Troutbitten

The Troutbitten guys and I sit down to share a few stories — moments and experiences — from a life on the water.

There’s no layout for this episode and not much direction other than to share some of the remarkable things that have happened to us while fishing — the things we’ve seen, places we’ve been and the stuff that has happened, simply because we were there, on the river, with a fly rod in our hand.

From the beginning, Troutbitten has been about tactics, sure, but also about the experiences. It’s always been a balance between the two, across all the channels, the videos, the podcasts, the website and social media.

It’s the tactics that keep me interested and motivated to get out there day after day. It’s that refinement of technique and the endless problem solving in an ever-changing and shifting game. But sometimes, I catch myself with my head down, tying knots, staring and searching through the surface currents without looking around very much, without breathing deeply and soaking it all in.

But it’s the things that happen while we’re out there that make fly fishing for trout the all-consuming, never ending pursuit that it is for us. And, in truth, all of us need to let that happen. It’s in the choices that we make regarding where we’ll fish, when we’ll fish and who we’ll fish with. Those elements, the locations, the woods, the water and the friendships make all of this special.

We Cover the Following

• Boat shenanigans
• Austin's wedding
• Family trips
• Travel time
• Fishing with a dog
• Camping and fishing

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Stories
READ: Troutbitten | How to Stay in the Fly Fishing Game for a Lifetime
READ: Troutbitten | Borer Collie and the Thunderstorm
READ: Troutbitten | Lost Fishing Friends
READ: Troutbitten | Fish With Friends

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In this episode, my Troutbitten friends and I talk about one of the toughest conditions we face — fishing in low, clear water. It’s something that can happen in any season and in any trout river. Many anglers shrink from the challenge. They walk away or never string up the fly rod, using the excuse that trout are simply too spooky or they just aren’t eating. But I promise you, that is not true. Trout are eating in these conditions. It just takes a calculated approach to bring them to hand.

The truth is, low and clear water is a difficult challenge But if you accept these river conditions as a chance to learn and improve, then the extreme, sensitive nature of trout in low and clear water will force you to refine your approach, your cast and your drift.

Everything about your presentation in low water must be thought through. Success requires caution, planning and a willingness to strike out. But that’s how you become a complete angler — by fishing when it’s tough. And by fishing hard.

We Cover the Following

• Does low water affect the whole river?
• Are all trout more sensitive in low water?
• Do trout maintain the same rhythms?
• Do we need smaller flies?
• Do we need thinner tippets?
• Tips for stealth
• Nymph, Streamer and Dry fly tips

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Spooky Trout
READ: Troutbitten | Podcast | The Spooky Trout -- What Scares Fish and How To Avoid Spooking Them
READ: Troutbitten | The Advantages of Working Upstream
READ: Troutbitten | Are You Spooking Trout?
READ: Troutbitten | The Spooky Trout: Find Their Blind Spot

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Is catch and release a good idea all the time or just some of the time? In this episode, we consider the ways that the practice of catch and release changes the experience of fishing for us — how our approach shifts when the goals are different.

A lot has changed in the last fifty years. Releasing the trout we catch has become commonplace, especially in the world of fly fishing. In many regions, on many rivers, C&R has become the expected norm. We’ve come a long way. And it’s fair to say that the average fly angler for trout doesn’t fish for meat as much as they do for the sport — for the challenge of fooling a fish.

Catch and release often takes hold in the ethos of an angler because they are forced into it. Because specially regulated sections of a river might require it. And for many anglers new to the sport, or those coming from another fishing background, releasing a trout first feels comfortable because there’s no other option. After a couple of dozen fish are returned, and maybe after a few return trips to the same water, the effectiveness of catch and release becomes obvious, and it eventually feels more natural to let the fish go than to put them on a stringer.

We release trout to catch them again — so that our friends might catch them again, and so the next stranger to the river, hoping for the same experience that we were chasing, might catch that same trout that we just put back.

Catch and release works. There’s no doubt. But is it always the best choice? Is there also a place for catch and keep? And if we do decide to kill a few trout, how does that experience change the way we fish?

That’s our discussion here. . .

We Cover the Following

• When is it okay to keep a trout?
• Mandatory killing of invasive species
• Does killing trout allow room for growing bigger trout?
• Kill wild trout or stocked trout?
• The hunter's mindset applied to catch and release
• Put and take streams
• How keeping trout impacts your own waters

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Are We Taking the Safety of Trout too Far?
READ: Troutbitten | If You Have to Revive a Trout, It's Probably Too Late
READ: Troutbitten | Podcast | How to Handle a Trout
READ: Troutbitten | How to Hold a Trout

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In this episode, we talk about weight and fly fishing. Because if you’re not fishing a dry fly on the surface, then weight, in some form or another, is part of the presentation. There are all kinds of weight options, of course, from wire ribs on a wet fly and heavy wire hooks, to lead wraps and tungsten beads on a nymph or coneheads on a streamer. Sinking lines, sink tips and even poly leaders will get you down. And of course there’s split shot, in a few different forms, along with drop shot.

Something has to get you through the surface and down deeper. As soon as your target zone is under the water, how you’ll get the fly into various parts of the water column becomes the question. And getting near the river bed is often critical to success. All of these weight types are useful.

Weight is weight. And I’ve often put it this way: Weight is the original sin of fly fishing. If you aren’t fishing dry flies, then you’ve already left the purist plantation behind. So accept it. Surrender to it, and enjoy the rewards of fishing flies where trout usually eat them anyway.

Embracing tungsten beads but thumbing your nose at split shot makes me chuckle. Insisting that a sinking line is superior to a conehead streamer for getting down defies logic. Oh for sure, the presentation may be very different, and that’s why we use all options. Choosing one form of weight over another form doesn’t make you a better angler. It doesn’t make it more FLY fishing. It just makes you an efficient angler.

So in this discussion with my Troutbitten friends, we walk through the various ways to get a fly under the surface. We’ talk about the advantages and disadvantages of each style of weight and talk about our preferences.

We Cover the Following

• Is weight the original sin?
• What makes it FLY fishing anyway?
• Types of weight in the flies
• Types of weight on the line
• Types of weight in the line

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Split Shot vs Weighted Flies
READ: Troutbitten | Don't Hate Split Shot - Have a System (VIDEO)
READ: Troutbitten | Stop the Split Shot Slide
READ: Troutbitten | Beads Are the Best

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Success on the water starts with finding fish and not spooking them. No one ever caught a scared trout. All the tactics, the flies and the habits of river trout that we focus on mean nothing if the fish are on high alert and out of the mood to eat.

Don’t spook the fish. Achieving that is different from season to season. It’s different in various water types. And acceptable distances from the trout change even with the angles by which you approach them.

Being cautious, being aware and being attentive pays dividends. So reconsider your strategy. Maybe think first about your impact on the river before ever considering your first fly choice. Be a hunter. That might be the best advice we can give.

My friends join me for a great discussion about what it takes to avoid spooking trout.

We Cover the Following

• Do trout eat when they are scared?
• What do trout do when they are spooked?
• What spooks trout?
• How tolerant are trout of our presence?
• How close can you get?
• How do you know a trout is spooked?
• Stealth tips

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Spooky Trout
READ: Troutbitten | The Order of Everything
READ: Troutbitten | The Advantages of Working Upstream
READ: Troutbitten | Are You Spooking Trout?
READ: Troutbitten | The Spooky Trout: Find Their Blind Spot

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Troutbitten Instagram

Troutbitten YouTube

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This episode of the Troutbitten Podcast is about tying flies. It's about the way that aspect of fly fishing changes everything for us. Most of us wish to be a complete angler -- one who is well rounded, ready for anything and versatile.

By tying flies, we get closer to that goal, because tying flies engages us in a deeper way. We’re more connected, more invested in what we tie to the end of the line. With a few turns of monofilament through the hook eye, we are attached to our own creations and our own solutions.

In this episode my friends join me to talk about why we tie flies, why it's important and how it gives us an advantage on the river. We discuss what we like to change in fly patterns, how we adapt our flies to the conditions and much more. Because, for each of us, tying flies is part of our life on the water.

We Cover the Following

• How tying makes us better anglers
• Things we can change at the vise
• Problems and situations we can address at the vise
• Does tying flies save money?
• Does tying flies save time?
  
  

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Troutbitten Fly Box
READ: Troutbitten | Tie Your Own Flies -- Here's Why

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Troutbitten YouTube

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The Troutbitten Podcast is back for season five. My full crew of friends returns, joining me for some great conversations about fly fishing for river trout. We’ll tackle a little bit of everything this season — with streamers, nymphs, wets and dry flies. And while there will be plenty of tactics talk, I’m sure we’ll get into some good stories and experiences on the river too.

Episode one kicks this season off with a discussion about fly fishing through the fall season, from the late summer turn of the equinox, heading into the beginning of fall, to the end of the spawning season, which around here signals the beginning of winter.

Fall fishing offers renewed hope and opening opportunities, along with a change of scenery. As the foliage turns, so do the habits of wild trout. Our favorite fish loses some of its characteristic inhibitions.

More water, less light and the instinct to fatten up create unique opportunities for every angler who is willing to meet the trout on their own terms. While hatches may be sparse, the underwater game opens up to those with the skills to present a nymph, streamer or wet fly with precision.

Trout chase. They migrate. They feed and they procreate. Fall fishing offers a style of fishing that is unequaled in any other season.

We Cover the Following

• What we look forward to most in the fall
• Do trout feed more throughout the fall season?
• How fewer hatches affect fish behavior and fishing opportunities
• More or less water. What is our preference?
• The leaf hatch
• How does spawning affect the fishing?
• When does fall fishing turn into winter?
• Favorite fall tactics

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Full Days of Early Fall
READ: Troutbitten | Category | Streamers
READ: Troutbitten | Category | Nymphing

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This is our full crew review of dry dropper styles. And it wraps up this Troutbitten Skills Series on dry dropper fishing. Because, as we’ve seen, what seems like a pretty simple thing — just adding a nymph under a dry fly -- actually creates some complex situations.

You can absolutely fish a dry dropper and keep your life easy. Fly fishing does not have to be complicated. So dangling a nymph from a buoyant dry and casting it to the river without much thought will catch trout.

But for many of us, the complexities are what keep us interested. Solving problems, seeking answers, understanding a system and tweaking it for the moment is fun. Because those tweaks, those adjustments, make a difference. And when we start catching more trout, when the opportunities increase, we take notice. We learn what good drifts look like — on both the nymph and the dry fly. Then we improve. And that . . . is the simple joy of fishing.

My friends, Austin Dando, Bill Dell, Trevor Smith and Josh Darling join me for the fifth and final installment of this Troutbitten Skills Series on dry dropper styles.

So remember, the next time someone mentions fishing dry dropper, ask them what style . . . because there’s a lot of room for variety.

-- -- -- 

In 2019, I published a full series on these Three Styles of Dry Dropper on the Troutbitten Website. You can find them here:

READ: Troutbitten | Three Styles of Dry Dropper
READ: Troutbitten | Three Styles of Dry Dropper -- Light Dry Dropper
READ: Troutbitten | Three Styles of Dry Dropper -- Standard Dry Dropper
READ: Troutbitten | Three Styles of Dry Dropper -- Tight Line Dry Dropper

This podcast series is an excellent companion for the article series.

Because “fishing dry dropper” can really mean a lot of things. And each of these styles has many moments when it's the clear winner.

So, the next time someone talks about dry dropper fishing, ask them what style -- because there's a lot of room for variety.

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This episode covers an extremely effective style for presenting both a nymph and a dry fly -- I call it tight line dry dropper, and this may be favorite way to fish. I like methods that provide excellent control. And a tight line rig -- with direct contact as the primary feature -- is built for exactly that. It feels like we can make something happen rather than hoping to get lucky with a trout.

With tight line dry dropper, we get the contact and control of a tight line nymphing rig and the excitement of a dry fly rig. It’s very different than the other styles of dry dropper because it’s built on a Mono Rig. And the catch rate, for where this rig applies, is often doubled or even tripled.

Watch the nymph tuck in, exactly on target and see the dry fly land downstream of the nymph. You’re tight to the dry — from rod tip to fly — as it bobs and weaves back toward you.

With the dry fly in touch with the nymph and our rod tip in touch with the dry fly, strike detection to the nymph is excellent. So we set when the dry twitches, jiggles or dips.

And when a trout comes for the dry, you’re close enough to see him coming. It takes discipline not to set the hook too early. When he eats, you’re immediately tight to the fish, with no slack. You’re connected to a trout on a tight line only a rod length or two away, and the fight is on.

Tight Line Dry Dropper is a great way to fish.

 My friend, Austin Dando, joins me for the fourth installment of this Troutbitten Skills Series on dry dropper styles. 

-- -- -- 

In 2019, I published a full series on these Three Styles of Dry Dropper on the Troutbitten Website. You can find them here:

READ: Troutbitten | Three Styles of Dry Dropper
READ: Troutbitten | Three Styles of Dry Dropper -- Light Dry Dropper
READ: Troutbitten | Three Styles of Dry Dropper -- Standard Dry Dropper
READ: Troutbitten | Three Styles of Dry Dropper -- Tight Line Dry Dropper

This podcast series is an excellent companion for the article series.

Because “fishing dry dropper” can really mean a lot of things. And each of these styles has many moments when it's the clear winner.

So, the next time someone talks about dry dropper fishing, ask them what style -- because there's a lot of room for variety.

More Resources:

READ: Troutbitten | The Mono Rig
READ: Troutbitten | One Great Nymphing Trick

Visit:

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Troutbitten YouTube

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Standard Dry Dropper is the industry standard for a reason. Because it’s what you get when you simply add a nymph on behind the dry fly. Sometimes, that pairing is perfect, and with a good cast and even better mending skills, this standard setup catches trout all day long.

But other times, the addition of the nymph, without some planning and attention to detail, creates a situation where neither the dry nor the nymph is setup to fish very well. And we are stuck with hoping something will happen instead of making it happen.

Standard Dry Dropper is a useful style that solves a lot of problems. Especially if you surrender to the idea that the nymph is the primary fly being fished.

Aim to land both flies in one seam. Get the nymph upstream of the dry fly and drifting in line. Then keep the tension of the dry fly with good mending. Treat it like and indicator and never be satisfied with a dragging setup.

All of this sets up a lot better by staying as close as possible to the target, observing the differences in surface currents and staying active throughout the drift. Be willing to make changes. That’s the key to success.

In 2019, I published a full series on these Three Styles of Dry Dropper on the Troutbitten Website. You can find them here:

READ: Troutbitten | Three Styles of Dry Dropper
READ: Troutbitten | Three Styles of Dry Dropper -- Light Dry Dropper
READ: Troutbitten | Three Styles of Dry Dropper -- Standard Dry Dropper
READ: Troutbitten | Three Styles of Dry Dropper -- Tight Line Dry Dropper

This podcast series is an excellent companion for the article series.

Because “fishing dry dropper” can really mean a lot of things. And each of these styles has many moments when it's the clear winner.

So, the next time someone talks about dry dropper fishing, ask them what style -- because there's a lot of room for variety.

More Resources:

READ: Troutbitten | Three Parts of an Ideal Indicator Leader -- And One Great Formula
READ: Troutbitten | Dry Fly Fishing -- The George Harvey Leader Design

Visit:

Troutbitten Website

Troutbitten Instagram

Troutbitten YouTube

Troutbitten Facebook