Learn to Read the River Like a Trout

We spend a lot of time thinking about tactics and working on techniques. We devote our energies toward finding fly patterns, tying up our confidence flies and testing new flies. We research new waters and explore unfinished sections in familiar waters. We spend a lot of time doing fishy things. This is a life on the water.

The guys and I have been talking a lot about reading water. It’s one of the biggest deficiencies we see while guiding — just choosing the right piece of a river for your next cast. It's about understanding what water should receive the most attention and what water gets gets a pass.

As an angler, reading the water really comes down to understanding what a trout needs. We read water for depth, speed and structure, in reference to what a trout prefers. And when we talk about reading water, we’re thinking about it all from an angler’s perspective. If you’re kayaking down a river for recreation, then how you read water will be pretty different.

Everyone can pick out hydraulics and learn to read current seams. Those are the elementary building blocks of reading trout water. Then we take that knowledge and combine it with what a trout needs. And we eventually have a truly specific, knowledgeable approach to reading a river. Day to day, across the world, wherever trout live in rivers, creeks and streams, their needs are the same.

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

Resources

VIDEO: Troutbitten | Reading Water in Levels, Lanes and Seams
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Reading Water, and Cherry Picking vs Full Coverage S1, Ep6
READ: Troutbitten | Reading Water - Finding the Invisible Potholes

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