Troutbitten

In this episode, my friends join me to share some of their best tips for reading water — seeing a trout stream, recognizing the currents in a river that hold trout and having the confidence to target them.

Then we get into the philosophy of Cherry Picking or Full Coverage. That is, the speed at which we cover water. How fast do you move from one place to the next? And what are the merits of hole hopping or trying to efficiently cover every likely piece of river that holds a trout? Because there are a couple of different ways to approach your time out there. And it’s helpful to think about the best ways to use it.

Reading water is a skill to be learned intentionally or by accident. Among the hundreds of tactical articles on Troutbitten is a full category for reading water, where each article addresses one facet of the skill.

Reading water is something we can all improve upon. By sharing tips, and by understanding how our friends look at the same piece of water, we can see the stream in a whole new way. My friends have some great tips for how they read water.

The conversation then turns to cherry picking and full coverage . . .

The fisherman’s path leads from one prime spot to the next, leaving a good bit of the river — maybe most of it — unfished. That’s cherry picking. It’s choosing the best pieces of water and ignoring the rest. And it can be a great strategy for catching a bunch of fish . . . sometimes. But there are some caveats, too.

Working an entire stretch of water can be harder. But once learned, it might be a more productive long-term strategy. Full coverage of the river reveals a lot more about trout habits and opens up opportunities to grow into a more complete angler. And once you catch on to the rhythm of the process, full coverage is a fun way to fish too. We discuss the merits and the best times for each approach.

The Q&A Round

• Streamer size vs streamer color
• Organizing fly tying hooks and beads
• What's more memorable -- losing a big fish or landing one?
• Why Trevor hates lunch meat
• Josh and the PBJ revelation

We Discuss the Following

• Potholes in riffles
• The seams around rocks
• Finding water that is big-fish-speed
• Looking upstream to find the seams
• Find feeding fish, then cherry pick
• Cherry pick to save time
• Cherry pick out of necessity
• Full coverage as a learning tool
• Full coverage out of necessity

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Reading Water
READ: Troutbitten | Cherry Picking vs Full Coverage
READ: Troutbitten | At the Front Door of Every Rock
READ: Troutbitten | Look Upstream to Find the Seams
READ: Troutbitten | Levels, Resets and New Beginnings
READ: Troutbitten | Every Rock Creates Five Seams
READ: Troutbitten | Trout Like to Do What Their Friends Are Doing


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After hundreds of Troutbitten articles featuring the versatility of the Mono Rig, now there's a podcast. My friends Josh, Austin, Trevor and Bill join me to discuss how each of us fishes this hybrid rig as a complete fly fishing system, detailing the ultimate flexibility of this amazing tool.

The Troutbitten Mono Rig is a hybrid system for fishing all types of flies: nymphs (both tight line and indicator styles), streamers, dry-dropper, wets, and small dry flies. With twenty pound monofilament as a fly line substitute, better contact, control and strike detection are gained with the Mono Rig versus a traditional fly line approach. And yet, the casting here is still a fly line style cast. Ironically, it takes excellent fly casting skills to efficiently throw a Mono Rig.

The Mono Rig is similar to tight line and Euro Nymphing styles, however . . . it’s a full system for fishing all fly types, with and without indicators — with and without split shot. The Mono Rig is a very versatile tool. And that’s the focus of this podcast. We all fish similar mono rigs with some variation. And we all use it in different ways, too. Some are slight. Some are major. This discussion provides a full picture of what the Mono Rig really is and what you can do with it — all the options — and all the versatility.

We Discuss the Following:

• Mono Rig Butt Sections and Diameters
• Tight Line Nymphing
• Euro Nymphing
• Tight Line to the Indicator
• Tight Line Dry Dropper
• Streamers on the Mono Rig
• Dry Flies on a Mono Rig
• Fly Rod Selection for the Mono Rig

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | The Mono Rig
READ: Troutbitten | Design and Function of the Troutbitten Standard Mono Rig
READ: Troutbitten | The Mono Rig and Why Fly Line Sucks
READ: Troutbitten | The Full Mono Rig System -- All the variations, formulas and adjustments
READ: Troutbitten | Euro Nymphing and the Mono Rig
READ: Troutbitten | Beyond Euro Nymphing

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Keep wild trout wild. Not all trout are created equal, and there are many differences in the trout we catch -- in their appearances and their behaviors. Wild trout, stocked trout, holdover trout, fingerlings and club fish are very much a different breed -- or at least they can seem that way.

My friends join me for an honest discussion about the trout we pursue. All of us fish for every kind of trout on the list. And all of these trout hold value -- but not equally.

We believe wild trout populations should be protected, wherever they are found. That starts by eliminating the stocking of hatchery trout over wild trout. And it continues by finding struggling wild trout populations and helping them -- strengthening their numbers by improving water quality and habitat. Neither government nor private organizations should be permitted to stock over established wild trout populations. Full stop.

Why does a wild trout matter? Because it’s real. Because it’s adaptable. Because it holds the evolutionary genetics for surviving in its own river system. Because it is a strong, lasting creature. Because wild trout are (most often) more challenging to catch. Sometimes they’re harder to find. Because they are survivors. Because they are a symbol of nature’s persistence against human intervention. And a wild trout, in all its beauty, is . . . simply . . . wild.

In this episode, we talk about each of the five kinds of trout that we catch, because this hierarchy holds up all across the country, not just here in Pennsylvania.

Wild Trout
Fingerling
Holdover
Stockie
Club Fish

All trout have value. And if you are having a great time catching trout, well, that’s the point. Enjoy it. Get out there, fish hard and have fun.

And yet, there’s also nothing wrong with addressing this topic and understanding that there are major differences in the trout we catch. Stocked trout are often nothing like their wild counterparts. This is true.

We discuss the following:

• The harm done by stocking over wild trout
• Stocked trout habits
• How to tell the difference
• The important value of stocked fish
• How club fish set up expectations

We believe that wild trout, wherever they are found, should be kept wild and given a chance. It's important to recognize the exceptional value of wild trout and to understand the limited value of the stocked trout. We should not get them confused. By pushing for regulations that protect wild trout and enhance their habitat we can prepare a better future. By choosing to showcase wild fish over hatchery fakes we send a signal.

Value the wild trout. Protect it. Catch it, and release it.  And yes, value the stocked trout for what it is. 

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | The Hierarchy of Trout In Pennsylvania
READ: Troutbitten | Posted -- Club Fish -- 2065
READ: Troutbitten | Why Wild Trout Matter
READ: Troutbitten | What Happened to Laurel Run? The Story of a Stocked Trout Stream and a Fisherman
READ: Troutbitten | Does a Stocked Trout Ever Become Wild?

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Night fishing is a mystery with no resolution. Every other aspect of fly fishing for trout has been written about, understood and expanded upon. Lifetimes of information are available at your fingertips — the lives of so many fishermen who’ve come before you. You can read the accounts of their discoveries, their failures, their new ideas and understandings.

But the night fishing game? It’s like a bare cupboard.

There are very, very few people who’ve spent much time on the water at night. And there are even fewer anglers who’ve written or shared good information about fishing for trout after dark.

Because there are so few practitioners of the night game, so few anglers willing (and able) to put in the hours and search for those answers, we find the same beliefs repeated time after time. The same advice. The same wives tales rerun again and again, because they sound like they make sense.

The truth is, night fishing is hard. Consistency is elusive — maybe it’s not even possible.

But after years of experiencing that kind of failure, I found an answer. I discovered a fly and a handful of tactics that turned the hook-up ratio around. And I started landing far more trout by fishing what I’ve come to think of as a mouse emerger.

In this podcast episode, my friends Josh and Trevor join me to discuss the mouse emerger concept.

What is it? And why does a mouse emerger fool more trout than other approaches? Why do trout attack flies but refuse them so often at night?

(Companion Troutbitten article for this podcast is found HERE)

In this night fishing episode, we discuss the flies:

— The Bad Mother
— Lynch’s White Bellied Mouse
— The Pendragon
— The Black Rogue
— The Gypsy Queen

And we dig into the tactics for fishing a mouse emerger style:

— Locations
— Retrieves
— Angles
— Speed
— And the deadly Slow Slide

Since 2014, I’ve published over 700 articles on Troutbitten.com. These are fishing stories, tips, tactics and commentary. But it all started with a tale about night fishing that I titled, One of These Days. Since then, I’ve written a forty-part, ongoing series about Night Fishing for Trout, and there’s much more to be learned and discovered.

Find those night fishing articles and so much more at Troutbitten.com.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Series | Night Fishing for Trout
Presentations -- The Deadly Slow Slide
Moonlight, Starlight and City Light
Back In Black -- The Night Shift
Headlamps, Flashlights and Glow in the Dark Stuff
Upside Down and Backward

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Fish cold water, fight 'em fast, handle gently, release quickly. In this second edition of the Troutbitten podcast, my friends Bill, Austin, Trevor and Josh join me to discuss safe catch and release practices, from hooking a trout to letting it go. Because if the goal of catch and release is to put a trout back and catch it again, then we want to ensure that the health of the fish remains intact.

Some of the catch and release best practices might seem like common sense. But the truth is, handling a trout without harming it isn’t necessarily intuitive. It takes some forethought and preparation. You need the right tools — the right skills. And it takes a good understanding of how trout are built — how they are a little more sensitive than other species. It helps to understand the trout and learn its habits, if you plan to release the fish without harming it.

There’s a lot of nuance in topics like this. And we cover the details around these key principles: Fish cold water, fight 'em fast, handle gently, release quickly.

At every level of experience, we’re always learning and trying to improve or share ideas about the fish we chase. The Troutbitten guys joining me are full of ideas, and they share some great thoughts about how to handle a trout.

Lastly, we discuss how experience is the only teacher. We acknowledge that mistakes inevitably happen. We've all killed trout accidentally, and it's part of the learning process. But education is the best preparation for releasing a trout safely. And hopefully, it's podcasts and shared information, like this, that gives fly anglers the confidence to go fishing and enjoy their time on the water.

Here are a few key supporting articles from Troutbitten:

READ: Troutbitten | How to Hold a Trout
READ: Troutbitten | Their Heart in Your Hands
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 | Category | Fighting Fish

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In this inaugural Troutbitten podcast, my friends Bill, Austin, Trevor and Josh join me to discuss how fly fishing for wild trout creates a life on the water. 

We consider what it means to fish hard, how hope is the strongest trait of a successful angler, why everything works sometimes, and how fly fishers, all too often, are a little much. 

We also talk about the tenets of Troutbitten, or the shared interests and characteristics about fly fishing that bring us together and keep us excited about trout fishing for a lifetime. 

In 2014, Troutbitten.com started with fishing stories and tips. And from the beginning, the tactics articles have leaned toward the advanced angler without neglecting the beginner. Now over 700 articles deep, the Troutbitten website has become a huge resource for trout anglers on a fly rod. Dry flies, nymph fishing, streamer fishing and more, Troutbitten articles offer tactics, commentary and stories to educate and entertain. 

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