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Latest Episodes:

Barbed Hooks or Barbless? Does It Really Matter? Nov 17, 2024

We’re halfway through Season 13, and tonight we have a discussion that’s been on our backburner for quite a while -- barbed hooks or barbless, and does it really matter?
Should we always fish barbless? Maybe not. The answer isn’t that simple. So the Troutbitten guys are here for a conversation and a few thoughts about barbs on hooks.
Each one of us has fished for long enough that we’ve used both barbed and barbless flies. We’ve also used barbs on lures and bait hooks, because we all grew up fishing in different ways. Some anglers who jump right into the fly fishing game — especially for trout — are exposed to a another sentiment. So their reference points are different. And like anything else, what might seem almost outlandish to one person can seem like no big deal to another.
So . . . barbed hooks or barbless? And does it really matter?
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Are We Taking the Safety of Trout Too Far?
READ: Troutbitten | Category | Catch and Release Safely
READ: Troutbitten | Fight Fish Fast
READ: Troutbitten | Nymph Hook Inversion and the Myth of the Jig Hook
PODCAST: Troutbitten | How To Handle a Trout - S1, Ep2
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Finding Your Confidence Flies Nov 10, 2024

Every angler needs a set of flies to call their own. Among the thousands of patterns, options and choices out there, eventually, we sort out a handful of confidence flies.
Our faith in these flies gives us conviction when choosing them and tying the knot. We’ll fish THIS fly in THIS water. That’s what will catch the next trout. And if it doesn’t, then we’ll change something — maybe the water type, maybe the presentation, maybe the rig. Or maybe we’ll reach for the next confidence fly.
Some anglers have a dozen go-to flies. Others might have fifty patterns, and some carry just a few. But a good set of confidence flies is adapted for the angler, for their water, for their season and their preferences. Most importantly, these flies catch trout.
But how do we find the right flies? How do you find your confidence flies? That’s our topic for tonight, season 13, episode 4.
The Troutbitten guys join me to break all of this down.
Resources
READ: Troutbitten: Category | The Troutbitten Fly Box
READ: Troutbitten | Troutbitten Confidence Flies -- Seventeen Nymphs
READ: Troutbitten | Pattern Vs Presentation

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The Ethical Angler -- What Does That Mean? Nov 03, 2024

What's right and wrong? That's what ethics really boils down to. Certainly, there are nuances about how much space to give other anglers on the river or how long we should hold a trout out of the water for a picture. But doing the right thing and being an ethical angler is probably best achieved by asking ourselves one question: Does this action makes things better or worse? And are you helping or hurting the woods, the water, the fish and other anglers?

The best ethics probably happen when no one is looking. And holding ourselves accountable to do the right thing is a reward based in the satisfaction of self-discipline.
There is no handbook for ethics in fishing, of course. And much has been written and discussed on the topic through the years. In this podcast episode, the Troutbitten crew holds a philosophical discussion about ethics in fishing. It's not a list of concrete examples or rules. It's an interesting, thought provoking conversation.
Resources

PODCAST: Troutbitten | The Ethics of Guiding -- More Harm Than Good?
READ: Troutbitten | Category | Catch and Release Safely
READ: Troutbitten | A Fisherman's Thoughts On Spot Burning

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The One or Two Fly Debate, Across Fishing Styles Oct 27, 2024

The Troutbitten guys are here to talk about two flies. Why do we fish two dry flies, two streamers, wets or nymphs? Why don’t we? Why might we fish with just one fly instead? Multiple fly rigs are a common solution to fishing problems, but extra flies on the line can certainly create more issues than they solve.
The one or two fly debate, across fishing styles -- this is our topic. What works, when and why? What’s the upside? What’s the downside?
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Tangle Free Tandem Rigs
READ: Troutbitten | Q&A: Why Do Multi-Nymph Rigs Tangle, and How to Avoid It
READ: Troutbitten | Three Styles of Dry Dropper

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Why Do We Catch Trout In Patches? Oct 20, 2024

The full Troutbitten crew is back for season thirteen. In this fall and early winter season, our theme is casual conversations. After three years of podcasting, we've recorded many episodes that go deep into the weeds on one specific topic. We've also dedicated full seasons to the Skills Series format, where a topic like night fishing or tight line nymphing is broken into multiple episodes to try and cover it well. But this season, we're ready to hit record and just riff on a topic.
For episode one, our topic is . . . Why do we catch trout in patches? Because when we get to the end of the day, we often look back to remember catching three trout in one spot, then nothing for a while. Maybe we missed two and landed five in another spot. We had three at the best undercut bank and another handful at the tailout . . . but in between, there were often long periods of inactivity. Why is that?
That's our topic for episode one.
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Find Feeding Fish
READ: Troutbitten | Cover Water, Catch Trout
READ: Troutbitten | Cherry Picking vs Full Coverage

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Fishing Dry Flies -- Dry Fly Skills Series #7 Sep 15, 2024

For this final episode in the dry fly skills series, we work through some scenarios that anglers frequently encounter. Because, just like nymphing, fishing streamers and fishing wets, we fish dry flies for many different reasons and in many different ways.
We addressed some of this in episode one, and in this final episode, we complete the bookend by thinking about how things layout and going through some strategy and thought processes. Now that we’ve spent a good bit of time on leader design, fly selection, casting, building in slack, we consider these four scenarios:
Head Hunting
Fishing Terrestrials
Small Stream Stuff
Working a Hatch
My friend, Matt Grobe, joins me to put a cap on this Dry Fly Skills series.
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Dry Fly Fishing
READ: Troutbitten | Two Ways to Spat a Terrestrial Dry Fly
READ: Troutbitten | Twelve Small Stream Fly Casting Tips

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Rise Forms and Hook Sets -- Dry Fly Skills Series #6 Sep 08, 2024

In the last couple of weeks we talked a lot about choosing the next fly, when to change, and what informs our decision about what to change to — basically, how do we develop that next theory about what fly, water type and presentation style we want to test.
Last week we talked about watching how trout are rising to naturals, how they are taking our fly or even how they’re rejecting it. That information goes a long way. It’s often the predominant factor for choosing an appropriate fly style — a low rider, an emerger or maybe one that rides high and rolls on the surface.
So when you fish long enough, you start to notice these kinds of details, and like anything else worth pursuing, you realize that there’s an endless world of data out there for you to pick up on. The trout are telling us a lot — even by not rising. We learn by not catching trout too. If you get a great presentation in a spot that you know holds trout, but no trout eats it . . . fair enough. And you start to consider the next adjustment.
It’s all a lot of fun when you realize that good fishing isn’t luck. It’s attention to detail with an open mind and a willingness to dive into the mystery.
This podcast is all about rise forms and hook sets.
My friend, Matt Grobe, joins me for this discussion.
Resources
READ: Troutbitten | Category | Dry Fly Fishing
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Set The Hook! All About Different Hook Sets
READ: Troutbitten | Hook Set Direction -- Downstream

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All About the Flies -- Dry Fly Skills Series #5 Sep 01, 2024

Here we are at the part of the season where we address everybody’s favorite question — what fly are you using?
We’ve argued for years that the leader is the most consequential element in the system — much more important than the fly. That said, the fly must be reasonable.
Most anglers are so focused on the flies because it’s the easiest thing to change. We’re quick to blame the pattern. And it’s a lot easier to clip off one fly and tie on another than to really break down your approach, your cast and your dead drift.
The better approach is to perfect those elements and then . . . maybe change the fly.
I carry a box of dry flies, just like I carry a box of streamers and a box of nymphs and wets. The flies matter. But more than anything, it’s about matching the moment, the water type, the lifecycle of the bug - and even the wind conditions. For us, those conditions -- those situations -- dictate our next fly choice. We don't guess on patterns. Instead, we think about things, develop a theory and test it with the next fly choice and (hopefully) a great presentation.
My friend, Matt Grobe, joins me for this discussion.
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Dry Fly Fishing
VIDEO: Troutbitten | The Perfect Parachute Ant
READ: Troutbitten | When Should You Change the Fly?

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Casting and Mending -- Dry Fly Skills Series #4 Aug 25, 2024

Our discussion here is about casting dry flies, and that’s where all good fly casting starts. With a dry fly, there’s no weight at the end of the line to help us out. No split shot, no tungsten bead, conehead or bobber. Refining the dry fly stroke truly teaches us what the fly rod is built to do.
Ten and two. Acceleration and crisp stops between two points. Pause and allow turnover to happen. Feel the rod load and watch it all happen with the fly line in the air. Once you have that timing, your baseline is set, and you can take that same stroke to any rod angle, punching the fly around and laying things out just how you want them with a few adjustments.
Good mending is setup by good casting. Put the two together, and you can feed slack to a dry fly for perfect drag free drifts.
Having command over all of that . . . is a lot of fun.
My friend, Matt Grobe, joins me to for a great discussion on casting and mending dry flies.
Resources

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Catching Up, With Leader Sales, Videos and Troutbitten Plans Aug 18, 2024

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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Dry Fly Leader Design and Adjustment -- Dry Fly Skills Series #3 Aug 11, 2024

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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Dry Fly Skills #2 --Drag Free Drifts and Animation Aug 04, 2024

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.
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Dry Fly Skills #1 -- When and Why Jul 28, 2024

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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Prospecting for Trout Jun 21, 2024

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 Airing of Grievances -- Three Jun 16, 2024

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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Set the Hook! All About Different Hooksets Jun 09, 2024

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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The Further You Walk, the More You Leave Behind (a Story) Jun 02, 2024

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
RA-pfbcregulations@pa.gov

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

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The Troubles With Club Fishing May 26, 2024

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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How Woodsmanship Catches Fish May 18, 2024

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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Boat Fishing -- How Everything Changes When Floating a River May 12, 2024

We're here to talk about floating down a river, about why we like boats, how floating is so much different than wading, how some opportunities are uniquely available and how others are shut off too.
It’s the companionship and teamwork, along with the effort and commitment required to get down the river. It’s about a good lunch and friendly banter as much as the novel approach to tactics and the pure advantage of accessing more water.
From the put in to the take out, boating changes everything. It’s a wonderful way to learn a river and to connect with friends.
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | We Watched Daylight Race the River Downstream
READ: Troutbitten | Slow Float
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What's the Deal With Emergers? May 05, 2024

Like anything else in fishing, you can take the emerger concept just about as far as you want. You get technical, or you can spin up a couple wet flies, float them in the film, and keep things simple.
I’ve often argued that you don’t have to match the hatch when fly fishing. I think it’s a fun approach, but having exactly the right shade of dubbing to match the most prevalent insect is rarely necessary. Most often, you can fish caddis imitations during a mayfly hatch and do pretty well, because there’s a lot more food in a river than what our eyes see at the surface.
But we don’t ignore the hatches either. Far from it. In fact, we look forward to these events, anticipating the response from the trout, observing their behaviors day to day, and often using flies and tactics that imitate the emergence. From the bottom to the top, when the bugs transform from water born to airborne, meeting them with an emerger often sells the presentation.
Our conversation in this episode covers those emergences.
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | You Don't Have to Match the Hatch
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Night Fishing and the Mouse Emerger Concept
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Category | Dry Fly Fishing

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The Ethics of Guiding -- More Harm Than Good? Apr 27, 2024

My friends join me for a tough discussion. What are the benefits of guiding? What are the good things? How does it help anglers? Does it actually help people and make our sport or this fishing scene better, or does it just put money in the guide’s pocket and put more pressure on the trout?
Also, what kinds of guided trips are there? Different types of guided trips are offered across the country. Some cater to the first timer, introducing new anglers to the fly rod. Other trips feature education first, with a strong focus on refining the tactics for more experienced anglers. Many guides sell the river itself. Others sell trips by promising big trout. Some guide for clubs with stocked and fed fish, sometimes catering to lodges with clients that are not anglers, but vacationing guests where fly fishing is just another highlighted activity.
When does guiding trout water do more harm that good? There are no right or wrong answer to all of this, but we’re here to work through a few things — to think about all of it and to have the conversation that others might avoid.
Resources
READ: Troutbitten | Respect the Spots! A fisherman's perspective on friendship and spot burning
READ: Troutbitten | Fish Hard
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Angler Pressure TWO -- What It Does to the Fishing

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Fishing Through a Caddis Hatch Apr 21, 2024

Two years ago we did a full episode on Hatches. That discussion was a broad, overarching look at how the bugs — the insects that trout eat — dictate many of the habits of trout. We argued that knowing the hatches, following the emergence and being ready for these events is not only a lot of fun, it drastically improves your success on the water. Trout don’t miss the hatches, and neither should we.
At the same time, none of us here think the pattern matters all that much — usually. While we all admit that a color change or certainly the fly size can make a big difference, we all agree that what a trout eats most frequently is a great presentation.
This episode is about those presentations.
We consider the full life cycle of a caddis: the pre-hatch, the emergence, the egg laying phase and death. And at each of those stages, we ask what the bugs are doing, how the trout respond and how we can imitate the bugs to fool a trout.
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The Stages of an Angler Apr 14, 2024

How many times have we heard the supposed stages of an angler? First you want to catch a fish, then you want to catch a bunch of fish, then you want to catch a big fish, then you want to catch the toughest fish, and then you just want to catch a fish again.
This is a clever way to look at a life on the water. But is it really true? This is our topic.
We also expand on some other stages that anglers go through, and we think about the beginning stage — why it’s so hard at first, how anglers get held back, and how, sadly, the majority of anglers probably never get a whole lot further than those early stages.
Resources
READ: Troutbitten | Life on the Water
READ: Troutbitten | Two Sides to Every Fishermen
READ: Troutbitten | The Dirty Fisherman
READ: Troutbitten | How to Stay in the Fly Fishing Game for a Lifetime
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Feed Drop -- Troutbitten On The Untangled Podcast Apr 07, 2024

I was happy to be a guest on the Untangled Podcast with Spencer Durrant. We talked mostly about Nymphing tactics for beginners. We also talked a little about a fishing life and the fly fishing industry.

You can listen to that full episode here in the Troubitten Podcast feed
Follow the Untangled Podcast hosted by the Venturing Fly Company YouTube channel.
https://youtu.be/AWoagPJ0JPc?si=EjXoavzV8pGg9NEI

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Catching Up -- Patagonia, Leader Sales, Live Streams, Beer, Hosted Trips and More Mar 13, 2024

In this interim episode, Becky and I look back on what has happened in 2024 so far, and we set the table for what’s to come. We talk about Patagonia, videos, articles, podcasts, livestream podcasts, one-on-one sessions, hosted trips, guide season, the next Troutbitten Leader Sale and a Troutbitten beer.
Thank you for being part of this Troutbitten community.
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | One-On-One Virtual Skills Sessions
READ: Troutbitten | The First Troutbitten LIVESTREAM Podcast On YouTube
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Critical Nymphing Concepts #7 -- Animating the Nymph Feb 25, 2024

Here we are with our final installment, part seven of our series on critical nymphing concepts.
Almost all of our focus throughout this series has been on achieving dead drifts. We aim for natural looks that imitate what the real bugs do most. So we try to stay in one lane, we try to find the right speed and the right depth. Most of the articles on Troutbitten about nymphing also assume we’re aiming for dead drifts. It's the same with the videos. Why? Because dead drifts usually work best.
But in this episode, our topic is getting something other than a dead drift. How can we add animation to a nymph that seals the deal? Something that either grabs a trout’s attention and attracts it to the fly . . . or the chosen animation actually mimics something natural that the real bugs are doing at the moment.
We spend so much time refining presentations and trying to achieve perfectly natural dead drifts that moving the nymph a bit, animating the fly, is liberating. It’s fun.
But moving our nymph at random, moving it accidentally or relabeling drag as enticing motion doesn’t work so well. Stripping or swinging a nymph like a streamer doesn't work so well. More often, subtle motions add an extra spark to the presentation. These are mostly additions to a dead drift, and not a full abandonment of the dead drift principles we try so hard to achieve.
This is our topic for part seven, this season finale.
Resources
READ: Troutbitten | Streamer Presentations -- The Crossover Technique
READ: Troutbitten | The First Troutbitten LIVESTREAM Podcast On YouTube
READ: Troutbitten | The Big Rig -- The Two Plus One -- Two Nymphs and a Streamer
READ: Troutbitten | Streamer Presentations -- The Super Pause
READ: Troutbitten | Natural vs Attractive Presentation

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Critical Nymphing Concepts #6 -- Line on the Water Feb 18, 2024

This episode is about tension and slack. It's about how we manage fly lines and leaders on the water while nymphing.
Remember, each of these episodes — all of these concepts — apply to all styles of nymphing. So we might choose to lay line on the water with an indicator rig (and sometimes mend it) just like we might choose to float the sighter with a tight line rig.
My friend, Austin Dando, joins me to walk through the tight line advantage of keeping line off the water and what happens when we give that up. Fishing greater distances often requires laying line on the water, and how we manage that line, how we plan for it, makes all the difference between a great drift and a poor one.
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | The Tight Line Advantage Across Fishing Styles
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Fly Fishing the Mono Rig -- Versatility and The Tight Line Advantage Taken Further
READ: Troutbitten | Fly Casting -- Five Tips for Better Mending
VIDEO: Troutbitten | The Hop Mend
READ: Troutbitten | Regarding Classic Upstream Nymphing
READ: Troutbitten | You Need Turnover
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Critical Nymphing Concepts #5 -- Weight: The Fundamental Factor Feb 11, 2024

This discussion is all about weight. It’s the fundamental factor in nymphing. Because as soon as you choose to leave the surface, once you clip off the dry fly and fish anything else . . . weight is necessary.
Even wet flies have some weight. They’re designed not to float but to break the surface with at least the weight of the hook. With streamers, of course, weight is required to get the flies to whatever depth is necessary — and we do that with all types of weight, whether that’s a sinking line, split shot or weight built into the fly.
Then of course, with nymphs, we need weight, just like streamers, to get the flies to some kind of depth and actually fish them.
You can’t avoid it. Weight is the fundamental factor. Meaning, it’s probably more important than the fly itself. More weight or less is more consequential than what dubbing, feather or ribbing is wound around the hook shank.
We use all types of weight, and there are good reasons for all of these: tungsten beads, split shot and drop shot. Our topic is how each of these weight choices, along with the decision for more or less weight, helps us match river situations and meet the trout with a presentation they're looking for.
This is a technical topic that is built on many Troutbitten resources that have come before it . . .
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | No Limits -- Use Every Type of Weight Available
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Weight In Fly Fishing: Beads, Shot, Sinking Lines and More
READ: Troutbitten | Series | Drop Shot Nymphing on a Tight Line Rig
VIDEO: Troutbitten | Don't Hate the Split Shot - Have a System
READ: Troutbitten | Pattern vs Presentation
READ: Troutbitten | Split Shot vs Weighted Flies

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Three Ways to Dead Drift -- Critical Nymphing Concepts #4 Feb 04, 2024

This episode features what might be the most important concept of nymph fishing. There are three different ways to present a dead drifted nymph to the trout -- three ways to imitate what trout commonly see from the naturals. While trout eat dry flies in one plane (the surface) the complexity of currents underneath introduces more difficulty, simply because trout might be looking for food in multiple ways.
My friend, Austin Dando, and I break down one of my favorite topics in fly fishing -- the three ways to dead drift nymphs: bottom bouncing, strike zone rides and tracking the flies.
All three of these methods are viable. All of them produce. A nymphing angler dedicated to improving should consider what level to focus the presentation and how those nymphs might best look natural within that level.
This is a technical topic that is built on many Troutbitten resources that have come before it . . .
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Nymphs: Three Ways to Dead Drift: Bottom Bounce, Strike Zone Rides, Tracking
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Locating the Strike Zone -- Tight Line Skills #6
READ: Troutbitten | The Water Column and the All-Important Strike Zone
READ: Troutbitten | Drop Shot Nymphing Series
READ: Troutbitten | Tight Line and Euro Nymphing: Leading vs Tracking vs Guiding the Flies
READ: Troutbitten | That's Not a Dead Drift
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Suspender Advantages -- Critical Nymphing Concepts #3 Jan 28, 2024

In the third part of this critical nymphing concepts series, we consider the advantages and disadvantages of fishing with a suspender.
We cover the following

Indicator styles and why the type matters
Not all indicators are created equal
Choosing tight line or indy, or combing both
What you lose by adding and indy
What you gain by adding an indy
Complications of an indy style
What is commonly missed when using an indy
Reading an indicator
A few more tips . . .

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | It's a Suspender, Not Just an Indicator
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Nymphing Tight Line to the Indicator Style -- Tight Line Advantage to the Indicator
READ: Troutbitten | The Backing Barrel Might Be the Best Sighter Ever
READ: Troutbitten | Tight Line to the Indicator -- a Mono Rig Variant
READ: Troutbitten | Your Indicator is Too Big
READ: Troutbitten | The Dorsey Yarn Indicator -- Everything You Need to Know and a Little More

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More Influence or Less? -- Critical Nymphing Concepts #2 Jan 21, 2024

In this second episode of our Critical Nymphing Concepts series, my friend, Austin Dando, and I walk through the idea — the concept — of having more influence or less over the flies. Meaning, who or what is in charge of the nymphs? Is it you or the river? And do we want to have more influence over the flies or less? What looks more natural? Which choice — which method — fools more trout?
We cover the following

What is influence and what's in charge of the nymph's path?
Does less influence look more natural?
How weight and tippet diameter relate to influence.
Why taking dry fly principles to the nymphs underneath leads to big mistakes.
How slack hurts or helps the drift.
The principle of slipping contact.
Good and bad things about more influence.
Good and bad things about less influence.
Better systems for each method.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Tight Line and Euro Nymphing: Tracking the Flies
PODCAST: Troutbitten | #7, Nine Essential Skill for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing | Guiding the Flies
READ: Troutbitten | Tight Line and Euro Nymphing: Leading vs Tracking vs Guiding
READ: Troutbitten | Slipping Contact -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
READ: Troutbitten | Tight Line Nymphing With an Indicator
READ: Troutbitten | Your Indicator Is Too Big

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Critical Nymphing Concepts #1 -- The Three Questions Jan 14, 2024

This Season Ten skills series is about the critical concepts of nymphing. In seven episodes this season, we're covering the what and the why of nymphing. The techniques we work on are physical skills necessary to get great drifts and fool fish. But these nymphing concepts are about putting a reason behind everything we do.
Why do we make the changes? How do we adapt to meet the preferences of trout for the moment? This is the other side of the coin. And once you put all of this together, you have a full picture of what it takes to regularly catch trout on a nymph.
Importantly, these concepts apply to all nymphing styles, tight line, indicator or otherwise.
Episode One covers the three most important questions in nymphing.
My friend Austin Dando joins me this season to walk through these concepts.
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Three Nymphing Questions to Solve Any Problem
PODCAST: Troutbitten | #1, Nine Essential Skill for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing | Angle and Approach
READ: Troutbitten | The Water Column, and the All-Important Strike Zone
READ: Troutbitten | When Drifting Low Isn't Low Enough

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A Troutbitten Glossary Dec 24, 2023

For this final episode of Season Ten and of 2023, we wanted to have some fun. In this episode we walk through a bunch of Troutbitten . . . terms, words, sayings, phrases . . . and talk about what all of this means. Let’s call it a Troutbitten glossary.
If you’re lucky enough to have your own group of long-time fishing friends, then I’m sure you have your own phrases too — your own idioms and ways of talking about things. It’s all a lot of fun.
Long-time listeners understand what it means when Austin says he could have caught a lot more trout — if he really wanted to. Most of you also understand what it means to play bartender for a friend, and you know how many inches a trout should be to fall under the Troutbitten classification, Whiskey.
Our lingo is part of the Troutbitten culture. Here we go . . .

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | History
PODCAST: Troutbitten | The One With Sloop, Stories with a Fishing Friend S7 Ep12
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Fishing Buddies S5 Ep12

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Bad Habits That Hurt Dec 17, 2023

We’re here to talk about bad habits — things that aren’t personal style but just bad form. These are bad habits that come with a consequence. These are, quite simply, mistakes. And in every case, there’s a much better way to do things.
We meet anglers from all over the country and the world, we often see these bad habits from good anglers. And inevitably, these are some of the key things that hold people back from going further — from catching more trout.
These are deal breakers -- bad habits that come with consequences, and habits that, once changed, open up new avenues and better opportunities.
Our intention here is to be helpful and not critical. We want to point out some of the worst habits that we see most often — the mistakes that a lot of good anglers still make and that hold them back. And these are mistakes — it’s almost right and wrong.
I always say there are no experts in fly fishing. So we are not experts. But all of us here are experienced. In fact, we’re experienced enough to have gone through many of these bad habits on our own and have corrected them. Our goal is to share a few of these habits and highlight what might go unnoticed by a pretty wide segment of our friends.
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | All the Things
PODCAST: Troutbitten | The Inefficiencies that Waste Your Fishing Time - S3,Ep2
READ: Troutbitten | How Many Effective Fishing Minutes?
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Fishing With a Camera Dec 10, 2023

This one is about taking photos and videos on the water, about camera gear, about keeping that gear safe but available, and even a few tips on taking a good fish selfie.
Photography is something that we see most anglers get into, at least a little bit. I’ve often described the fish selfie as the grand compromise of catch and release fishing. We don’t kill the trout and take it home to show it off to friends anymore. But we do want to share some of the best trout and our most memorable situations on the river. So we take photos and videos.
We plan for these trips, we look forward to them, we tie flies, we think about leaders, buy gear and read books about the region and the tactics. And when we finally get our boots in the water, we want to document these experiences — especially when the stars align and something remarkable happens.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Fishing With a Camera
READ: Troutbitten | All the Things
PODCAST: Troutbitten | How to Handle a Trout, S1 Ep2
READ: Troutbitten | Their Heart in Your Hands
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Our Favorite Rivers Dec 02, 2023

Some favorite rivers meander and roll through stunning scenery and enchanting tracts of wilderness. And most trout fishermen quickly realize that the pursuit of wild trout takes them into some of the most beautiful valleys on earth.
But some other favorite rivers run through towns or behind old factories. Maybe they’re paralleled by a highway or narrowly channeled by railroad tracks on either side. These places can be just as special, just as meaningful and treasured, for what they hold — for what they teach.
All of our favorite rivers have made an impact on who we are as a person — not just as an angler. Because, for so many fishermen, a home water is precisely that — a home. A place to rest. A place to seek comfort and rejuvenation. These rivers are places to share with those we love . . . or to seek an adventure alone.
Our favorite rivers are as integral to our experience as the rods, leaders, lines and tactics. They define our fishing, and they become part of our lives. In this episode, we share some history with these places and discuss what connects us to these moving waters.
Resources
READ: Troutbitten | The Secret
READ: Troutbitten | Right Here
PODCAST: Troutbitten | What to Love About Small Stream Fishing S7 Ep6
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Secrets and Spot Burning S3 Ep1
VIDEO: Troutbitten | The River Doesn't Owe You Anything

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What Works When and Why? -- Mono Rigs and Euro Nymphing Styles Nov 26, 2023

This episode is a conversation about tight line leader styles. We share what we like best, what works for each of us and what does not. This is Part Two for the podcast that we two weeks ago, titled, “Tight Line, High Stick, Euro Nymph, Mono Rig -- What's the Difference and How Did We Get Here?”
While that first episode laid out a history of tight line tactics, this conversation is focused on how we use these leaders. How do we fish the different leader builds for tight lining? What are the advantages and disadvantages of Standard, Thin and Micro-Thin Mono Rigs? What can we do with each of them?
My friends join me for a great discussion, full of deep experience and strong opinion.
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
READ: Troutbitten | What You're Missing By Following FIPS Competition Rules
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Coffee and Secrets (a story), and Catching Up Nov 19, 2023

Here we are in the middle of season nine, and we’re doing something a little different. This is like an intermission between sets.
My wife, Becky, is here, and we’ll catch up on a few Troutbitten things, like updates to the Recommended Gear page and the upcoming fall leader sale.
I also have a listener email to share that really gets to the heart of what we all love about being out there on the water.
And then, I read one of my favorite Troutbitten stories from the archives. It’s titled, Coffee and Secrets, and I think it strikes at a similar sentiment about the intangible motivations that keep us involved in a fishing life.
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Recommended Gear
SHOP: Troutbitten | Leaders
READ: Troutbitten | Design and Function of the Troutbitten Standard Mono Rig
READ: Troutbitten | Coffee and Secrets
READ: Troutbitten | Some Days are Diamonds, Some Days are Rocks
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Tight Line, High Stick, Euro Nymph, Mono Rig -- What's the Difference and How Did We Get Here? Nov 11, 2023

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

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The Stuff You Don't Need Nov 05, 2023

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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Turning Around the Toughest Days — How to Save a Slow Fishing Trip Oct 29, 2023

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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Trout Fishing and the Spawn Oct 22, 2023

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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How Has Fly Fishing Changed? Oct 15, 2023

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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Night Fishing for Trout -- Nymphs, Wets and Pushers Sep 24, 2023

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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Night Fishing for Trout -- Topwater, Emergers and Streamers Sep 17, 2023

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

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Night Fishing for Trout -- Planning and Adapting Locations and Tactics Sep 09, 2023

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.
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Night Fishing for Trout -- Swinging and Drifting Sep 03, 2023

We night fish with many different fly types: surface patterns, mouse emerges, streamers, wet flies, nymphs and Harvey Pushers. And all of these flies can be presented in two very different ways — drifting and swinging.
There’s a lot of variety within these two categories. There are many ways to do both. And every fly type may seem to have its best or most effective presentation, drifting or swinging, but when that’s not working, the first and easiest thing to do, before changing the fly type, is to simply change the direction the flies are fished, from swinging to drifting or vice versa.
Drifting is fishing the flies with the current. Swinging is fishing the flies against the current. In this episode, we consider the differences between the two and the advantage of each.
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Night Fishing
READ: Troutbitten | Streamer Presentations -- The Death Drift
READ: Troutbitten | Streamer Presentations -- The Deadly Slow Slide
READ: Troutbitten | Night Fishing for Trout -- Drifting and Swinging Flies
READ: Troutbitten | Night Fishing for Trout -- Backstory: Drifting and Swinging Flies
PODCAST: Troutbitten | An Introduction to Night Fishing for Trout -- S3, Ep14
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Night Fishing for Trout: Lights -- Natural and Artificial Aug 27, 2023

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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Night Fishing for Trout: People, Places and Things Aug 20, 2023

This season is a skills series about fishing for trout after the sun goes down. And for the next six episodes, we’ll break down the night game into an outline that roughly follows the topics of a series that I published on Troutbitten, titled, Night Fishing for Trout.
My night fishing friends are joining me for this episode -- Josh, Trevor and Austin. These are the only night fishing companions I’ve ever had. Because the truth is, most anglers simply will not fish in the dark very often. But these guys do. And it takes a certain kind of angler to pursue trout into the night.
What kind of angler fishes after dark? What are their motivations and rewards? That's our first topic in this episode.
Where does night fishing for trout happen? Where are the best places to catch trout after dark? That's our second topic in this episode.
And lastly, what kind of gear and tactics will we cover in this series? What are some of the odd things about night fishing we might encounter?
This season, the six-part Night Fishing for Trout Skills skills series from Troutbitten, is an in depth look into the game of fishing for trout after dark. We hope you enjoy it.
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Night Fishing
READ: Troutbitten | Night Fishing for Trout -- Fight or Flight
PODCAST: Troutbitten | An Introduction to Night Fishing for Trout -- S3, Ep14
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Night Fishing and the Mouse Emerger Concept -- S1, Ep3
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Summer Catch Up '23 -- The Fishing, The Shop, Videos and More Jul 29, 2023

We’re in between podcast season, and it's time for an update about what’s going on with Troutbitten. My wife, Becky, joins me to talk about the past, the present and the near future.
The summer Troutbitten Shop leader sale launches on Monday morning, July 31st. All Troutbitten leaders will be back in stock: Harvey, Standard, Thin and Micro Thin Mono Rigs, Full Kits and Standard Sighters. Also in the shop are new hats and tee shirts in collaboration with New Trail Brewing Company.
My Guide Schedule for fall of '24 has been full for a while now. And my spring season is a little over half booked up. I will open dates for fall '24 on September 20th, next month. Bill and Austin will have available dates for this fall pretty soon. So if you are still looking for a date this fall, be in touch.
The Troutbitten YouTube channel continues to grow fast. I've spent a lot of time learning to film and edit, and I'm working on a Fish and Film series that should be out by the beginning of October. These are first-person-style videos that also mix in other camera angles. These are videos that simply show the fishing and the experience of being on the river, highlighting the decisions made to be versatile and to meet fish on their own terms. Josh Darling and I will continue to publish videos every other week. Those videos are in one of these categories: Troutbitten Tips, Fish and Film, Troutbitten Fly Box, Fishing the Mono Rig.
The Troutbitten Podcast continues with Season 8, beginning on August 20th. This is a six part Skills Series covering Night Fishing for Trout. After that, we’ll take a couple weeks off until Season 9 of the Troutbitten Podcast begins on October 15 and runs until Christmas time.
Resources

SHOP: Troutbitten | The Troutbitten Shop
GUIDE: Troutbitten | Troutbitten Guided Fishing Trips
VIDEOS: Troutbitten | Troutbitten Videos
PODCASTS: Troutbitten | The Troutbitten Podcast

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The One With Sloop - Stories With a Troutbitten Friend Jul 02, 2023

Every Troutbitten regular knows about Sloop. We’ve referred to our friend on nearly every podcast, especially in the last few seasons, as it’s become a running contest to see how we can sneak in a Sloop John B reference.
So we’re excited to have John here. Because what we all find so rewarding about this life on the water are the friendships. We form deep bonds with people because they are . . . fishermen. Because they too are captivated by the trout, by the places trout take us and by the refinement of tactics required to catch a wild trout.
Our friends are at the heart of it all. And really, that’s what we’re adding in tonight — another friend, and possibly the deepest friend to Troutbitten, if we consider how all this started. Sloop tied it all together from the beginning.
Here are good stories and fun with our friend, John Burgos (Sloop).
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | How It Started
READ: Troutbitten | Fishing With Friends
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The Airing of Grievances 2 Jun 25, 2023

We're back for the annual airing of grievances, here to call out what's wrong in the fly fishing industry.
Some of our grievances are lighthearted silliness that doesn't really matter, but it’s fun to roast or to call out. But there’s another kind of grievance too. Because a lot of the stuff going on in the fly fishing industry isn’t really good for anyone — or maybe it’s only good for a few. Because the industry — and by that I mean you, me, the fly fishing companies, and all the media around it — picks up trends. Then it pushes and pulls anglers in that direction. And sometimes, what is served up doesn’t benefit the average angler. It’s not helpful.
So there are problems. And this episode is for highlighting some of the worst. Because it's fair to call balls and strikes, and because it helps to acknowledge that things could be better and try to make a change.
Resources
PODCAST: Troutbitten | The Airing of Grievances, S3, Ep13

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Why We All Love Big Trout Jun 18, 2023

This episode is about big trout -- what they mean to us, why we chase them, and how catching a top tier wild trout often leaves a bookmark in the story of our fishing lives.
We love big trout because they give us the shakes. Because they elude us. Because they are rare. And because fooling a top tier trout serves as an accomplishment that we know comes from persistence and from knowledge gained over seasons of fishing.
Time. That’s what it always comes down to. Because big trout don’t show up every day. The rarity of the occasion often puts the capstone on a special trip, and these fish serve as icons in our history. They’re something to look back on, to share with trusted friends, or divide part of our life into what occurred before a big fish and what happened after.
Because pursuing legendary fish takes us on a journey like none other, leading us into places unimagined and providing moments that bring a vibrancy to our daily life.
READ: Troutbitten | The Shakes, and Why We Love Big Trout
READ: Troutbitten | What Does It Take to Catch a Big Trout?
READ: Troutbitten | Some Days Are Diamonds, Some Days Are Rocks
READ: Troutbitten | Wild vs Stocked -- The Hierarchy of Trout in Pennsylvania

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That's Not Fly Fishing -- What It Is, What It Isn't, Who Cares Jun 11, 2023

“That’s Not Fly Fishing.” How many times have you heard this at the bar or seen someone write it on social media? When the way you are fishing isn’t up to someone’s standards, when it doesn’t align with their own preferences, it seems that this frequent argument comes out easily — That’s not fly fishing!
Of course, there is no single definition for what fly fishing is. The fly rod is a tool. Flies are the bait. And how anglers choose to use them is where personal creativity comes in. It’s that inventiveness and room for imagination that makes fly fishing so attractive to us in the first place.
How can we do things better? How can we use these tools to catch more trout?
Every angler draws their own lines for what fly fishing is. And this episode is not just for talking through what fly fishing might be and where each of us might draw the lines. Instead, we’d like to acknowledge the absurdity of the lines themselves — the decisions we make about what is fly fishing and what is not.
How can someone be so adamantly against tight line tactics, but gladly fish a bobber and split shot all day? This makes no sense.
How can you be all in on tungsten beads but claim that adding split shot makes it not fly fishing?
Likewise, how can you be against a ball jighead on a streamer but have a full box of dumbell eyes? Is it because Bob Clouser told everyone it’s okay?
These absurdities, and these questions are what we’re here to talk about tonight. There’s a lot to this one, and we have plenty of conversations with a full house.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Where the Lines Are Drawn
READ: Troutbitten | Fly Fishing the Mono Rig Q&A -- Lines, Rigging and the Skeptics
READ: Troutbitten | No Limits -- Use Every Type of Weight Available

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This Is The End -- A Story Jun 04, 2023

This episode is a brief pause in season seven of the podcast to share something that I published to Troutbitten in the early years.
The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of emotion and activity. The days were filled with energy and adrenaline, as my youngest son's Little League baseball team won the league championship. They battled through two weeks of playoffs and took the title in the last series, where every game was decided in the final inning.
I've coached Little League for nine years, and this was my last. My youngest son is twelve, and this was his senior year of Little League.
To see it all end in such dramatic fashion was a gift. But the biggest emotions, from caring about something so deeply, are always a gift, whether that's in victory or defeat, love or loss.
When the Knights were on the edge of winning or losing the championship series, the day before the final game, I kept thinking about an experience I had with one of the largest trout I've ever lost. Years ago, I wrote that into a story on Troutbitten.
This episode is a l reading of a story that I first published on July 15, 2015, titled, This Is The End.
It's also a little about baseball.
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | This Is The End
READ: Troutbitten | Some Days Are Diamonds, Some Days Are Rocks
READ: Troutbitten | Category | Stories
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Vest, Pack or Something Else? Carrying Your Gear May 28, 2023

What’s the best way to carry your gear? Should you use a vest, a chest pack, hip pack, sling pack or something else?
How you choose to carry gear is a personal and situational choice. It has everything to do with what you need to carry, and how far you like to walk. Do you need to carry extra layers and a raincoat, and how many tactics do you want to be ready for? Streamers, nymphs, dry flies and wets . . . or just dries?
We have more choices than ever before, but it pays to think about efficiency when selecting a carrying system. Because a big part of being versatile on the water is having easy access to whatever you need, right when you need it.
We Cover the Following

Best to have one system or many?
Carrying a net, water, and other heavy items
Minimalist setups
The disaster of a sling pack
The benefit of everything up front
Storage and convenience
Large pockets or many pockets
What about getting wet?
. . . and much more

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Pack or Vest? Why I'm a Vest Guy
READ: Troutbitten | 100 Day Gear Review -- Simms G3 Guide Vest
LISTEN: Troutbitten | PODCAST -- The Efficiencies that Waste Your Fishing Time
LISTEN: Troutbitten | PODCAST -- The Versatile Angler

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Talking About Tippet -- Size, Strength, Length and Rigging May 21, 2023

The leader might be the most important piece of gear that we have -- more consequential than the rod, the fly line, or even the fly itself. And of course, at the tail end of the leader is the tippet.
All anglers must make decisions about tippet every day. What size and strength? What type of tippet? And how long should the tippet section be? Because, what might seem like a small decision, can have a big impact on the presentation of the fly, leading to failure or success.
Some of these decisions are almost right and wrong. Meaning, there’s a way to do it that works and a way that just does not work. However, there’s a lot more room for personal preference, style and situations in these tippet decisions than there is right or wrong.
In this episode, the Troutbitten crew talks through these tippet decisions around the scenarios of fishing streamers, fishing dry flies and fishing nymphs.
We Cover the Following

Fluorocarbon vs nylon
Fly size and tippet selection
The importance of flexibility in tippet
The importance of turnover in tippet
Dry fly leader tapers in the tippet section
Durability and abrasion resistance
Do you really need 8X?
Are trout leader shy?
Tippet selection for improved sink rate
. . . and more

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | The George Harvey Leader Design
READ: Troutbitten | Why You Might Not Need of the Crutch of 6X and Smaller Tippets
READ: Troutbitten | Fly Shop Fluorocarbon to Expensive? Try Invizx
READ: Troutbitten | You Need Turnover

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What to Love About Small Stream Fishing May 14, 2023

This podcast is about small stream fishing — specifically, what we love about the places, the fish, the tactics and the experience of fishing smaller trout waters.
These are trout streams that are no wider than the dirt road that you drove in on. And for every blue ribbon trout river, for every destination water that is raved about in the guidebooks and makes every angler’s bucket list, there are numerous tributaries to these main rivers that are mostly overlooked. We see this everywhere we go — small streams get no respect. They’re mostly an afterthought.
We fish small streams for the adventure, for the exploration and the experience. We fish smalls streams in search of wild trout in wild places. And we fish small streams because the challenges of fly fishing these waters teaches us everything we ever need to know about fishing bigger rivers.
We Cover the Following

Finding solitude
Reaching back into our own history
Wild and native fish
Leader tips for small waters
Rod lengths for small waters
The purity of experience
Cooler temps, with more shade
Willing trout in smaller waters
Scenery
. . . and more

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Right Here
READ: Troutbitten | Where it All Started
READ: Troutbitten | Hardbody
READ: Troutbitten | VIDEO - The River Doesn't Owe You Anything

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Good Wading, Better Fishing -- How Wading Skills Change Everything May 07, 2023

This episode is about wading a river. Good wading. Better wading. Confident wading. Because, for a river angler, nothing is more important. Good wading is not just walking from place to place, it's an almost constant, fluid motion, and fly fishing requires great footwork along the way.
I meet a lot of anglers who approach a river all wrong. They wade into a spot, set up, and then cast to every piece of water they can reach (at all angles) before picking up and wading again to repeat the process. But this is rarely the best approach.
Consider the variables: There’s a distance at which you are most accurate. There’s a light angle that is most advantageous. There’s a certain water type where trout are feeding more agreeably. So the best river anglers move, almost constantly, setting themselves up to best approach the next great piece of water.
As wading anglers, we must wade efficiently. It’s that simple. And good wading skills change the game like nothing else. When you are comfortable and confident in the water — when you can easily move to the other side just because the light angles are better, the river opens up in a whole new way.
The Troutbitten guys join me to walk through some of our best wading tips.
We Cover the Following

Should anglers move while casting?
Why does good wading make such a difference?
Wading, not walking
Constant motion
Reading the water
Body positioning
Polarized lenses for good wading
The best boots for wading
Boot studs and traction
The right wading staff setup
. . . and more.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | It's Wading, Not Walking
READ: Troutbitten | We Wade
READ: Troutbitten | Tips for Better Wading and More Trout
READ: Troutbitten | VIDEO - The Only Way to Carry a Wading Staff

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High Water, Dirty Water, Muddy Water Apr 30, 2023

What can we do when the rains come, when the snow melts, or when the floodgates open?
Rivers rise in many different ways. From quick and heavy summer thunderstorms, to the steady light rain that remains for days at a time. There’s the gradual release of melting snowpack and then heavy rains on that same snow that pushes high volumes of cold water into the rivers. Then too, there’s the generation of hydroelectric dams where the river might triple in flow, on a schedule.
In all of these ways, rivers rise. And the responses from trout can be different in each case. Yet, as anglers, there are some things about our approach to high water situations that always hold true.
Muddy water is miserable. But to us, dirty water is an invitation into some of our favorite tactics on a fly rod.
These conditions are an opportunity. Because a changing river system offers trout new opportunities. It breaks trout from their routines and can have them feeding fast. However, as anglers who are approaching high water conditions, we need to assess those changes and see the river anew.
High water can be a wonderful time to be out there. At flood stage? Or in the near-zero visibility of muddy water? Probably not. But there’s a wide range of conditions that exist between what most anglers see as perfect and then . . . blown out. And for many of us, we’d rather fish on the high side of things than the low side.
We Cover the Following

What is muddy and what is dirty?
Do trout feed more in high water?
How does high water help the angler?
How can we avoid high water?
When is high water too high?
How do we change tactics to approach high water?
Is it better on the way up or the way down?
. . . and more

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Dirty Water -- Tight Targets
READ: Troutbitten | River and Rain
READ: Troutbitten | A List of Fisherman's Excuses
READ: Troutbitten | Fish It Anyway

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What Is More Difficult? Fishing Dry Flies or Nymphs? Apr 23, 2023

We have a fun conversation for this episode, about what’s more difficult — nymphs or dry flies. This is not a talk about which tactic is better. And this discussion isn’t even about which one we might like more.
What is more difficult? Nymphs or dries? This is a valuable exercise and an important discussion . . .
Just because nymphing might usually produce more trout, doesn’t mean it is easier. And how many trout we catch on each style is not the point. Try getting true, convincing dead drifts on a nymph. It is, quite simply, harder to achieve than a dry fly, because you can’t see success on the invisible flies underneath, and because the complexity of currents is far more intricate in three dimensions.
But many people just don’t take it that far with nymphing. They think their drifts are good enough, because they caught a few fish (maybe more than they did on dries.) But excellent nymphing requires excellent effort. And a lot more trout can be caught by acknowledging that kind of difficulty. The ceiling is high. And realizing that is the value of this discussion.
We Cover the Following

The confusing boundaries of this conversation
Why anglers are protective of what they like best
How that holds an angler back
Tight line complexities
Dry fly complexities
Where bias comes from
A few streamer thoughts
. . . and more

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | The Nymph Angler is Sustainable
READ: Troutbitten | The George Harvey Leader Design
READ: Troutbitten | That's Not a Dead Drift
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Find Your Rabbit Hole
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Angler Pressure TWO -- What It Does to the Fishing Apr 16, 2023

This is the second episode of our two part discussion on angler pressure. Last time, we talked about how fishing pressure affects the fish — how they respond to more fishermen placing more casts and drifts in the waters around them — how trout change, both short term and long term.
And now, we’re building on those thoughts and offering some solutions. Because if trout are adapting their habits in response to us, then we must modify our own approach to stay one step ahead of the fish.
I used that phrase in the last podcast a couple of times too. And it’s a good way to think about it. Our fishing is based on fooling a trout. What are they looking to eat? How can we attract them to a fly and then convince them to eat it, right? And while you might have the methods and flies necessary to fool your local trout right now, it might not work just a few years from now. Because trout and the rivers they live in are always changing. So our approach must keep changing too. It’s just another aspect of trout fishing that makes it all so wonderfully complicated.
It’s also why we like to fish for wild trout . . .
We Cover the Following

Water selection
Finding fresh fish
Wild vs Stocked response to angler pressure
How long until a trout resets from angler pressure
Genetically passing on the effects of angler pressure
Presentations, convinced or curious?
Patterns, natural or attractive?
. . . and more

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Front Ended -- Can We Stop Doing This to Each Other?
READ: Troutbitten | Natural vs Attractive Presentations
READ: Troutbitten | Why Everyone Fishes the Same Water and What to Do About It
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Rude On the River -- Front Ended and the Golden Rule
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Angler Pressure ONE -- What It Does to the Fish Apr 09, 2023

Season 7 of the Troutbitten Podcast begins with a two-part discussion on angler pressure. This is a big one. It’s a topic that everyone in the fishing world loves to talk about. People complain about angler pressure, and they have theories about how it changes things.
In this episode, we discuss how angler pressure affects the fish. And for the next episode, the topic will be how angler pressure affects the fishing. One topic sets up a good conversation of the other.
Angler pressure probably isn’t going to trend the other way. For most of us, more casts are made to the waters we fish, by more anglers than ever before. Because there are more fishermen, just as there are more runners, golfers and bikers. Every sport these days has better access to information about techniques, about where and when to go, and there’s specialized gear that is easily available and fun to buy.
We Cover the Following

Trout selectivity
Feeding patterns
Migration
Growth rates
Trout conditioning
Grouping up or spreading out
Mortality rates
. . . and more

Resources

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Fish It Anyway -- A Story Mar 25, 2023

Troutbitten is about the pursuit of fishing tactics. It’s about discovering new techniques and improving our skills. We don’t want to hope something will happen out there. We try to make it happen. And that element of fly fishing, where there’s always something new to try, is what is so attractive to those of us who dedicate much of our lives to the river.
But there’s another side to this love of pursuing trout. And I once wrote it down in an article this way:
"There are two sides to every fisherman: one that simply enjoys being on the water (hoping to catch a fish), and the other that desperately wants to know how to put more fish in the net. These two parts find an internal balance inside every long-term angler that I know."
Among the nearly one-thousand articles published on Troutbitten, I strive to reflect this balance. The Stories category of the website carries the heart and soul of this project. And if I were limited to writing stories or tactical pieces only, I would no doubt hold on to the stories. I love this kind of writing.
This episode is a reading of a story that I first published on February 23, 2022, titled, Fish It Anyway . . .
Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Fish It Anyway
READ: Troutbitten | Category | Stories
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Catching Up -- Spring 2023 Mar 19, 2023

Season Seven will begin on April 10th. But in between seasons, I want to catch you up on a few things that are going on with Troutbitten.
Just a few years ago, Troutbitten was the website only. I wrote and published articles three times a week. Now it’s a multi-media company with many branches — there’s the podcast, the videos, the online shop, hosted events and, of course, the guide business.
Here's what's going on in the Troutbitten world . . .

Resources

VIDEO: Troutbitten | Mono Rigs and Euro Leaders -- Micro Thin or Standard?
SHOP: Troutbitten | The Troutbitten Shop
PODCASTS: Troutbitten | Podcast Home

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Winter Fly Fishing Skill #8 -- Full Crew Conversation with Stories and Tactics Mar 05, 2023

Here we are at the end of Season 6 -- the Troutbitten Winter Skills Series. This is episode 8 of the series, and I’m here with a full crew of friends to wrap things up, to hear some stories and dig into a few more tips for fly fishing in the winter months.
This is a great conversation with my best fishing friends. And this discussion is a nice endcap on a full season dedicated to fly fishing in the winter months.
We Cover the Following

More streamer tips
Rigging
Access issues
Winter preparation
More nymphing tips
Dry fly expectations
This winter vs other winters
. . . and more

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Fly Fishing in the Winter
READ: Troutbitten | Winter Fly Fishing -- Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
READ: Troutbitten | Fly Fishing in the Winter -- Ice In the Guides
READ: Troutbitten | Fly Fishing in the Winter -- Something Is Always Gonna Hurt
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Winter Fly Fishing Skills #7 -- Problems and Solutions Feb 26, 2023

My good friend, Austin Dando, joins me to address many of the troubles with winter fishing. In this Winter Skills Series, we’ve been through the tactics, with dry flies, streamers and nymphs. We've talked about how to stay warm out there, and we’ve saved this topic for last.
There are a host of reasons that anglers stay home in the winter. Some are legitimate -- there's no good solution for the problem, and you learn to deal with it the best you can. We talk about some of those. But other perceived problems really aren’t much of any issue at all, if you have a plan and a solution. We address a few of those too.
We Cover the Following

Ice in the guides
Access
Visibility
Regulating heat
Falling in
Freezing reels
Finding trout
Staying versatile
. . . and more

Resources

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Winter Fly Fishing Skills #6 -- Dry Fly Fishing in the Winter Feb 19, 2023

With this Troutbitten skills series on winter fishing. We’ve covered locations and expectations, where to find trout, and their wintertime habits. We did two full podcasts on staying warm from head to toe. We talked about fishing nymphs in these waters, streamers in these waters, and now we’re ready to talk about dry flies.
Specifically, this conversation is dedicated to what is different or unique about fishing dry flies in the winter, versus other times of the year.
My friend, Austin Dando, joins me for a great conversation about the floaters. This is a fun one.
We Cover the Following

Where to find rising trout
Regional and geographical variations
Expected hatches
Spring waters, tailwaters, freestoners
Water types for small flies
Hatches and patterns to match
Why local knowledge is supreme
The dead drift is everything
Presentation specifics
Leader adjustments
Fishing two dries
Fishing dry dropper in the winter
. . . and more

Resources

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Winter Fly Fishing Skills #5 -- Streamer Fishing in the Winter Feb 12, 2023

A streamer is not only a great change-up in the winter, it can be the best fly in your box - if you fish it well. There are some changes to make for a wintertime streamer approach, versus the warmer seasons. And those nuances in presentation make all the difference.
In this episode my friend, Austin Dando, and I share our best tips for fishing streamers in the winter.
We Cover the Following

Why, when, where and how
Gear for winter streamers
The flies and the lines
Benefits of fishing streamers in the winter
Presentation specifics
The Super-Pause
Low and slow?
Water types to focus on
How far will a trout move?
Stripping, jigging, drifting
. . . and more

Resources

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Winter Fly Fishing Skills #4 -- Nymphing in the Winter Feb 05, 2023

In this episode, we dive deep into winter nymphing strategies. Specifically, we highlight what is different and what is unique about nymphing in the winter versus other seasons.
With fewer hatches and with trout that are less willing to move for a fly, presenting a nymph to winter fish is often our best strategy. But having success requires a refined approach, and winter nymphing can seem like the toughest of the year. However, with a great presentation and a good understanding of where fish feed in colder water, trout can be caught. In fact, with these skills, winter nymphing may sometimes provide the fastest fishing of the year.
We Cover the Following

Why nymphing is our favorite winter tactic
Trout behaviors in cold water
More predictable water types, methods and fly selection
Low and slow?
Trout grouping and trout spreading out
Favorite rigs, tight line and indy
Favorite flies
Fly pairings and placement
Long drifts vs short drifts
Bobber holes

Resources

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Winter Fly Fishing Skills #3 -- Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes Jan 29, 2023

Here's a full podcast dedicated to staying warm, from head to toe. Because sometimes, staying warm and functional in the winter is far more important than the tactics. The cold becomes our biggest challenge.

This episode is about keeping the cold out, the heat in and fishing hard — all day long, in even the roughest weather. More specifically, it's about regulating your body heat while on the river.
In This Episode, We Cover the Following

How to regulate heat with layers and zippers
Staying mobile with flexible layers that hold in heat and let it go
Best materials for each zone, each layer
Hats, buffs, balaclavas, hoods
Dark colors and UV rays
Base layers, insulating layers, outer layers
Winters waders, winter boots
Socks
Heat packs
Battery solutions
. . . more

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Fly Fishing in the Winter
PODCAST: Troutbitten | S1 Ep 14 -- Winter Fly Fishing
READ: Troutbitten | Fly Fishing in the Winter -- Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes
READ: Troutbitten | Winter -- Something Is Always Going to Hurt
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Winter Fly Fishing Skills #2 -- Your Hands Jan 22, 2023

Cold. That is what defines winter fishing. We acknowledged in the last podcast that the cold — or really the inability to deal with it — is one of the main reasons anglers stay home.

So that’s why I think any in-depth discussion about winter fishing really has to start with how to stay warm. If you’re so cold that you can’t function normally, you just won’t fish well.
In next week’s podcast, we’re going to get deep into all of it — keeping your whole body warm, from head to toe. And not just warm, but ready for fishing, walking, wading and hiking a little. But in this episode, we’re starting with your hands — just your hands. Because there’s a lot to this. And maybe nothing is more important. We need warm hands -- working hands -- to fish in the coldest weather we encounter and stay out there, catching fish and meeting the challenges that winter fishing can bring.

In This Episode, We Cover the Following

Why fly anglers need two hands
The benefit of body heat
Something is still going to hurt
Keep your hands dry
Does everyone need gloves?
Types of gloves
Wool, fleece, nitrile
Heat packs (Hot Hands)
Using your pockets
Wrist bands

Resources

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Winter Fly Fishing Skills #1 -- The System and The Plan Jan 15, 2023

Season Six of the Troutbitten podcast begins. This is an eight part Skill Series about fly fishing in the winter months, and episode one is an overview of the series, along with details about where to find trout and in what water type we should expect them to eat. This episode is about our approach, with advice on time of day, fly strategy, covering water to suite the river and reading what the trout want for the moment.

I'm joined this season by my co-host, Austin Dando.

This Skills Series format is designed with less conversation and more detail.
Here Are the Winter Skills Series Episode Titles:

The System / The Plan
Your Hands
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
Nymphing in the Winter
Streamer Fishing in the Winter
Dry Flies, Midges, Emergers and More
Winter Problems, Winter Solutions
Roundtable Review

In This Episode, We Cover the Following

What does winter mean
Air temperatures and water temperatures
Enjoying the struggle
Cracking the winter code
Winter predictability
Where to expect trout
River types and water types
Finding feeding fish
Move and fish
Nymphing, streamers dry flies
Why don't more anglers fish in the winter?
The experience

Resources

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Fishing Buddies Dec 18, 2022

For the finale of Season Five of the Troutbitten Podcast and to wrap up 2022, we’re closing the curtain with an episode about fishing buddies — why we need them, how to find them and how to keep them for a lifetime.
We talk about what makes a good, bad or great fishing companion and share some experiences about a few would-be friendships gone wrong.

We Cover the Following

What qualities are needed in a great river companion?
How to meet new fishing friends
Why do we need fishing friends?
How many is too many?
How the Troutbitten crew came together
River friends who didn't work out
New Year's resolutions for 2023

Resources

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What to Trust Dec 11, 2022

One of the most captivating aspects of fly fishing is the seemingly endless variety of approaches, tactics and strategies that are available with a fly rod in our hands. There are so many things to learn that put trout in the net. And we quickly understand that there’s a lifetime of education for us if we want it.
So we combine our time on the water with conversations that we have with friends. We read books and articles. We watch videos. Maybe we listen to podcasts. And yes, we might even learn something from social media.
But with so many sources in easy reach, sorting through the flood of information can be overwhelming. How do you weigh the value or the validity of these sources? These days, conflicting information — conflicting opinions — seem to be right next to each other.
So . . . what should you trust? How do you sift through the overflowing bank of information and find what works?
That is what this episode is about.
We Cover the Following

Are there experts in fly fishing?
What is an expert?
Are the best anglers well known?
Who have you learned from the most?
How have you learned the most?
How can you pick out bad information?
Can we trust the trout?
Learning to trust yourself
Enjoying the experience

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Find Your Rabbit Hole
READ: Troutbitten | Who Knows Better Than You?
READ: Troutbitten | Explore - Learn -Return
READ: Troutbitten | What To Trust
READ: Troutbitten | Never Blame the Fish
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Strategies for Fly Fishing In the Wind Dec 04, 2022

Wind challenges our cast and changes our drifts more than any other element. It forces us to adapt our presentations, and it makes some of our favorite styles impossible. But there is always a way to beat it. There’s always a way to make things work. And no matter how rough the wind, there are strategies not just for fighting through it, but for fishing well and catching trout. That’s what this episode is about.
Here are our best strategies for fly fishing in windy conditions. Wind does not need to keep you home. And it doesn’t need to force you off the water. There are ways to deal with the difficulty of wind, to learn something from the challenge and sometimes even catch more trout than you might in calm conditions.
Most of the foul weather that bothers us just doesn't seem to affect the trout much. And if you learn to beat the wind and weather, or at least work with it and cut that edge, both success and solitude can be yours.

Forget the forecast. Just fish.

We Cover the Following

Do trout care if it's windy?
How does wind complicate fly fishing?
Fish closer
Low rod angles
How weight (in many forms) is what beats wind
Dry fly, streamer and nymphing tips
Advantages gained from the wind

Resources

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Listener Q&A -- Mono Rigs, Tough Days, Trout Range and More Nov 27, 2022

The Troutbitten crew answers questions from podcast listeners. These questions range from gear talk to ethics, from fly selection to reading a trout river. And while most of our podcast episodes are narrowly focused on one theme, this one is spread out across topics.
This is an entertaining conversation, with both stories and tactics.
We Cover the Following

How far do trout move for a fly?
Stories about bad days on the water
Carrying two fly rods
The Mono Rig from a boat
Tippet protection as a fly rod feature
The Mono Rig for steelhead
What we learn on tough days
Dream destination trips

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Podcast | The Versatile Angler
READ: Troutbitten | Design and Function of the Troutbitten Standard Mono Rig
READ: Troutbitten | Lightning Fast Leader Changes (with VIDEO)
READ: Troutbitten | The Best Fly Rods for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
READ: Troutbitten | Convinced or Curious -- What Moves a Trout to a Fly
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Streamer Presentations -- All About the Head of the Fly Nov 20, 2022

The longer we toss around streamers, the more we realize that it’s the most subtle changes in presentation that make a difference. Faster or slower? Sure. But how about letting the fly free fall in the current? What about a slight cross lead before reestablishing a strike-zone path in one seam? Or let’s try sliding a streamer off the bank with a broadside look, because that often draws a strike when nothing else does.
I think most anglers start fishing streamers by casting and stripping, keeping it simple at first. And that works. But as time goes by, we realize how much control we truly have over the streamer. And we learn that making it dance, swoon or dart can bring trout charging and crashing into the fly.
Understand this: What we do with a streamer, the motions we give it and the manipulations we perform with the rod or the line start with the head of the streamer. That’s what we’re moving.
Trout care about the head position of a streamer. They recognize the head, and they feed in a way that is different from nymphs, wets or dry flies. The other fly styles are too small for a trout to care about where the head is. But there is no doubt that trout are keenly aware of the head of a baitfish. That is their target. And while chasing a moving food form, trout certainly recognize where the head is and where that food is going next.
So as streamer fishermen, we should consider the head as well, because all of our animations to the fly start there. It’s our attachment point to the fly. And what we do with the rod or the line hand directly affects the head of the streamer first. It’s how we bring the fly to life.
In this episode, we talk about the head orientation of the streamer in the water — how the streamer moves with the currents or against them, and what looks more natural vs what might look more attractive. We also dig into what added weight does to the head of a streamer, how that affects the action and how that limits or enhances the presentation styles that we have available.
We Cover the Following

What head angle converts the most fish in the net?
What head angle brings the most interest?
Do trout eat the head first?
What head angle looks like a baitfish that is holding, fleeing, dying?
How weight in the head affects the fly and the presentation

Resources

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Freewheelin' Two -- Stories and Experiences Nov 13, 2022

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

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Strategies for Fishing Low and Clear Water Nov 06, 2022

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

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Catch and Release: Always or Sometimes? And How C&R Changes Things On The Water Oct 30, 2022

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

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Weight In Fly Fishing: Beads, Shot, Sinking Lines and More Oct 23, 2022

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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The Spooky Trout -- What Scares Fish and How to Avoid Spooking Them Oct 16, 2022

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

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Fly Tying and the Complete Angler Oct 09, 2022

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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Fly Fishing Through the Fall Season Oct 01, 2022

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

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Roundtable Review and Wrap Up -- Dry Dropper Skills Series #5 Sep 09, 2022

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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Tight Line Dry Dropper -- Dry Dropper Skills Series #4 Sep 04, 2022

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:

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

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Standard Dry Dropper -- Dry Dropper Skills Series #3 Aug 28, 2022

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:

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

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Light Dry Dropper -- Dry Dropper Skills Series #2 Aug 21, 2022

Fishing a nymph under a dry fly is rarely as simple as adding a nymph and casting it out there. Some forethought into what your objectives are, measured against your options for rigging and fly selection, goes a long way toward filling the net with trout.

Do you want to fish the nymph or the dry? That’s the first question to ask. Each dry dropper style allows for the opportunity to catch trout on both flies, but only Light Dry Dropper is tuned for fishing the dry fly at its best.

While Standard Dry Dropper and Tight Line Dry Dropper are great for fishing the nymph first, Light Dry Dropper is perfect for offering the dry fly as a primary choice. And sometimes, the frequency of takes on the added nymph is stunning.

With this Skills Series on the Troutbitten Podcast, my friend, Austin Dando, joins me to dissect this Light Dry Dropper style.

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.

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

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 | Dry Fly Fishing -- The George Harvey Leader Design
READ: Troutbitten | One Great Nymphing Trick (One Seam)
READ: Troutbitten | Recognize A Dead Drift
READ: Troutbitten | That's Not A Dead Drift

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Three Styles of Dry Dropper -- Dry Dropper Skills Series #1 Aug 12, 2022

With season four of the Troutbitten Podcast, we're back to the Skills Series format, with tightly packed, tactical episodes that cover one topic in depth. This season, we're digging into the three styles of dry dropper.

This first episodes is an overview of the three styles, along with a good discussion about why and when we enjoy fishing dry dropper in the first place.

Dry dropper sounds like a great idea. Just add nymph below a dry fly and catch fish on both offerings, right? But it's not that easy. And there are some real consequences. I argue that it's impossible to fish both flies perfectly, so by recognizing three distinctly different styles of rigging and fishing dry dropper, we make choices -- what fly will we prioritize and how will we get great drifts?

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

Now, with this Skills Series on the Troutbitten Podcast, my friend, Austin Dando, joins me for a deep dive beyond the framework of these styles. 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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The Troutbitten Project -- Past, Present and Future Jul 24, 2022

We’re in between podcast seasons and on a bit of a summer break. But I wanted to keep in touch here. I’d like to tell you more about the Troutbitten Project -- about all of the branches, what’s coming next and how all of this ties together.

Season Four of the Troutbitten podcast begins on August 14th. It’s a five-part tactical series on Dry Dropper styles. We followed the same platform — or style — in season two, when we covered the Nine Essential Skills of Tight Line and Euro Nymphing. These are compact, informational episodes that detail one narrowly focused topic. I’ll be joined again by my friend, Austin Dando, to build through the framework of this fun, effective style. And by the end of the series, you should have a thorough understanding of the three styles for dry dropper.

Maybe you’ve never thought of dry dropper this way. But the point is, there are three drastically different ways that we fish dry dropper. The rigs, the casting, the tactics and the intentions for each style are unique to each method. And sure, there’s some crossover, but in many ways, these styles are more different than they are similar. I call them Light Dry Dropper, Bobber Dry Dropper (or standard dry dropper for you purists out there) and Tight Line Dry Dropper.

READ: Troutbitten | Series | Three Styles of Dry Dropper

So that podcast series — Season Four — begins August 14th. But now’s a good time to mention that this full Dry Dropper series already exists on the Troutbitten website. The Three Styles of Dry Dropper is a four part series that I published on Troutbitten a few years ago. That series gets a lot of traffic every year, and I receive a lot of questions on the styles. So there’s more to be said, and I think it’s the perfect choice for our second installment of the skills series format on the podcast.

Here’s the point: everything at Troutbitten ties together. None of it stands alone. Troutbitten started as a fishing blog eight years ago. Then it became the place where I published my tactical articles and best stories. Because as the traffic grew, ad revenue from the site added up to more than I could make with magazine placements and book contracts. By following that route, I maintained the copyright to my own works, so I can still do things like this — taking the Dry Dropper Styles series and building a podcast around the topic.

It ends up that the choices I made years ago, fortuitously setup everything that Troutbitten has grown into. And because it’s so much more than a website now, I refer to all of this as the Troutbitten Project.
The website, the podcast, the YouTube channel and the shop -- all of it ties together . . .

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Feed Drop -- Troutbitten on the Wade Out There Podcast Jul 17, 2022

Hey Troutbitten friends,

Season three of the podcast is finished, and season four begins in just a few weeks. But in this time off, I have something special for you.

I was recently a guest on the Wade Out There podcast with Jason Shemchuk. We had a fun discussion about family, kids and fly fishing. Then we got technical about streamer tactics, presentations and efficiencies.

Jason started Wade Out There in 2019 as an author and artist focused on fly fishing for trout. He recently published episode 100 of the podcast, and I’m happy to be his first repeat guest. That’s the conversation I’m sharing here.

You can find all of Jason’s excellent work over at WadeOutThere.com. And you can easily find his podcast series through any service or podcast player.

So I hope you enjoy listening to my talk with Jason Shemchuck.

I’ll also be back next week in your podcast feed with a short episode about the Troutbitten project.

So until then . . . fish hard, friends.

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The Versatile Angler Jul 03, 2022

Versatility is a Troutbitten mantra. It’s the way we fish. In fact, it’s why we fish a fly rod, because whatever way the trout wish to feed, we can show them flies that represent that food form.

And while some anglers hit the river with one thing in mind, with one fly box and one set of tools, it’s our ability to adapt, to adjust and modify our approach, that makes a lifetime on the water so interesting. Sure, we focus on our favorite tactics, and we may spend the next half a year just perfecting our dry fly game in tight cover. But once these skills are learned, then knowing that we can throw anything at any time, having a full set of skills at the ready, is a rewarding and enjoyable approach to fly fishing for trout.

Pursuing this kind of versatility also keeps us in the game for a lifetime. We are forever working on the next idea, refining new casts and another approach. Eventually, we develop such a facility with these skills that we begin to combine them, breaking free from the common and standard approach and landing on new ways to get a dead drift or move a streamer. Creation becomes the goal. Design becomes our drive. And experimentation leads to more answers that lead to more questions.

All of it is our reward for being a versatile angler.

But of course, nothing comes easy either. The beginning angler should probably refrain from branching out too much at first. Because too much versatility becomes confusing. It leads to frustration. There are stages. There are tools. There are systems for being versatile on the water. And there’s a time for all of it.

So that’s what we’re here to talk about tonight. Here for our season three finale is a full house: Austin Dando, Trevor Smith, Josh Darling, Bill Dell and Matt Grobe.

We Cover the Following

Is versatility the opposite of specialization?
Learn it all, then use it all
The fly rod is supremely versatile
Do you need a lot of gear to be versatile?
What is a versatile fly rod
Carrying systems
Knowing when to change
Finding a good reason to change
Have a plan and test it
Versatility within one style
How versatility solves the daily mystery

Resources

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An Introduction to Night Fishing for Trout Jun 26, 2022

I've been building the Night Fishing for Trout Series here on Troutbitten for many years. It's an ongoing series of chapters that cover some of what I’ve learned about trout after dark.
But I’m careful with that word “learned.” Sure, I’ve come a long way in the fifteen years or so that I’ve spent night fishing. And time on the water has taught me things both by fish in the net and through repeated failure. I’ve gone through a period of time where I dedicated a few years to night fishing as my primary motivation, fishing after dark at least once a week, even through the winter months, and spending a lot more than that under the dark summer sky.
What I’ve learned is often very different than the stuff that’s supposed to work. And then again, some of it matches up pretty well.
Then, after over a decade of night fishing as a solitary endeavor I met my friends Josh Darling and Trevor Smith, who join me on this podcast episode. These guys somehow found that same rare drive to search and discover after dark, and it’s more than just a passing fad for them. They’ve dug deeper into the shadows than anyone else I’ve met. I Iearn from them. They are my trusted fishing friends. Their experience becomes my own. Their reports, their observations, are nearly as valuable as having my own boots in the water. These guys night fish, and they fish hard.
So for this podcast episode, our goal is to provide an overview, some kind of path down the lonely, dark and wonderfully mysterious road that is night fishing.
We Cover the Following

Motivation
Places
Planning
Moonlight, Starlight and City Light
Headlights, Flashlights and Glow-in-the-Dark stuff
The tactics of drifting and swinging
Water Types
Fly Types
Big Trout and Finding the Right Locations
Fighting Fear
Accepting the Mystery
The Rods and Lines

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Night Fishing
READ: Troutbitten | Night Fishing for Trout -- People, Places and Things
READ: Troutbitten | Night Fishing for Trout -- Moonlight, Starlight and City Light
READ: Troutbitten | Night Fishing for Trout -- You're Gonna Need a Bigger Rope
READ: Troutbitten | Night Fishing for Trout -- Spaces
READ: Troutbitten | Hell-Hot Sun and the Strawberry Moon

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The Airing of Grievances Jun 18, 2022

So, you know how you see something from far away and it looks really great? It’s almost perfect. But if you look a little closer, even from a long distance, you might start to find a few things that aren’t quite right. But it’s good . . . it’s still pretty good.

When you get even closer, you notice more problems. And when you’ve been around it for a long time, you can’t help but see many, many things that could be better.

Well . . . that’s the fly fishing industry.

And I don’t just mean the companies and the big names either. I mean the whole thing: the full scale, from Instagram hashtags and big internet groups to the few anglers that hang out at your local bar. The industry trends, these habits, these practices — some of them just seem wrong. And the gear, the ads, videos and articles, — a lot of it kind of steers people in the wrong direction.

So we thought we’d have a little fun with this and call out as many issues as we can fit into one podcast.

Yes, we’re here to criticize and complain a bit. But it's all in good fun. And quite honestly, I think most of the things we’ll bring up could certainly benefit from a fair dose of constructive criticism. Think of this as a cleansing. It’s a chance to bring everything out into the open — from the dark corners and into the sunlight.

I'm joined by my friends Josh Darling, Austin Dando, Trevor Smith, Matt Grobe and Bill Dell.

We Cover the Following

Purists. Elitism
The warm water police
Spot burning
Weather complainers
Marketing to lifestyle anglers
Mean people
Euro anything
Cheap gear
Telling anglers to be specialized
Leaky Waders
The squeezing fish hold
The knuckles hold
People who comment without reading article, watching full video, or listening to whole podcast
Club Fishing
The assumption that "experts" knows more than you about fishing
Anyone pretending that catching fish doesn't matter

Resources

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What's the Deal With Junk Flies? Jun 12, 2022

What might commonly be referred to as a junk fly makes its way to the end of my line pretty often. And for certain times of the year, through the summer and through the winter, I lean on junk flies as my go-to staples.

But my understanding of junk flies has evolved over time. I get it now. You can’t just put any kind of bright, flashy materials on a hook and fool trout. There’s a reason why trout eat these flies. And there’s a reason why these patterns shine for so long and then fall off at the end of a season. There’s also a huge difference between the way stocked trout respond to some junk flies vs the way wild trout respond.

We fish junk flies because they are fun. Because trout move to them more than other flies, sometimes. And because we can often see the fly in the water, allowing us to sight fish and learn something different.

What is a junk fly? Why and when do they work? These are the questions for this podcast.

I'm joined by the Troutbitten crew: Matt Grobe, Josh Darling, Trevor Smith, Bill Dell and Austin Dando.

We Cover the Following

Defining a junk fly
Is it always a nymph?
Why do trout eat junk flies?
How do trout respond differently?
The Bait and Switch
Are they dirty flies?
Is it cheating?
Does it take less skill to catch trout on a junk fly?
. . . and more

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Super Fly -- The Story of a Squirmy Wormy
READ: Troutbitten | Mop Fly Thoughts

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Why Do We Miss Fish, and Why Do We Lose Fish on a Fly? Jun 04, 2022

We all miss fish and lose fish on a fly. Why does it happen? Is it an accident? Is it avoidable? And how can we improve our hookup and landing ratio on the water?

If you’re at the point where you’re worrying about why you are missing and losing fish, then really. . . you know you’re already doing a lot of things right.

Fooling trout is the hard part. Fly fishing is not easy. And trout — especially wild ones — are not forgiving. They don’t grant you much grace. And rarely do trout take lousy presentations. So if you trick a fish into taking your fly, then pat yourself on the back. And when you start to fool them often enough that you notice a trend of missing or losing fish, then again, just know that you’re doing a lot of things right. Convincing trout that a fake fly is the real thing is tough. The rest? Well, it all comes a lot easier.

So, of course we want to land our trout. Missing and losing fish is frustrating after a while, because we sense there’s more that we can do to keep fish buttoned up. And really . . . there is. There are observable causes for trout missing the fly, just as there are mistakes we make on our end that result in another miss or a lost trout.

Like everything else in fishing, there’s a lot of nuance to this topic.

Reasons and strategies for missed and lost trout change whether it’s dry flies, nymphs, wets or streamers. Maybe a trout refuses our dry fly in a quick swirl as it rejects the pattern in a last second decision. It looks like the trout ate, so we set the hook and even feel the hook touch the fish, but we still miss it. This is not a hook setting error. It’s a presentation error. The fish refused the fly.

The same happens with our streamers. And this is where I think we see it the most. When trout charge the streamer and maybe even strike it — but if they don’t eat it, then no amount of perfecting the hook set will catch that fish.

So there’s a lot to see and understand, and this conversation helps bring a lot of that to light.

We Cover the Following

Future podcast season plans (listener question)
The difference between missing and losing
Slack!
The inevitability of missing and losing fish
Barbless flies, small flies
Hook set speed and length
Late sets
Why bad drifts create a lot of misses
Differences between missing fish on all the fly types
The Phantom hook set
. . . and more

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Learning a River and Discovering Its Secrets May 29, 2022

You can’t really learn a river until you’ve learned to fish. You need some confidence in your skills to cover a section of new water, to fish it well and then walk away with some opinions about what that river holds rather than asking questions about your techniques and decisions.

Learning a river comes by dedicating your time. You must give a part of your life to a river to learn it from top to bottom. And yes, it takes seasons on the water just to crack the surface. (And it probably takes a decade or more to crack the code.)

But for many of us, for those who live a fly fishing life, who dedicate our free time to pursuing trout and learning the game, the questions that a watershed asks are seductive. Why do you find fewer large trout in the lower island section in the fall? What river conditions are required for trout to move to the shallows and comfortably feed after dark? When should you expect the Sulfur hatch, and are there two sizes or just one?

These questions have answers. And the more we fish one waterway, the more details we discover, the more data we enter into a catalog of knowledge about a favorite trout stream.

Rivers are an ever-changing, complex ecosystem of life, water and land. They are influenced by weather, surrounding community development and sometimes the anglers themselves. Nothing is static. Nothing is truly predictable. But there’s also no denying the habit of trout. And once you spend time wading with these fish, observing their habits and watching how the changes affect their behaviors, then time itself finally stacks in your favor. The observant angler becomes part of that ecosystem. And we begin to predict the paths of trout by instinct.

Achieving that level of knowledge is a rare reward. But it is attainable. And the journey toward that knowledge is a respectable pursuit.

I’m joined again by the Troutbitten crew, Trevor Smith, Matt Grobe, Bill Dell, and Austin Dando. I can tell you that each of these fishermen know their local waters exhaustively, from to deep to shallow, from bank to bank, winter, spring, summer and fall. They know the rhythms of their waters.

We Cover the Following

Listener question about dry flies on the Mono Rig
Research via maps, books, etc.
Trout population and species
Learning the flows
Exploring from the mouth to the headwaters
Season changes and migratory habits
. . . and more

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Dry Flies on the Mono Rig
READ: Troutbitten | The Last Good Island
READ: Troutbitten | Save the Discovery

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A Fly Fishing Life, and Doing the Hard Things May 21, 2022

Living a fly fishing life, being Troutbitten, is something that you can’t shake off. Your mind always churns over something tactical, like a fresh spin on an old streamer retrieve. Or maybe you’re daydreaming about the upstream reaches above the water that you chose last weekend -- fishing past dusk before walking out, a mile and a half, under the stars, by yourself, full of the satisfaction that good exploration brings. And you know there’s more to find — still miles of river toward those headwaters. So the questions and that allure of discovery taps you on the shoulder all week long, reminding you of what's to come.

The next fishing trip is something to look forward to. And that’s the secret to happiness — always something to look forward to. Something to work on. Something to improve. Something to achieve.

These are life goals. And fly fishing for trout, like so many other great pursuits, gives our life a purpose, just by giving us the next thing to look forward to and the next thing to work on.

This is why we choose a fly fishing life. This is Troutbitten. And I’d guess that most of our listeners want the same.

But here’s the thing: There’s a difference between wanting it and working for it.

I think everyone imagines themselves deep into the middle of a sweetheart spot, with no one else around, casting and fishing for big wild trout that are eating our flies and coming to hand. Maybe it’s the rising trout at dusk, or a frenzied streamer bite in the morning as you cover water quickly. Whatever your favorite scenario, these are the idealized moments we imagine when we think of a fly fishing life. And, of course, those moments are there for us. We get a lot of them.

And yet, the amount of effort it requires to get there, the preparation, the planning, the failure and frustration requires hard work to get through all of it, and on to those best moments.

Doing the hard things. That’s what this podcast is about.

What are those hard things? How do we enjoy them? And what kinds of things are overlooked but seem to make all the difference?

We Cover the Following

Listener question about quantifying improvement in our game
Getting up early
Refining the casting stroke
Perfecting our rigging
Efficiency
Research of tactics and locations
Gear purchase and maintenance
Tying and testing flies
. . . and more

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Al the Things
READ: Troutbitten | What to Trust
READ: Troutbitten | How to Stay in the Fly Fishing Game for a Lifetime

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Rude on the River, Front Ended and the Golden Rule May 15, 2022

In the last podcast, episode 7 of season 3, we talked about finding your water and finding space. And we acknowledged that everyone wants this. Everyone. I don’t know any fisherman who sets out to fish beside a bunch of strangers for the day. Because part of the experience we seek is getting away from everything else in life, for just a bit. No matter where you are, having some space and some water to call your own is a primary draw.

So when you do find a section of river, when you’re deep into the process of dissecting a riffle, run or pool, one of the worst and most frustrating things that can happen is having another angler walk in on you. Specifically, when they wade into the water you are fishing or that you planned to fish very shortly.

It’s no fun. It can be maddening. And it can absolutely ruin your day.

In some ways, this experience is inevitable. If you fish often enough, you’re going to get front ended, probably sooner than later. And how should we deal with it? Is there really any good way to open a dialogue with someone who rudely jumps in front of you? Does it ever end well?

And how much water should we expect to be granted? What’s the standard, anyway?

Also, if you round the bend on your walk in, and you see another angler set up in exactly the same water you planned to fish, where should you go? What’s the acceptable distance? How much room should we give each other on the river?

Just like the previous episode, this podcast deals with space on the river. But this time, it’s not about finding space as much as how we share it. Sometimes, we’re forced to share more than we’d like. Other times, there’s simply no question that another angler has broken the code. And how do we deal with that? This is our topic.
We Cover the Following:

Thoughts on secret patterns
Some worst cases of front-ending
Thee two types of anglers who front end you
Can you actually educate anyone about the code?
What are the unwritten rules about fishing space?
Ethics and etiquette

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Front Ended -- Can We Stop Doing This to Each Other?
READ: Troutbitten | Why Everyone Fishes the Same Water, and What to do About It
READ: Troutbitten | Some Days Are Diamonds -- Some Days Are Rocks

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Find Your Water -- Find Space May 08, 2022

Every angler wants to fish somewhere new — someplace untouched. We want novel experiences. Something about trout fishing, about catch and release and about throwing flies, attracts the explorer. Long term anglers are most often the adventurers. They’re the pathfinders — the ones who find the qualities of solitude and peace more important than fishing big-name waters or catching a bunch of trout.

And these days, one of the most common complaints heard among fishermen is about crowded waters. People say there are more anglers than ever and that you can’t get away from all the fishermen out there. But I think you can. And, In turn, one of the most common questions I receive is how to find the offbeat waters, where are the places that everyone doesn’t fish? Inevitably, people ask about these places because they want to see fewer anglers.

That solitude on a trout stream is there if you truly want it. By putting in the time to learn your waters, you’ll find the under-fished areas.

If you want space, if you want to find your own water, it’s there for you.

Think about where and when. Consider the conditions. And learn to recognize the habits of anglers — because they are always predictable. Avoid every access with a clever name like Rainbow Riffle or Three Dollar Bridge. Sure, the fishing might be great, but these are not the places to find your space.

And if you roll up to a popular access of a blue ribbon trout stream, if it’s noon on a Sunday, if it’s June with prime flows and sunny skies, then stop complaining about the cars and anglers.

That’s your choice. It’s on you. And by making that choice, you’re now part of the predictable habits of anglers.

We Cover the Following

Are there really more anglers?
The effects of weather on angler pressure
How the habits of anglers are predictable
Popular water, unpopular spots
Popular waters, uncommon times
Lesser known waters
Exploring, walking

Resources

Visit:
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and
Orvis

Why It Always Comes Down to Fly Casting -- And What Matters Most Apr 30, 2022

This episode is about fly casting — why it matters more than anything, and how we can improve our accuracy and control over the system with just a few key adjustments.

All fly fishing styles require good casting skills. My friends and I fish a Mono Rig for most underwater presentations. But this tight line approach for nymphs and streamers falls apart without the ability to cast and manage a long leader, through the air, exactly like a fly line. I say it all the time about tight line and euro nymphing — it’s casting, not lobbing — at least, it should be. Lobbing can get things done for a while, but to get anywhere beyond the basics, or even to get under the bankside tree limbs, we need good casting form. So we build loops with a great casting stroke, and then place not just the fly where we want it, but the tippet and leader in the best position too. Ironically, it takes refined fly casting skill to cast a Mono Rig.

All of us here fish long leaders and short ones. We choose a powerful Mono Rig for pushing nymphs and streamers around, and we cast dry flies with a fly line too. We fish a pure tight line with a single nymph, we fish dry dropper styles, yarn indys with short leaders and fly line, and streamers with sinking lines sometimes.

All of it, every bit of it, requires the same casting fundamentals and the ability to control lengths of line in the air. And we must build casting loops with speed for the line to go anywhere.

It’s fly fishing. So it starts with fly casting.

We break down some of our best tips for fly casting that apply to beginners and advanced anglers alike. We go through the essentials and some advanced ideas that apply to all fly casting styles, from dry flies to nymphs to streamers.

We Cover the Following

Correcting casting mistakes in the drift
Cradling the rod, and finding the balance point
Speed. short, crisp motions and clean stops
Turnover
Limit false casting, but use it for purpose
Oval in the rod tip travel
The casting V (10 and 2)
Distance discipline
Don’t reach

Resources

Visit:
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Thank You to Pre-Roll Ad Sponsors:
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and
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Find Feeding Fish - Exploring Water Types and More Apr 24, 2022

This episode is about exploring the water types of a river to find hungry trout. And we’re thinking beyond just fast water, slow water, riffles, runs and pools. Sure, recognizing the basic features of the stream you’re fishing is a great starting point. But this is Troutbitten, so you know we’re going to take things a bit further. We want to know more.

And what matters most is where trout are feeding -- and why.

Find feeding fish. When we’re on the water, it’s priority one. The rivers we fish are full of wild trout. They are everywhere. But just because trout are holding in a piece of water doesn’t mean they are feeding there. And, moment to moment, we’re searching for where trout are feeding in the river.

We talk a lot about solving the daily puzzle, about the on-the-river mystery presented anew every time we wet our boots, and even every time we round the next bend. That mystery really begins with finding feeding fish. Where are the hungry ones? What event or condition has trout ready to feed, on the hunt, or eager to intercept an easy meal?

Rivers are in a perpetual state of change, and the trout’s feeding patterns respond to those changes.

There are a number of factors that encourage trout to move into and feed in certain types of water. While the real-world conditions and events are infinite, there are five major factors that influence where and how trout feed in a river. They are: water temperature, water levels and water clarity, hatches, bug and baitfish activity, light conditions, and spawning activity.

And if we learn to recognize all of this, we have the keys to the puzzle.

We Cover the Following

Listener question about leader changes
Trout response to various water temperatures
Trout response to water levels
Trout response to water clarity
How trout respond to hatches
How baitfish activity influences trout feeding
How the spawning activity of various species provides feeding opportunities for trout

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Find Feeding Fish
READ: Troutbitten | Finding Bite Windows
READ: Troutbitten | Where to Find Bigger Trout

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How to Fight Bigger Trout Apr 17, 2022

Something electric happens when we hook into the fish of the day, the fish of the season or maybe the fish of a lifetime. Our hearts beat faster. The adrenaline pumps because the stakes are raised. This is the fish we’ve been waiting for, and we don’t want to lose the opportunity.

And that feeling never fades. Across fishing styles and over the centuries, fishermen are captivated by these big-fish moments. And though the feeling never grows old, our ability to control our response and control the fish using the right moves with the rod, the reel and the line improves. With each loss, we learn the hard way. With each story about the one that got away, we replay our mistakes and plan to avoid the same errors next time.

And as we wait, as we hunt for the next big trout, we practice these moves on the average trout. We form good habits for line recovery, for slack management, side pressure, optimal fighting angles and the all-important closing moves of the last ten feet.

So, as much as we focus on the intricacies of fly selection, casting technique and drift speed, often, what we remember most is the moment when the biggest trout we’ve ever seen makes it to our net. It’s that conclusion — that happy ending that provides the capstone to so much of our journey.

Fighting bigger fish is an equal-parts mix of preparation, instinct and luck. And at least a third of that formula, we’re in control of.

In this episode, I’m joined by my fishing friends, Trevor Smith, Bill Dell, Austin Dando, Josh Darling and Matt Grobe.

We Cover the Following

The largest trout we've ever lost
Forming good habits with smaller trout
Fighting fish upstream
Working with a trout and not against it
Where in the water column to fight a trout
Knowing the strength of your tools
Side pressure
Closing the distance, and the last ten feet

Resources

Visit:
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Hatches and Strategies Apr 09, 2022

One of the greatest attractions to fly fishing can also present one of the biggest barriers.
It’s the bugs.
The aquatic insects that make up the bulk of a trout’s food base are intriguing, but they’re also somewhat mysterious
The advanced angler explores the nuances of these bugs. Some insects are good swimmers and emerge fast, so a presentation outside of a pure dead-drifted nymph might be the trigger that turns trout on. Likewise, understanding the life cycle of a mayfly helps us realize why seeking out and imitating the spinner stage is one of the best dry fly opportunities on the river.
These are the kinds of things to know about trout bugs. This is why we follow the hatches. We pay attention and try to meet the trout on their own terms -- give them more of what they’re eating right now.
Understanding everything we can about these bugs and how trout respond to them is a big piece of the puzzle that we’re trying to solve out there. And sometimes, it’s the keystone. Because at certain times, the bug life of a river is the central player in a trout’s daily life.
In this episode, I’m joined by my fishing friends, Trevor Smith, Bill Dell, Austin Dando, Josh Darling and Matt Grobe.

We Cover the Following

Listener question about the sustainability of catch and release
A walk-through of the major hatches throughout our season
Differences from east to west and more
How mayflies, caddisflies, stoneflies and midges differ in their availability to trout
Why spinner falls are such a great opportunity
How the hatches affect our strategy from top to bottom

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | You Don't Have to Match the Hatch
READ: Troutbitten | The George Harvey Leader Design
READ: Troutbitten | Are We Taking the Safety of Trout Too Far?
READ: Troutbitten | In Defense of Catching and Counting Fish — Why numbers in the Net Matter

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The Inefficiencies That Waste Your Fishing Time Apr 02, 2022

Casting, drifting, swinging and stripping -- everything else is downtime. As Paul said, “Brother, there are no flying fish in Montana” — or anywhere else, for that matter.

Flies in the water — that’s where we want them. A trout at the end of the line. That’s what we’re aiming for. But there are seemingly endless tasks required for a fishing trip. And how we approach those chores really defines the way our day will go — simply because our fly is either in the water . . . or it’s not.

How we prepare the night before, our system for carrying tippet, our strategy for choosing the next fly, and even what we do with the net after releasing a trout — what we do with our time on the water . . . matters. And all of us experience that nagging feeling that something is amiss, that so much more is possible, on those days when we know that we are inefficient.

Fly fishing is for the pragmatist. Successful anglers see failure and make the changes to turn it around. And no matter what our natural tendencies — whether we’re a neat freak or a slob at home and at work, the river quickly teaches us that the only way forward is through efficiency. So every long term angler that I know becomes efficient, even if they weren’t born that way.

In this episode, I’m joined tonight by my fishing friends, Trevor Smith, Bill Dell, Austin Dando and Matt Grobe.

We Cover the Following

Finding a system. Finding routines for everything.
Vest/ Pack strategies
Organizing gear
Pre-trip preparation
Leader changes
Knot tying
Wading staff
Traveling strategy
Don't be late!
Rod storage

Resources

Visit:
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Troutbitten YouTube
Troutbitten Facebook

Thank You to Pre-Roll Ad Sponsors:
Skwala
and
Orvis

Secrets and Spot Burning Mar 27, 2022

Season Three begins with a round-table discussion about fishermen's secrets and what happens when we give up the most sensitive of them -- spot burning.

My full panel of fishing buddies is back for this third season: Austin Dando, Trevor Smith, Josh Darling, Bill Dell and now Matt Grobe. We kick off season three with one of the most contentious topics in fly fishing. Holding secrets is human nature. And some of us keep confidential our favorite flies, tactics and more. But when it comes to spots -- locations and where we fish -- discretion is a kindness that we lend to other anglers.

Secrets are part of the legacy of fishing. Exploring and locating places that are special to each of us is part of what keeps us coming back. We like to think that we’ve discovered something that is uncommon or unknown. And we learn that sharing information with the wrong people or in the wrong way can easily destroy a secret by making the uncommon, common.

As for spot burning, it’s bad because of what it does to other anglers.. Every piece of water is someone else’s sweetheart spot. So we refrain from naming names and locations out of respect for everyone else. And if you hear yourself saying, “It’s okay because everybody knows about that spot,” think again.

That’s our take on it.

We Cover the Following

Question from a listener regarding knot tying tips
Question from a listener regarding the toughest skill in fly tying
Types of secrets
Secret flies
Secret tactics
What is spot burning
The negative impact of spot burning
Nuances of spot burning
Sharing without sharing too much
The hypocrisy of secrets

Remember, each of these podcasts is always supported by a companion article of the same topic.

READ: Troutbitten | Podcast: Secrets and Spot Burning -- S3 Ep1

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | The Secret
READ: Troutbitten | Respect the Spots! A Fisherman's Thoughts on Secrets and Spot Burning
READ: Troutbitten | Coffee and Secrets
READ: Troutbitten | Super Fly -- The Story of a Squirmie Wormie

Season Three of the Troutbitten podcast continues with Episode 2 -- Inefficiencies That Waste Your Fishing Time.
So look for that one in your Troutbitten podcast feed.

Fish hard, friends.
Visit:
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and
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Feed Drop -- Troutbitten on the Wet Fly Swing Podcast Mar 21, 2022

Hello, friends.

Season two of the Troutbitten podcast is finished, and season three begins soon. So in this off week, I have something a little special for you.

Recently, I was a guest on the Wet Fly Swing podcast with Dave Stewart. So this is a feed drop of that episode in full. Dave runs a great show, and he’s been at it for a long time. I was happy to be a guest for the second time with Dave. And in this episode, we dig into a lot of streamer tactics, some nymphing techniques, and we have a good talk about what happens during the transition from winter into spring fishing.

I hope you enjoy it. And if you do, go check out more at wetflyswing.com. With over 300 episodes in the bank, Dave talks with some of the most knowledgeable and entertaining fly fishers in the game. I’ve learned a lot from Dave’s podcast over the years.

I hope you enjoy listening to my talk with Dave Stewart.

So until next week . . . fish hard, friends.

** NOTE ** Season Three begins next week. We return to the Season One format of full-panel discussions covering all things fly fishing for trout. And we're looking forward to it.

Bonus Round Q&A with Full Panel -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #10 Mar 13, 2022

Season Two concludes with a round table discussion for answering the most common questions about tight line and euro nymphing skills. My full panel of friends, Austin, Bill, Trevor and Josh join me to get deep in the weeds of the tactics, to clear up misconceptions, and offer their own ideas.

As Episode nine published, I realized there were many questions left to be answered. Daily, I received messages about a variety of techniques discussed in these nine essential skills. And the same themes cropped up. Anglers struggled with the same concepts. And those misunderstandings made their way to my inbox. It made sense to do one more podcast and answer these most popular, important questions.

So here's your bonus round . . .

We Cover the Following

Tuck casting in cover and using sidearm angles
Tuck casting doesn't need to be vertical
Reading sighter for contact vs reading sighter for the strike zone
More tips on finding the strike zone
Forcing contact and using the extremes
Tippet length variability
Developing accuracy with more speed
Refining the cast
Leader diameter vs leader power
Tips for fishing around structure

Remember, each of these podcasts is supported by a companion article of the same topic. And you can find the full overview of the Nine Essential Skills for Tight line and Euro Nymphing here:
READ: Troubitten | Bonus Round Q&A with Full Panel -- Tight Line Skills Series, #10

RESOURCES

READ: Troutbitten | The Nine Essential Skills for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
READ: Troutbitten | Category | The Mono Rig
READ: Troutbitten | Full the Mono Rig System -- All the Variations, with Leader Formulas and Adjustments
READ: Troutbitten | Fly Fishing Strategies -- Tuck Cast
READ: Troutbitten | Put More Juice in the Cast
READ: Troutbitten | The Top Down Approach
READ: Troutbitten | Over or Under -- Your Best Bet on Weight

** NOTE ** Season Three begins in a coupe weeks. We return to the Season One format of full-panel discussion covering all things fly fishing for trout. And we're looking forward to it.

Visit:
Troutbitten Website
Troutbitten Instagram
Troutbitten YouTube
Troutbitten Facebook

Thank You to Pre-Roll Ad Sponsors:
Skwala
and
Orvis

Putting It All Together -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #9 Mar 06, 2022

Here we are at the finish line. In this ninth installment of this Troutbitten Skills Series, my friend, Austin Dando, and I walk through some of the best tips for putting it all together. Because this set of skills, performed in order and flowing from one to the next, results in a great drift that starts and finishes in a convincing, trout-catching presentation.

Here are those nine skills:

Each of them now has its own podcast and its own article that lays out the tactics in detail.

Tight line tactics are infinitely refinable. There is no end to how much better you can make the next drift. And if you get it perfect, then the next seam challenges you all over again. Contact and true control over the flies is a responsibility, and I’ve seen it overwhelm people at times. So, putting a number on the most basic skills and putting them in order makes things manageable. That is the purpose of this system -- this series -- of nine essential skills.

We Cover the Following

Practice by imagining
Don't be intimidated
Trusting the transitions
Finding the failures
Focusing on just one
Seeing success
How fast the middle steps happen
Watching the entrance and the exit of the flies
Judging success

Resources

Visit:
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Troutbitten Instagram
Troutbitten YouTube

Thank You to Pre-Roll Ad Sponsors:
Skwala
and
Orvis

The Strike -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #8 Feb 27, 2022

The strike is the best part of fishing. It’s what we’re all out there waiting for, or rather, what we’re trying to make happen all day long. And the trout eats because we get so many things right. When the fish strikes, we strike back. Short, swift and effective, the hook finds flesh. Then we try to keep the trout buttoned up, and get it to the net.

In this podcast episode, there are two types of strikes that my friend, Austin Dando, and I focus on.

First, there’s the strike from a trout — the take, the hit, the “gimme that I wanna eat it,” from a fish. So we need to recognize and sense that strike.

Second, there's our strike — the hook set, the swift rod tip motion that drives the hook point home and attaches us to the trout. So it helps to have a plan and give some thought to how that’s done too.

Remember, fooling trout is the hard part. The rest of this — hooking and landing a fish, comes much easier.

We Cover the Following

Are hook sets really free?
Set on anything?
Set on anything unusual or unexpected
Difference of over or under weighting
Is there a sixth sense?
Direction of the hook set
How far? How fast?
Fly rod types and hook sets
The Check Set
Can you ever set too fast?
Slack and hook sets

Remember, each of these podcasts is supported by a companion article of the same topic. And you can find the full overview of the Nine Essential Skills for Tight line and Euro Nymphing here:

READ: Troutbitten | The Nine Essential Skills for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
READ: Troutbitten | #8 The Strike -- Nine Essential Skill for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
READ: Troutbitten | Category | The Mono Rig
READ: Troutbitten | Fly Fishing Strategies -- Plan for the Hookset
READ: Troutbitten | Don't Guess -- Set the Hook and Set Hard
READ: Troutbitten | Hook Set at the End of Every Drift
READ: Troutbitten Tight Line Nymphing Skills -- The Check Set
Visit:
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Thank You to Pre-Roll Ad Sponsors:
Skwala
and
Orvis

Guiding the Flies -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #7 Feb 20, 2022

Part Seven of this Troutbitten Skills Series focuses on guiding the flies. Once the nymphs are cast and settled into the target seam, it's time to take them to the trout. Guiding the flies is a blend of two skills that I call leading and tracking. At the core, this skill of guiding the flies is fishing the flies. And this is what anglers tend to focus on most — for good reason. It’s the longest in duration. It’s the most active, and has the most room for variation.

In truth, there are number of ways to dead drift nymphs through one seam. And the choices we make are about how much influence we want to have on the flies. A leading approach puts the angler in charge, and a tracking approach let's the river dictate the course of the flies. Guiding the flies is an effort to mix the two.

We Cover the Following

The advantages of leading
Control, contact and the dead drift
Over weighting
The advantages of tracking
Less control with fewer options, but a truer drift?
Under weighting
Is pure tracking possible?
Guiding as a mix of the two
Slipping contact
Find the perfect weight
Why use both?
Why guiding works.

Remember, each of these podcasts is supported by a companion article of the same topic. And you can find the full overview of the Nine Essential Skills for Tight line and Euro Nymphing here:

READ: Troutbitten | The Nine Essential Skills for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
READ: Troutbitten | #7 Guiding the Flies -- Nine Essential Skill for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
READ: Troutbitten | Category | The Mono Rig
READ: Troutbitten | Leading vs Tracking vs Guiding the Flies
READ: Troutbitten | Tracking the Flies
READ: Troutbitten | How to Lead the Flies

Visit:
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Thank You to Pre-Roll Ad Sponsors:
Skwala
and
Orvis

Locating the Strike Zone -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #6 Feb 13, 2022

Part six of this Troutbitten Skills Series is about locating the strike zone. This zone of water -- this cushion near the bottom of the river -- is the default target and the baseline location for our flies.

Most of what happens in a river occurs in the strike zone. It's where the trout spend most of their time. It's where the bugs and baitfish live. Understanding everything about the strike zone allows us to know exactly how and where we want to present the nymph.

My friend, Austin Dando, joins me to help break down and understand this crucial concept.

Unlocking this knowledge — understanding the strike zone -- then finding it and drifting your flies there, is perhaps the most pivotal moment in your nymphing skills progression. It changes everything.

We Cover the Following

What is the strike zone?
Why is the strike zone important?
Why gliding the strike zone outperforms touching the bottom
Touching bottom to find the strike zone
Watching the sighter speed to find the strike zone
Gliding through the strike zone
Deviating our drifts in and out of the strike zone
The downshift
Depth and speed of the strike zone
More on reading the sighter

Remember, each of these podcasts is supported by a companion article of the same topic. And you can find the full overview of the Nine Essential Skills for Tight line and Euro Nymphing here:

READ: Troutbitten | The Nine Essential Skills for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
READ: Troutbitten | #6 Locating the Strike Zone -- Nine Essential Skill for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
Visit:
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Thank You to Pre-Roll Ad Sponsors:
Skwala
and
Orvis

Finding Contact -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #5 Feb 06, 2022

Part five of this Troutbitten Skills Series is about finding contact. Because after the tuck cast, after we stick the landing and begin to recover slack, we need to find contact on sighter.

Contact is visual. It's about reading the sighter to know that we are in touch with the flies from rod tip to the nymph or split shot. It's not about touching or ticking the riverbed. Instead, the contact we're looking for is seen on the sighter.

With contact, we know everything about the depth and speed of our flies. We know where they are, and we determine where they are going. That's the advantage of a tight line (contact) nymphing system.

Importantly, this does not mean we are directly in touch at all times with the fly, because we often get better drifts without such direct influence over the nymphs. But without contact at points through the drift (and sometimes the whole way) we are simply guessing about the location of the flies. To take advantage of the ultimate control that tight line and euro nymphing rigs offer, we must learn to read contact on the sighter -- to know we are in touch and know where the flies are.

Reading the sighter and finding contact is critical.

My friend, Austin Dando, joins me on episode five for an in-depth discussion of this technique.

We Cover the Following

Contact is seen, not felt
Reading the sighter
Sighter material and construction
The Backing Barrel
The bow in the sighter
Nervous sighter
Seeing beyond the sighter
Contact let's us trust the sighter
Forcing contact

Remember, each of these podcasts is supported by a companion article of the same topic. And you can find the full overview of the Nine Essential Skills for Tight line and Euro Nymphing here:

Resources
READ: Troutbitten | The Nine Essential Skills for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
READ; Troutbitten | #5 Finding Contact -- Nine Essential Skill for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
READ: Troutbitten | Category | The Mono Rig
READ: Troutbitten | Contact is Visual
READ: Troutbitten | The Backing Barrel might be the best sighter ever
READ: Troutbitten | Design and Function of the Standard Troutbitten Mono Rig

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Thank You to Pre-Roll Ad Sponsors:
Skwala
and
Orvis

Recovering Slack -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #4 Jan 31, 2022

Part four of this Troutbitten Skills Series focuses on recovering slack. To dead drift a nymph, we cast it upstream. And as the river flows downstream, it sends the fly back toward us, creating slack. Usually, we simply pick up that slack and maintain contact with the fly (sometimes directly, sometimes slightly).

Slack maintenance is a critical skill. It’s line management. And if the goal is to be in contact with the nymphs and know where they are -- if this is a tight line rig -- then allowing too much slack in the system destroys everything that we’re working toward.

Managed slack is part of an advanced skill set. And that’s very much what we do by starting with a tuck cast. Then, after sticking the landing, we’re in a great position to continue those advanced skills.

We recover the slack in three ways: by lifting the rod tip, by leading the rod tip, and with the line hand.

My friend, Austin Dando, joins me on Episode Four for an in-depth discussion of these techniques.

(Season three will return to my full panel of friends, with longer form discussion about all things fly fishing.)

We Cover the Following

Maintaining contact
Slipping contact
Letting the river decide
Managed slack
The Lift and Lead
Line hand recovery
The Pulley Retrieve
Trimming the sighter
Dealing with wind

Remember, each of these podcasts is supported by a companion article of the same topic. And you can find the full overview of the Nine Essential Skills for Tight line and Euro Nymphing here:

READ: Troutbitten | The Nine Essential Skills for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
READ; Troutbitten | #4 Recovering Slack -- Nine Essential Skill for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing

Resources
READ: Troutbitten | The Nine Essential Skills for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
READ: Troutbitten | Category | The Mono Rig
READ: Troutbitten | The Pulley Retrieve (with VIDEO)
READ: Troutbitten | The Lift and Lead
READ: Troutbitten | Leading vs Tracking vs Guiding
Visit:
Troutbitten Website
Troutbitten Instagram
Troutbitten YouTube
Troutbitten Facebook

Thank You to Pre-Roll Ad Sponsors:
Skwala
and
Orvis

Stick the Landing -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #3 Jan 26, 2022

Part three of this Troutbitten Skills Series focuses on sticking the landing. Because after putting ourselves in great position to present the fly, we shouldn't waste the perfect tuck cast and delivery. As the fly hits the water, all the elements of our system are in position and ready to drift. That's sticking the landing.

Like a gymnast who tumbles, somersaults and then lands on two feet with no body movement, the best completion of a cast happens with no extra movement. Instead of landing and then recovering or correcting, we stick the landing, ready to drift.

My friend, Austin Dando, joins me on Episode Three for an in-depth discussion of this technique.

(Season three will return to my full panel of friends, with longer form discussion about all things fly fishing.)

We Cover the Following

What sticking the landing looks like
Position of rod tip, leader, sighter and tippet
Why it matters
Maximizing the drift time
Preserving good slack with tippet position
Sighter angle
Leading angle
The negative results of reaching
Where to stop the forward cast
Correcting mistakes

Remember, each of these podcasts is supported by a companion article of the same topic. And you can find the full overview of the Nine Essential Skills for Tight line and Euro Nymphing here:

READ: Troutbitten | The Nine Essential Skills for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
READ; Troutbitten | #3 Stick the Landing -- Nine Essential Skill for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
Resources
READ: Troutbitten | The Nine Essential Skills for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
READ: Troutbitten | Category | The Mono Rig
READ: Troutbitten | Stick the Landing While Tight Lining
READ: Troutbitten | When the First Cast Matters Most
READ: Troutbitten | It's Casting, Not Lobbing
READ: Troutbitten | Put More Juice in the Cast
Visit:
Troutbitten Website
Troutbitten Instagram
Troutbitten YouTube
Troutbitten Facebook

Thank You to Pre-Roll Ad Sponsors:
Skwala
and
Orvis

Turnover and Tuck Casting -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #2 Jan 19, 2022

Part two of this Troutbitten Skills Series focuses on the tuck cast. A good tuck is a turnover cast -- where the loops unfolds completely in the air. In fact, a tuck cast is a fly-first entry, and it's perfect for setting up the tight line advantage, where we keep everything up and out of the water that we possibly can.

We tuck cast not just to get deeper, but to setup the fly, tippet, sighter and leader in the best possible position to drift the flies down one seam. Accuracy starts with a good tuck, and not just accuracy over where the fly goes, but where all the parts of the leader go too.

My friend, Austin Dando, joins my on Episode Two for an in-depth discussion of this technique.

(Season three will return to my full panel of friends, with longer form discussion about all things fly fishing.)

Remember, this is part two of a nine-part skill set. Think of a Troutbitten Skills series as a course in one topic or one aspect of fly fishing, with different sections that eventually build a full set of knowledge.

Each of these podcasts is supported by a companion article of the same topic. And you can find the full overview of the Nine Essential Skills for Tight line and Euro Nymphing here:

READ: Troutbitten | The Nine Essential Skills for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
READ; Troutbitten | #2 Turnover and Tuck Casting -- Nine Essential Skill for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing

We Cover the Following

The fly first entry
The tight line advantage
True turnover
Casting vs lobbing
Put more juice in the cast
Leader design
Rod power
Loading the rod and feeling the tug
Leader power / Leader push
Angles and depths of a good tuck cast

Resources

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Angle and Approach -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #1 Jan 16, 2022

Season two of the Troutbitten podcast comes in a new format. It's a mini-series of connected episodes that build out a set of specific tactics. The topic for this first skills series is the Nine Essential Skills for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing, and I'm joined by my friend, Austin Dando.

(Season three will return to my full panel of friends, with longer form discussion about all things fly fishing.)
These episodes are short, deeply tactical and packed with the how-to of just one technique -- a tightly focused look at one topic. Each episode is intertwined or woven together with the others that surround it. By the end of this skills series, you’ll have a detailed picture of the tactics — and hopefully a thorough understanding of what’s possible on the water.

Think of a Troutbitten Skills series as a course in one topic or one aspect of fly fishing, with different sections that eventually build a full set of knowledge.
Nine for Nine
I recently published the last chapter in the nine skills essential for tight line and euro nymphing. Now, we're taking each of these skills and building a podcast around them. The article series and the podcast series go hand in hand.
Why?
Tight line and euro nymphing is very popular right now. Because it’s an efficient system, and it’s fun. But tight line and euro nymphing is misunderstood too. The many different rigs and methods of casting or delivery are what make all of this so interesting, but it’s what leads to confusion and mistaken concepts about what this is and how to get it done.
These nine skills are critical — they are the foundation for everything else that we do with a Mono Rig -- all the indy styles, dry dropper, streamer fishing, etc.
Episode One of this skills series is about angle and approach.
We Cover the Following

The tight line advantage
Limiting the range
Upstream two and over one
Flies track to the rod tip
One lane -- one seam
Forty-five to forty-five
When to end the drift
The trouble with casting across
Wading discipline
Water type

Resources

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Troutbitt

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Memories and Fishing Plans Dec 27, 2021

Episode 15 is for story telling. And I'm joined by my friends, Bill, Josh, Austin and Trevor to share memories and make a few plans.

This is the final episode for season one of the Troutbitten Podcast. And at the tail end of this busy year, it's a great time for reflections and resolutions.

My friends and I share a few lighthearted stories about the dumbest things we've ever done on the river. We also share who and what we miss most from years past. And lastly, we talk about what we want to change most about our fishing lives.

It's a great discussion that's both introspective and humorous. It's also the perfect way to wrap up season one of the Troutbitten Podcast.

We Cover the Following

Dom's snorkeling debacle
Josh and Austin, sleeping with the wolf spiders
Austin's humble brag on the Blackfoot River
Bill's finger problems
Trevor's costly fall in
What each of us misses most
What each of us plans to change for the coming season

Resources

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Winter Fly Fishing Tips and Tactics Dec 21, 2021

Episode 14 is a deep dive into winter fishing tactics. And I'm joined by my friends, Bill, Josh, Austin and Trevor.

Because the trout have different habits in the winter, we refine our approach to meet them on their own terms. Is that . . . low and slow? Sure, sometimes. Nymphing is often seen as the go-to approach, but for the winter trout angler who’s attentive, the opportunities for some great streamer action are there too. Even dry flies can be an option if you keep your eyes open.

Why do so few anglers fish in the winter? Well, honestly, because it’s a challenge that many fishermen are not ready for. And while they might hit the water once or twice, so much is different and . . . difficult, that the results often don’t meet expectations. Then the warm fireplace seems the better option, and the fly rod is leaned in the corner until springtime.

So, what does it take to catch trout in the winter? That’s what we discuss in this podcast.

We Cover the Following

Approach, making a plan and choosing water
Find the feeding fish
Do mornings matter?
Limestone vs Freestone differences
Do you need to fish midges?
The egg bite
Streamers in the winter
Winter nymph rigging
Indicators, and bobber holes

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Winter Fly Fishing
READ: Troutbitten | Winter Fishing -- The Go-To Nymphing Rig
READ: Troutbitten | Winter Fishing -- The Secondary Nymphing Rig
READ: Troutbitten | Fly Fishing in the Winter -- The System
READ: Troutbitten | Modern Streamers: Too Much Motion? Are We Moving Them Too Fast ?

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Big Trout From Pennsylvania to Montana -- With Guest, Matt Grobe Dec 14, 2021

In this episode, I get together with my long time friend, Matt Grobe, for a candid, entertaining, fun and technical discussion about wild trout, big trout, and the differences between the fishing cultures and opportunities available in two of the meccas for trout fishing in the states -- Pennsylvania and Montana.
Matt has lived and fished hard in both states, and he's been fortunate enough to live a life on the water, not just chasing wild trout, but chasing the big ones. He's always had a knack for turning over the next top tier fish. And in our conversation, Matt offers some great tips for targeting big trout and consistently putting them in the net.
Matt Grobe is one of the best fishermen that I know. He’s honest and realistic. He values wild trout, and he hates the shortcut. Matt doesn’t fish setups. He earns every trout because he appreciates the experience — the fair chase for wild trout in wild places. He’s a technician on the water, but he’s not competitive. He’s generous but secretive in all the best ways. Matt searches for answers out there, and trout fishing has been part of his life for a long, long time. Matt’s one of my favorite people that I’ve ever shared the water with, and I wish he still lived in Pennsylvania.

We Cover the Following

The Crossover Technique
The origins of naming two foot trout -- yes, Matt started this nonsense
Key differences between PA and MT
Why Matt focuses on big trout
Why does the quality or the origins of big trout matter?
Wild vs stocked in PA
Do thirty inch trout exist without a setup?
Do you need streamers for big trout?
Where to target big trout most often
Matt's windy bugger technique

Resources

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Nymphing Tight Line to the Indicator Style -- Contact Nymphing Principles With An Indy Dec 06, 2021

In Episode 12, my friends and I talk about nymphing tactics — specifically, how we take tight line principles and the tight line advantage over to an indicator nymphing system.
We know that with refined skills and tactics, we can often make something happen, even on slow days. And there’s really no better way to consistently fool trout — in all conditions — than to get good drifts with a nymph. These small aquatic insects are the primary food source for most trout. And with nymphing skills, we don’t need to wait for rising trout or a streamer bite.
Being a nymphing angler is a sustainable and successful approach. We can do it all year long — anywhere that trout live.
So what’s the best way to nymph?
In this episode, my friends and I dig deep into one of the best ways — a nymphing tactic that I call Tight Line to the Indicator. Because when tight line or euro nymphing fails — for a variety of reasons — the answer, most often, is to take those contact principles — that tight line advantage — and combine it with an indicator system. Because the indy allows us to do things that are simply impossible on a pure tight line.
I often make the point, or make this argument, that tight line or contact nymphing tactics can’t be beat — that using the tight line advantage is almost unarguably the best way to get great dead drifts while having control over the course of the flies and great strike detection. But what I mean by that is not just pure tight lining. Because tight line to the indicator style is also part of my system.
When it’s the best tool for the job, then putting an indy on a tight line rig is a deadly variation. I build my leader to be ready for it. The rod I carry is designed for it. Because tight line to the indicator is a problem solving approach that gets the job done when pure tight lining simply cannot.

We Cover the Following

What does this rig look like?
What is this Tight line to the indicator approach?
Why isn’t this style more popular or well-know?
What is so special about going tight line to the indy?
When do we use this style?
How to line everything up in one seam
Landing with contact and without
Indicator styles
The downsides of this approach
Gear for this approach

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Tight Line Nymphing with an Indicator -- A Mono Rig Variant
READ: Troutbitten | Nymphing Tight Line vs Indicator
READ: Troutbitten | One Great Nymphing Trick
READ: Troutbitten | Category | The Mono Rig
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Dealing With Weather and Fighting the Elements Nov 30, 2021

Pushing through the tough times — dealing with bad weather and difficult conditions — puts you one step ahead of most anglers. The rivers and the parking lots are empty when the wind is howling, the snow is blowing or it’s pouring rain. Sure, we’d all like to fish the sweetheart days. But the more you learn to fight the elements and win — to have success on the water — the more you long for those tough conditions.

In this episode, my friends and I talk about fighting the elements. How can we effectively fish through rain, wind, cold weather, ice, snow, hard sun and everything else that nature throws at us?

There's always some natural element that we're battling out there (usually it’s more than one). And if we don't have a plan for dealing with these elements, we fail.

None of us spends enough time on the water. For the Troutbitten angler, the draw to the river is ever-present. And we plan for the next trip as the previous one winds down. So we fish when we can. Instead of waiting for the best conditions, the die-hard angler fishes because it’s Sunday, or because it’s Tuesday evening after work, or because it’s Monday morning after dropping the kids off at school. Few of us have the luxury to pick and choose our times on the water, so every angler who wishes to fish, quickly learns to deal with tough conditions.

Some anglers walk away when the going gets tough. But as we all know, sometimes the best fishing happens in the toughest conditions. So we fish hard. We persevere. We adapt and meet the challenges before us. And quite often, some of our most memorable days happen in these harsh or difficult conditions.

So my friends are join me to share some tips, some ideas about how to get through the elements and get to the end of the day, not just with trout in the net, but with lasting memories and satisfaction.

It’s not just about meeting the challenges. And it’s not just about having fewer anglers on the water. It’s the satisfaction of being a complete angler. Because you know you can catch trout in the rain, the snow, the cold or the sun. Then instead of shying away from tough conditions, you welcome every new day — no matter the weather -- as a chance to go fishing.

Question and Answer Round

What are the basic tools needed for fly tying?
Does rod balance matter?
Why are so many fly anglers also guitar players?
Do you most enjoy fishing alone or with a friend?

Resources

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Reading of "The Kid" -- With Special Guests Joey and Aiden Nov 21, 2021

In this tenth podcast, I read a story that I first published with Hatch Magazine in 2016. It’s titled, The Kid, and it’s one of my favorites.
My sons Joey (13) and Aiden (11) join me for the question and answer round. They answer a few questions, and they read a few from podcast listeners.
Way back in 2014, I started Troutbitten as a way to document all of this for my two sons. I wanted a record of the fishing stories and the things that I’d learned about trout fishing over the years. Really, that was the goal. Those were the roots of Troutbitten.
My boys have been part of my fishing life since their beginnings. They’ve been out there with me since they were born. I was a daytime Dad, and I worked at night. So the boys and I spent many, many days hiking beside rivers, eating lunch streamside and casting into moving water. My goal has always been to give them a base of appreciation for the outdoors and to feel comfortable in nature. Of course I hope they keep fishing with me as they grow older, but if nothing else, they will always have the sounds of a river embedded deep in their memories.
Question and Answer Round

Joey, what's your favorite way to catch trout?
Aiden, what do you like best out there, besides the fishing?
Joey, what's the best way to get a kid into fishing?

From Podcast Listeners:

Does the clinch knot for connecting the leader to the fly line loop cut into the fly line?
Has their ever been a time when you wanted to quit fishing? How'd you get through it?
What’s the next step for Troutbitten? Have you ever thought about starting a fly shop?

Resources

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Breaking Down Streamer Presentations Nov 16, 2021

While fishing a streamer, we’re trying to make it look alive. That's the difference. Because, while fly fishing other styles, we spend so much of our time dead drifting dry flies and nymphs and trying to impart no motion, that switching to streamers is a relief. It’s liberating. It’s fun.

And so many presentations — so many looks to the streamer — can be attractive and convincing. Because everything works sometimes.
But day to day, some retrieves and presentations just work better. And there’s no question about it. Sometimes, hammering the banks with a fast jerk-strip brings the big trout out to play. And other days it’s a soft crossover technique that really turns on those same trout.
The joy of streamer fishing is that so many things can work. And trying them all is a great way to spend our time on the water.
On a dry fly, I’ll tell you what they want: It’s a dead drift. On a nymph? Same thing. And the closer you can get to that pure, unaltered drift, the more convincing your fly presentation will be.
But on streamers? Show them a slow slide or a head flip. Give them a speed lead, a touch-and-go or an endless retrieve. See what works.
That’s the fun of streamer fishing. Make the fly look alive in the water. It’s not dead drifting anymore — it’s swimming a living baitfish that can do a bunch of predictable and unpredictable things.
Sometimes it seems like the trout are looking for one kind of action on the fly — or at least that’s what turns them on most. Other times, many of these presentations seem to work. But the point is to make that fly swim. Give life to the streamer. Convince the trout that they’re looking at a living, swimming creature.
And that's what this podcast conversation is about -- breaking down streamer presentations. How do we move the fly with the line hand and the rod tip, with strips, jigs, twitches and more?
This discussion, with four of my best fishing friends, is about what makes each presentations to the fly unique. How does what we do on our end of the line affect what happens at the other end?
We Discuss the Following

Stripping and hand twisting
Line hand motion vs rod tip motion
Rod position upon fly entry
Contact vs slack
Jig, jerks, twitches, pulses, strips
Head position
Depth
Speed
Holding seams vs crossing seams
Natural vs attractive presentations
Make it easy or make them chase

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Streamers
READ: Troutbitten | Modern Streamers -- Too Much Motion?
READ: Troutbitten | Streamers as an Easy Meal -- The Old School Streamer Thing
READ: Troutbitten | Streamer Presentations -- The Death Drift
READ: Troutbitten | Streamer Presentations -- The Deadly Slow Slide
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How Many Trout Do You Catch? Expectations, the Liars and Reality Nov 09, 2021

We’re out there to catch trout. That’s what brings us to the water. But how many do we catch? And really, how many should we catch? What are the expectations? And how can we know that we’re fishing well?
In some way, maybe none of this matters. It’s not really about numbers, right? it’s about the experience.
Sure it is. And we all agree with that. But as I’ve written on Troutbitten, there are two sides to every fisherman — one that just wants to go fishing and is happy to be out there, and another that desperately wants to understand the techniques — to solve the ever present mystery of how to catch more trout. And Troutbitten aims to address both of these sides.
In truth, it’s the tactical side that keeps us coming back. Most long-term anglers go fishing to learn something and to improve a skill. And as we learn and refine our craft, we enjoy everything that the woods and the water give to us. The endless discovery is the joy of trout fishing. We’re thankful that it’s different every day, and we know we’ll never learn or experience all of it.
So if the goal is to improve and study and refine, then the numbers in the net do matter. Because it’s the trout that ultimately decide if the drift is any good. The trout tell us if we’ve solved that daily mystery. A fish at the end of the line is confirmation that our decisions and efforts are good ones.
Counting is a way to gauge our success, not just against how well we did last time out, but how well we are doing compared to what is possible. What’s the bar? What’s the ceiling? How many trout could be caught if we had everything just right — the best fly and the perfect drift.
I think every fisherman asks those questions — How am I doing relative to what is possible?
And that . . . is what this podcast discussion is about.
We Discuss the Following

Catch rate vs catch numbers
Conditions and expectations
Staying grounded
What is a catch?
Sometimes the goal is not to catch the most trout
All fishermen are liars
Types of trout and changing expectations
How chosen tactics change expectations

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Fly Anglers in Profile -- The Numbers Guy
READ: Troutbitten | Two Sides to Every Fisherman
READ: Troutbitten | How to Fish With Friends
READ: Troutbitten | Missing the Mornings

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The Freewheelin' Troutbitten -- Junk Flies, Spot Burns, Ethics and More Nov 02, 2021

This is our seventh podcast episode in the first season. And we’ve done this enough now to get into a rhythm. If you’ve listened to previous episodes, you know that we’ve kept the topics tightly focused on just one aspect of fly fishing for trout. And before we dig into those topics we always do a question and answer session with my friends.

But in this episode we mix it up. This is the Freewheelin’ Troutbitten, with an hour long question and answer session — just a freeform conversation about trout fishing on a fly rod and a few other things mixed in.

It's a fun discussion filled with details and tactical takeaways, with some good disagreements, differing opinions and good humor.

We Discuss the Following

Favorite Pheasant Tails
Junk Flies
Most memorable loss of gear
Can you fish an area so much that it becomes unethical?
Pet peeves of social media
Spot Burning
If you had one cast to catch a trout . . .
Displacing trout
The biggest lies in the fly fishing industry
What skill most helps anglers get to the next level?
Favorite months of the year to fish
What holds anglers back the most?
Can trout sense what's coming next?

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Confidence Flies -- Seventeen Nymphs
READ: Troutbitten | Super Fly
READ: Troutbitten | A Fisherman's Thoughts on Friendship and Spot Burning
READ: Troutbitten | The Secret
READ: Troutbitten | When the First Cast Matters Most
READ: Troutbitten | Winter Welcome Home
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Reading Water, and Cherry Picking vs Full Coverage Oct 25, 2021

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

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Fly Fishing the Mono Rig -- Versatility and the Tight Line Advantage Taken Further Oct 19, 2021

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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Wild Trout vs Stocked -- The Hierarchy of River Trout Oct 12, 2021

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 for Trout, and the Mouse Emerger Concept Oct 04, 2021

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
Visit:
Troutbitten Website
Troutbitten Instagram
Troutbitten YouT

Thank You to Pre-Roll Ad Sponsors:
Skwala
and
Orvis

How to Handle a Trout | Safe Catch and Release -- From Hooking a Trout to Letting It Go Sep 26, 2021

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
Visit:
Troutbitten Website
Troutbitten Instagram
Troutbitten YouTube
Troutbitten Facebook

Thank You to Pre-Roll Ad Sponsors:
Skwala
and
Orvis

This Is Troutbitten | Fly Fishing for Wild Trout -- Family, Friends and the River Sep 15, 2021

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.
Visit:
Troutbitten Website
Troutbitten Instagram
Troutbitten YouTube
Troutbitten Facebook

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