Troutbitten

The parachute platform is our favorite style of dry fly and the favorite of many other anglers, because of its utility. Because it form is functional. Because it casts well, lands upright and keeps floating, even though heavy water. It fools picky trout and looks enough like an emerger and a spinner that you might get away with one fly, all the way through cycle. It's a great dry-dropper fly, it's easily adaptable. And perhaps its best quality . . . you can see the parachute post.

For all of those reasons, the Parachute dry fly platform is close to perfection.

My good friend, Austin Dando, joins me for a thorough look into the Parachute.

Resources

PODCAST: Troutbitten | Fly Tying - Essential Tools and More (S17 Ep9)
READ: Troutbitten | Pattern vs Presentation
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Fishing Dry Flies - Dry Fly Skills Series  (S12)

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Season 18 is a unique look at dry fly styles, through the concept of platforms. By taking a fly shape, a form or a set of materials, we can adapt the elements like color, wing style, tailing material or hackle length to meet the moment. Within the fly platform, we vary its properties to the river conditions or to a specific hatch.

In this seven part Skills Series for season 18, we cover these six dry fly platforms:

1: Upright Hackles
2: Parachutes
3. Comparaduns
4. Down Wings
5. Hoppers and Stoneflies
6. Emergers

This first episode looks at the platform of Upright Hackles. A classic Catskill style, like the Adams, is a perfect example of this platform. Both slimmer and beefier versions are common, each of which are adapted to prioritize the selectivity of the trout or the buoyancy of the fly against heavier currents.

Upright Hackles are perhaps the most common dry fly style, and many popular patterns fit into this platform.

In this episode, we look at the specifics for hook, tail, body, wing and hackle for our first platform in this Skills Series -- the Upright Hackle.

This is a great breakdown and a fun conversation with my friend Austin Dando.

Resources

PODCAST: Troutbitten | Fly Tying - Essential Tools and More (S17 Ep9)
READ: Troutbitten | Pattern vs Presentation
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Fishing Dry Flies - Dry Fly Skills Series  (S12)

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We’re here to talk about approaching the river — approaching the trout — to put our boots in the best place, with a strategy for making the casts and catching fish.

We focus so much on the drifting, on the presentation and the casting — on the technical aspects of getting all of those things just right — that it’s easy to overlook the skill that comes before all of that . . .

And make no mistake, the approach is a skill. It’s about making a plan. It’s about choosing a piece of water and deciding at which angle we’ll make the cast.

We consider all of it in this episode. We also look at some intangibles like bug life and light angles, like water levels and how we might mask our presence from the trout. Because scared trout don’t eat, and honestly, that has to be our first consideration.

This is a great conversation with my friends Matt Grobe and Bill Dell. 

Resources

PODCAST: Troutbitten | The Spooky Trout - What Scares Fish and How to Avoid Spooking Them
READ: Troutbitten | The Spooky Trout - Find Their Blind Spot
READ: Troutbitten | Are You Spooking Trout?
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Pre-Trip Efficiencies

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Fly tying is more popular than ever. With the prevalence of high quality materials and excellent videos showing how to build flies, more fly anglers choose to tie their own patterns than ever before.

All of us at Troutbitten have been tying our own flies from the beginning, so we each have preferences for the tools we use. That's what this podcast episode is all about. We discuss the essentials, like vise, scissors and a bobbin, along with some other tools and gear that each of us considers invaluable for tying materials to a hook. 

The tools come first. And the quality of those tools can either help or hinder the process.

This conversation is a lot of fun. My friends, Bill Dell, Dr. Trevor Smith, Austin Dando, Josh Darling and Matt Grobe join me. 

Resources

PODCAST: Troutbitten | Fly Tying and the Complete Angler - S5,Ep2
READ: Troutbitten | Category | The Troutbitten Fly Box

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For this episode, we want to tackle a topic that’s been on our list for a long time — fly fishing myths and misunderstandings.

We’re not here to argue about stuff or complain. We just want to acknowledge things that we hear repeated or we see in print or shown in videos — stuff that’s almost assumed as fact, when it’s often not true at all.

We do think it’s important to try to clear the air about these myths and misunderstandings, because bad or incomplete information can really lead people down the wrong path. Or an angler might base many decisions about how they fish, where they fish, when they fish or what they fish for based, in part, upon these myths or these assumptions.

Most of what we bring up is well engrained into the fly fishing field of knowledge. Basically, most of you out there listening will have heard nearly everything we bring up. Maybe too, you’ll have a different take on things, and some of these won’t be myths to you at all. That’s good. Because you really should trust yourself and your own time on the water more than anyone else. 

My friends, Bill Dell and Josh Darling join me for a great conversation.

Resources

PODCAST: Troutbitten | What To Trust - S5, Ep11
READ: Troutbitten | What To Trust
READ: Troutbitten | Who Knows Better Than You?

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Devin Olsen has had an immeasurable influence on the nymphing game. Having been embedded in the competition scene for two decades now, Devin knows competition nymphing form the inside. While reading Devin's book and watching his videos, it's obvious that he puts in the work. Instead of slavishly recycling the ideas of others, Devin is a unique thinker and a tireless tester on the water. I've always admired his work.

I asked Devin to go in deep about competition nymphing styles, while specifically considering the rules and restrictions imposed on competitors. We consider whether those rules about flies and leader restrictions are helpful or hurtful for the common angler.

This is a fantastic conversation.

I'm pleased to present my interview with Devin Olsen . . .

RESOURCES

WEBSITE / FLY SHOP: Tactical Fly Fisher
BOOK: Tactical Fly Fisher
YOUTUBE: Tactical Fly Fisher
READ: Troutbitten | Series | What You're Missing by Following FIPS Competition Rules

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For our State of the Union 2025, 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 (December 1). We talk about the book, the In Deep series, podcast plans, shop changes, a live podcast event, a Troutbitten Film Festival and the the New Trail Troutbitten beer.

Becky and I also read a few listener comments.

Resources

VIDEO: Troutbitten | In Deep With John Shaner and Dry Fly Leader Design
VIDEO: Troutbitten | In Deep - Fishing Simply, With Craig Matthews
VIDEO: Troutbitten | Beer and Friends -- Good Times and Good Stories with New Trail and Troutbitten
SHOP: Troutbitten | Category | Leaders

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All of us at Troutbitten, along with so many anglers across the country, use a Mono Rig for most underwater presentations. The tight line advantage and the drift control possible for both nymphs and streamers is fun and effective. But a lot has changed . . .

Five or ten years ago, most tight line anglers were using a Mono Rig leader build with a butt section thick enough to mimic the functions of a fly line. This is what we call a Troutbitten Standard Mono Rig, and it's a hybrid system. So with good casting form, the leader can push even the lightest flies around -- the line carries the flies. These days, the most popular leader builds have gone to the end of the line, with the thinnest possible tippets and even butt sections that are 5X diameter. These leaders require water haul casts with light flies and major adaptations in form that open up the age old question again -- "Is that even fly fishing?"

Has it all gone too far? None of us care much about what you call the tactic. But more importantly, have Mono Rig leaders and tactics gone so far and become so common that these tools and these styles are actually hindering some anglers' growth? And does that really matter? These are the questions we tackle in this podcast episode.

My friends, Austin Dando, Dr. Trevor Smith, Bill Dell and Matt Grobe and Josh Darling join me for a great conversation.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | The Mono Rig
PODCAST SERIES: Troutbitten | Tight Line Skills Series
READ: Troutbitten | The Mono Rig, and Why Fly Line Sucks
READ: Troutbitten | Design and Function of the Troutbitten Standard Mono Rig

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The spawning process is arguably the most important event of a trout's life. The best trout in the system spawn every year. And as long term anglers, we should understand the process -- not only because we then know how to give trout their space, but because the process is a fascinating look at a fish that we spend so much time chasing.

We do not advocate fishing for actively spawning trout. But in many watersheds, it's easy to stay away from the redds and give trout plenty of room by simply understanding the process. That's the focus of our conversation in this episode: where, when and how do trout spawn in a river? This podcast is a follow up to another that we published a few years ago, with Episode 2 of Season 9 -- Trout Fishing and the Spawn.

My friends, Austin Dando, Bill Dell and Matt Grobe join me for a great conversation.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Redd Fish - Should we fish for trout through the spawn or stay home?
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Trout Fishing and the Spawn.  S9, Ep2

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Sometimes, the goal is to catch the biggest trout in the river. In those times, what's the best fly to choose?

In this conversation, we talk through big trout situations, and we focus on the flies. If you’re really targeting a big trout, when does a streamer seem like the best choice, and what qualities in that streamer help not just get a trout’s attention, but convince them to eat the fly?

Likewise, when might a dry fly have the best chance at fooling a big fish? And when is a wet fly or nymph the best choice?

Size, shape, weight, color, flash — whether it’s a dry fly, nymph, wet fly or streamer, what are the qualities of a pattern that we have confidence will interest bigger fish?

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

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Big Trout
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Why Do Some Rivers Hold Big Trout? S13, Ep7
READ: Troutbitten | Where to Find Big Trout - Big, Bigger, Biggest 

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