Troutbitten

Over the years, nymphing has grown up a bit. There's more information, more styles and more acceptance of those styles than ever before. While nymphing was once seen as that thing you did when trout wouldn’t eat dry flies or wets, more anglers than ever choose nymphing first — as their go-to method for catching trout in all seasons. Because nymphing provides a unique complexity unlike anything else in fly fishing. And anglers who are dedicated to the craft take particular joy in seeing their refinements pay dividends.

All that is to say . . . nymphing is fun. And in large part, what makes it fun is the control that is gained through tight line tactics. Indeed, the popularization of contact nymphing systems coincides with the popularity and the surge of nymphing among the community.

One of the most frequent requests we receive is for a full breakdown on the differences between the tight line styles. What is euro nymphing, and how is it different than the Mono Rig? Can I tight line with a fly line and a shorter leader? Is that called high sticking? What are the key differences between Polish, Czech, French and Spanish nymphing styles? And how does a thinner or thicker tight line leader help or hurt my presentation?

Troutbitten has become synonymous with the Mono Rig. And while each of us at Troutbitten spends lots of time with traditional leaders and fly lines, we all enjoy the benefits gained from tight line tactics when fishing underneath the surface.

In this episode, Austin Dando and I  walk through the differences between all of these styles. We provide some history and think objectively about how far the tight line game has come. And next week, the rest of the guys will join us to talk about the strengths and weaknesses, the advantages and disadvantages of what we call the standard, thin and micro thin mono rig leaders.


Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | The Mono Rig
READ: Troutbitten | Beyond Euro Nymphing
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Fly Fishing the Mono Rig — Versatility and the Tight Line Advantage Taken Further
READ: Troutbitten | Design and Function of the Troutbitten Standard Mono Rig
VIDEO: Troutbitten | Mono Rigs and Euro Rigs -- Micro Thin or Standard?
READ: Troutbitten | Thin and Micro-Thin Leaders for Euro Nymphing and the Mono Rig
READ: Troutbitten | The Full Mono Rig System — All the variations, with formulas and adjustments 

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Sometimes, an angler's love for gear becomes more important than the fishing itself, until the goal becomes a bigger collection of fishing gear instead of a collection of good fishing experiences. We’ve all seen this out there. And sometimes we have to actively fight that urge to want the next thing or believe that our deficiencies on the river can be solved with more gear.

The truth is, too much stuff gets in the way. Simplifying our approach, our fly selection and gear selection, usually wins. It can also make for a happier fisherman who feels like they know their tools and have confidence in their techniques.

But, having a few extra rods and reels is good too. And researching, planning for and then buying your next piece of gear is a fun process that can be inspiring. It can motivate you to get back to the river quickly and put your new stuff to the test. All things in moderation, right?

So part of our conversation in this episode is focused on the gear — the stuff you don’t need to have great days on the water, the stuff that might hold you back far more than help you out.

But another part of this episode is less tangible. Because it’s not always what we buy and stash in a fishing pack that gets in the way. Because, over time, it’s too easy to focus on finding the perfect water. Or we can look too hard for ideal weather and fishing conditions. Even the pursuit of some miraculous presentation can get in the way of our enjoyment and our progress.

For most anglers, our time on the water is often so limited that it’s easy to get wrapped up in all the daydreaming and planning, until gear acquisition syndrome creeps in. And then our time on the water is spent finding reasons that we need something else or the next thing.

The truth is, your best approach is to take the modest gear you own, hit some of the closest trout water you can find, and fish it hard. That’s what wins. And that was this podcast conversation is about.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | All the Things
READ: Troutbitten | Patience vs Persistence
READ: Troutbitten | Fish Hard

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How do we handle tough days? How can we turn it around and start catching fish? When the going gets tough, how do we fix it? What are the strategies?

 So, most things don’t turn out the way you had them planned. That’s life. But as you’re driving the dirt road toward your favorite trout water, thoughts and plans unfold in your mind. And while preparing for a destination trip, you expect success. Once you’re finally traveling halfway across the country to that river you’ve wanted to fish for decades, visions of the trout you’ll catch take over.

Your hopes and dreams of what will end up in the net are a primary motivator. And, aside from the fish, you might even be enthusiastic about a new fly rod, a new pair of waders or maybe an experimental leader that you tied up.

For all of this, and for the fishing itself, we expect success. We assume the positive. Because, as my friend Rich Alsippi loved to say, "the fisherman is eternally hopeful." Good anglers are optimists.

Why? Because fishing is filled with so much failure that anyone who stays in the game learns to look on the bright side, to see beyond the fish count, to get past tangled tippet, broken reels, lost flies in a tree and soaking wet clothes from falling in — again.

Things go bad out there. A trout river forces you into mistakes. And sometimes, the fishing is just tough. Trout don’t want to eat.

So you try everything you planned for. You know what should work, and you’ve fished it. But when it doesn’t . . . what do you do?

That’s what we’re here to talk about tonight . . .

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | The Fisherman Is Eternally Hopeful
READ: Troutbitten | The Best  Laid Plans of Fishermen often Go Awry
READ: Troutbitten | Fish Hard

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This conversation is about spawning trout. Specifically, we tackle the ethics of fishing during the spawn, whether it’s right or wrong to fish for trout that are actively in the process of making the next generation of trout.

Moreover, where do these ideas of what’s ethical or not come from, and why are the expectations confusing for a lot of anglers?

Is it okay to be on the water while trout are spawning, or should we simply stay away during the spawning season and let trout do their thing?

We branch out into different trout species, and we highlight how different regions, different rivers and different setups might require a different approach.

This topic can get a little contentious. Anglers have strong opinions about this, one way or another, and for many people there’s not much middle ground.

We’ve covered this topic before, in a couple Q&A sessions in different podcast seasons. But this topic deserves its own podcast, and it’s been on our list for a long while.

Trust me when I say that none of us are here to tell you how to fish or when to fish. But this topic is one that each of us has given a lot of thought to over the years. We’ve also seen anglers have a change of heart, and we’ve been around to witness some heated disagreements about this topic too.

READ: Troutbitten | Are We Taking the Safety of Trout Too Far
READ: Troutbitten | Redd Fish -- Should We Fish Through the Spawn or Stay Home?
READ: Troutbitten | Fish Hard


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Everything changes. That’s the only constant. And in the fly fishing world, the tactics, the gear and how we share all of this information changes, even though what the trout eat and how they eat it pretty much stays the same.

That time frame, that snapshot, from where you entered the fly fishing world, shapes what you do on the water. And it’s amazing what just twenty calendar years does to that snapshot. Because a lot of your understanding about what is common, accepted or frowned upon is shaped right away, as you start researching and learning about this fishing thing that eventually becomes a big part of your life.

In this episode, my friends and I consider this topic: How have the tactics changed? How has the gear changed? How has the flow of information changed? And how has all of that changed the way we fish for trout?

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | All The Things
READ: Troutbitten | Fishing with Friends
READ: Troutbitten | Angler Types in Profile -- The Rookie

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In this six-part series we’ve covered locations, water types, weather, water and light conditions. We’ve talked about the gear, about flashlights and headlamps and glow in the dark stuff. We’ve considered what a good night plan looks like, having a strategy and then adapting.

Tactically, we’ve talked about drifting vs swinging flies, about three levels of the water column, about where to expect trout might feed the most after dark, and we’ve walked through top water patterns, emergers and streamers at night.

This week, we’re finishing the series with nymphs, wets and the Harvey Pusher Night flies. We discuss rigging and tactics for each of these fly types, where to fish them and how our presentations might differ at night  from what we do in the daylight.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Night Fishing
READ: Troutbitten | The Harvey Pusher Night Fly (with VIDEO)
READ: Troutbitten | Find Your Rabbit Hole
READ: Troutbitten | Night Fishing for Trout -- The Wiggle and Hang
READ: Troutbitten | Drop Shot Nymphing on a Tight Line Rig

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This is the episode you’ve all been waiting for. Tonight, we  talk about  fishing the top water. And yes, that means mouse patterns — sometimes. We also dig into a fly style that we feel is often more effective, the mouse emerger concept at night. And we talk about fishing streamers after dark.

We cover the effectiveness of many different top water and streamer styles. And we discuss how the emerger concept combines the best of both fly platforms. We get into our favorite patterns and how we fish them.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Night Fishing
READ: Troutbitten | Streamer Presentations -- The Death Drift
READ: Troutbitten | Of Mice and Fishermen
READ: Troutbitten | Night Fishing for Trout -- You're Gonna Need a Bigger Rope
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Night Fishing and the Mouse Emerger Concept

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All fishing trips benefit from a good plan, and most of us couldn’t stop planning, hoping and dreaming about an upcoming trip if we wanted to. Our night fishing plans are a good beginning. Aimed toward solving the mysteries after dark, these plans are formed around expectations and based on the conditions.

Where are the trout, and how are they feeding?

Building flexibility into our plans helps solve these questions. It’s our willingness to adapt, to walk around the bend, to work upstream instead of down or to clip off the top water pattern and rig up for wet flies -- that's what helps answer questions and put trout in the net. Trusting our instincts is the first part. And following through — making the changes — is the second.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Night Fishing
READ: Troutbitten | Night Fishing for Trout -- Location, Location, Location
READ: Troutbitten | What to Trust
READ: Troutbitten | Who Knows Better Than You
PODCAST: Troutbitten | An Introduction to Night Fishing for Trout -- S3, Ep14

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In this second part of the Night Fishing for Trout Skills Series on Troutbitten, we consider light. First the naturals, like moonlight and starlight, then we discuss city lights and other artificials, like our own flashlights and headlamps. Lastly, we’ll discuss the use of glow-in-the-dark stuff, like fly lines, indicators and more.

I'm joined by my night fishing friends, Austin Dando, Trevor Smith and Josh Darling.

Night fishing always comes down to what we can see and what we can’t. Of course we use our other senses. And yes, those senses are heightened, and we often rely on feel more than our limited sight in the relative darkness.

But it is not pitch black out there, especially when we attain and then preserve good night vision. So we navigate the evening from shadows and outlines, pitching unseen flies beyond the visible perimeter and tracking those flies through the feel of a line in our hand, by sensing the load on our rod tip and by sometimes following something that glows in the dark.

Light affects the fishing, but it also affects the fish. And while trout seem to prefer darker nights, they might also feed better with a few stars in the sky for a nightlight.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Night Fishing
READ: Troutbitten | Night Fishing for Trout -- Moonlight, Starlight and City Light
READ: Troutbitten | Night Fishing for Trout -- Headlamps, Flashlights and Glow in the Dark Stuff
PODCAST: Troutbitten | An Introduction to Night Fishing for Trout -- S3, Ep14

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