approach and do the opposite of prospecting.

Resources

PODCAST: Troutbitten | Cover Water, Catch Trout
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Cherry Picking or Full Coverage 

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The third annual Airing of Grievances on the Troutbitten Podcast has arrived. Some of this is playful and some is serious.

Complaining’s not a bad thing if it accomplishes something productive -- or if it’s kinda fun. Or if it draws attention to some of the absurdities around you.

Some things need to change. Because there are plenty of influences and influencers leading us all down a road to nowhere, or really, to a place that loses the depth of this fishing experience — of what we love about the woods and the water in the first place.

So let’s be a voice for that stuff too. Let’s complain a little more against those things that are pulling us all in the wrong direction. Keep fishing fun. Keep it pure. Keep it a simple match between fish and a fisherman, surrounded by mystery and embedded with the wild, unpredictable nature of the outdoors and everything it holds for us.

Whatever you believe, take a stand for it. That’s what we try to do here with the Airing of Grievances.

Resources

PODCAST: Troutbitten | The Airing of Grievances (One)
PODCAST: Troutbitten | The Airing of Grievances (Two)

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There are many different ways to set the hook while fly fishing for trout, because there are many different ways to fish for those trout. One size does not fit all. So we adapt our hook sets to suit the situation.

In this episode, we cover what is meant by a trout set. We address the differences between hook sets for dry flies, wets, streamers and nymphs. We talk about setting distance, setting speed, setting direction, whether we should pause before a hook set, and many other broad and finer points about setting the hook.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Set the Hook at the End of Every Drift
READ: Troutbitten | Don't Guess -- Set the Hook and Set Hard
READ: Troutbitten | Hook Sets Are Not Free 

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Here's a story about the solitude that so many of us seek on the water — how the full experience of planning for a trip, driving before dawn, walking in and exploring a river valley provides a respite from our daily life. It’s a chance for a clear mind and for renewed energy. "The Further You Walk, the More You Leave Behind" is about what we recover when we commit to full days and long distances, and how even after we return, we are changed.

In this episode I also share information about the New Trail Troutibtten beer and the release event on June 29th.

I also announce the next Troutbitten Live Stream event on YouTube, which is Wednesday, June 5th at 8:00 pm, EST. Our guest is Tom Rosenbauer. Our topic is stocking and club water.

I also ask for emails to the Pennsylvania Fish Commission supporting their efforts to stop stocking over wild trout. Here is the information for that:

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Be a Voice for Wild Trout -- Your Most Effective Conservation Measure is Also the Easiest

** Send the Pennsylvania Fish Commission a simple email of support for eliminating stocking on wild trout waters. **
ADDRESS
[email protected]

READ: Troutbitten | The Further You Walk, The More You Leave Behind

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We're here for a tough conversation. This one's about fishing the pay-to-play setup of a club.

These are the troubles with club fishing . . .

One club leads to the next. One private stretch invites another down the road. So clubs lead to the loss of public water for the average angler. And that’s not good.

The manufactured fishing scenario of most clubs can teach anglers the wrong things, with easier fishing that does not translate well outside of the clubs. That then leads to unrealistic expectations or even a generous self-assessment of one’s skills.

But why does that matter? Because anglers begin to favor easier fishing and (often) stocked trout scenarios. All of this feeds into the hatchery trout system, and that’s something this country should be moving away from wherever possible.

Stop stocking over wild trout. This really should be our universal message, anywhere that wild trout can thrive. But how many clubs deliver that message? Let’s be honest about it — very few.

Not all clubs stock fish, and not all clubs are a bad choice. But in short, we believe things can be better.

This is an important episode. Please pass it around.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Posted - Club Fishing - 2065
READ: Troutbitten | Wild vs Stocked -- The Hierarchy of River Trout In Pennsylvania
PODCAST: Troutbitten | S1, Ep4 -- Wild Trout or Stocked -- The Hierarchy of River Trout
READ | Troutbitten | Tags | Wild Trout

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There's an intangible quality built into the best anglers. It's about being comfortable and natural around the water. It's about having an instinct and a guiding intuition on a river that informs decision without even giving it much thought. It's an innate knowledge of the environment and what will happen next. Knowledge of the woods, water, weather and the trout comes together with ease and adds up to something that is hard to identify.

In this episode, we call it woodsmanship, outdoorsmanship, riversmithing and being river smart. Some might just call it being fishy.

Regardless of the word to identify this quality, it's something every angler wants. This episode is about what it is and how to attain it.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Fish Hard
READ: Troutbitten | It's All About Time on the Water
READ: Troutbitten | Life on the Water

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