Troutbitten

“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.ResourcesREAD: Troutbitten | Where the Lines Are DrawnREAD: Troutbitten | Fly Fishing the Mono Rig Q&A -- Lines, Rigging and the SkepticsREAD: Troutbitten | No Limits -- Use Every Type of Weight AvailableVisitTroutbitten WebsiteTroutbitten InstagramTroutbitten YouTubeTroutbitten FacebookThanks to TroutRoutes:Use the code TROUTBITTEN for 20% off your membership athttps://maps.troutroutes.com Thanks to SkwalaUse the code, TROUTBITTEN10 for 10% off your order athttps://skwalafishing.com/

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.ResourcesREAD: Troutbitten | This Is The EndREAD: Troutbitten | Some Days Are Diamonds, Some Days Are RocksREAD: Troutbitten | Category | StoriesVisitTroutbitten WebsiteTroutbitten InstagramTroutbitten YouTubeTroutbitten FacebookThanks to TroutRoutes:Use the code TROUTBITTEN for 20% off your membership athttps://maps.troutroutes.com Thanks to SkwalaUse the code, TROUTBITTEN10 for 10% off your order athttps://skwalafishing.com/

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 FollowingBest to have one system or many?Carrying a net, water, and other heavy itemsMinimalist setupsThe disaster of a sling packThe benefit of everything up frontStorage and convenienceLarge pockets or many pocketsWhat about getting wet?. . .  and much moreResourcesREAD: Troutbitten | Pack or Vest? Why I'm a Vest GuyREAD: Troutbitten | 100 Day Gear Review -- Simms G3 Guide VestLISTEN: Troutbitten | PODCAST -- The Efficiencies that Waste Your Fishing TimeLISTEN: Troutbitten | PODCAST -- The Versatile AnglerVisitTroutbitten WebsiteTroutbitten InstagramTroutbitten YouTubeTroutbitten FacebookThanks to TroutRoutes:Use the code TROUTBITTEN for 20% off your membership athttps://maps.troutroutes.com Thanks to SkwalaUse the code, TROUTBITTEN10 for 10% off your order athttps://skwalafishing.com/

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 FollowingFluorocarbon vs nylonFly size and tippet selectionThe importance of flexibility in tippetThe importance of turnover in tippetDry fly leader tapers in the tippet sectionDurability and abrasion resistanceDo you really need 8X?Are trout leader shy?Tippet selection for improved sink rate. . . and moreResourcesREAD: Troutbitten | The George Harvey Leader DesignREAD: Troutbitten | Why You Might Not Need of the Crutch of 6X and Smaller TippetsREAD: Troutbitten | Fly Shop  Fluorocarbon to Expensive? Try InvizxREAD: Troutbitten | You Need Turnover VisitTroutbitten WebsiteTroutbitten InstagramTroutbitten YouTubeTroutbitten FacebookThanks to TroutRoutes:Use the code TROUTBITTEN for 20% off your membership athttps://maps.troutroutes.com Thanks to SkwalaUse the code, TROUTBITTEN10 for 10% off your order athttps://skwalafishing.com/

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 FollowingFinding solitudeReaching back into our own historyWild and native fishLeader tips for small watersRod lengths for small watersThe purity of experienceCooler temps, with more shadeWilling trout in smaller watersScenery. . . and moreResourcesREAD: Troutbitten | Right HereREAD: Troutbitten | Where it All StartedREAD: Troutbitten | HardbodyREAD: Troutbitten | VIDEO - The River Doesn't Owe You AnythingVisitTroutbitten WebsiteTroutbitten InstagramTroutbitten YouTubeTroutbitten FacebookThanks to TroutRoutes:Use the code TROUTBITTEN for 20% off your membership athttps://maps.troutroutes.com Thanks to SkwalaUse the code, TROUTBITTEN10 for 10% off your order athttps://skwalafishing.com/

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 FollowingShould anglers move while casting?Why does good wading make such a difference?Wading, not walkingConstant motionReading the waterBody positioningPolarized lenses for good wadingThe best boots for wadingBoot studs and tractionThe right wading staff setup. . . and more.ResourcesREAD: Troutbitten | It's Wading, Not WalkingREAD: Troutbitten | We WadeREAD: Troutbitten | Tips for Better Wading and More TroutREAD: Troutbitten | VIDEO - The Only Way to Carry a Wading StaffVisitTroutbitten WebsiteTroutbitten InstagramTroutbitten YouTubeTroutbitten FacebookThanks to TroutRoutes:Use the code TROUTBITTEN for 20% off your membership athttps://maps.troutroutes.com Thanks to SkwalaUse the code, TROUTBITTEN10 for 10% off your order athttps://skwalafishing.com/

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 FollowingWhat 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 moreResourcesREAD: Troutbitten | Dirty Water -- Tight TargetsREAD: Troutbitten | River and RainREAD: Troutbitten | A List of Fisherman's ExcusesREAD: Troutbitten | Fish It AnywayVisitTroutbitten WebsiteTroutbitten InstagramTroutbitten YouTubeTroutbitten FacebookThanks to TroutRoutes:Use the code TROUTBITTEN for 20% off your membership athttps://maps.troutroutes.com Thanks to SkwalaUse the code, TROUTBITTEN10 for 10% off your order athttps://skwalafishing.com/

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 FollowingThe confusing boundaries of this conversationWhy anglers are protective of what they like bestHow that holds an angler backTight line complexitiesDry fly complexitiesWhere bias comes fromA few streamer thoughts. . . and moreResourcesREAD: Troutbitten | The Nymph Angler is SustainableREAD: Troutbitten | The George Harvey Leader DesignREAD: Troutbitten | That's Not a Dead DriftPODCAST: Troutbitten | Find Your Rabbit HoleVisitTroutbitten WebsiteTroutbitten InstagramTroutbitten YouTubeTroutbitten FacebookThanks to TroutRoutes:Use the code TROUTBITTEN for 20% off your membership athttps://maps.troutroutes.com Thanks to SkwalaUse the code, TROUTBITTEN10 for 10% off your order athttps://skwalafishing.com/

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 FollowingWater selectionFinding fresh fishWild vs Stocked response to angler pressureHow long until a trout resets from angler pressureGenetically passing on the effects of angler pressurePresentations, convinced or curious?Patterns, natural or attractive?. . . and moreResourcesREAD: 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 ItPODCAST: Troutbitten | Rude On the River -- Front Ended and the Golden RuleVisitTroutbitten WebsiteTroutbitten InstagramTroutbitten YouTubeTroutbitten FacebookThanks to TroutRoutes:Use the code TROUTBITTEN for 20% off your membership athttps://maps.troutroutes.com Thanks to SkwalaUse the code, TROUTBITTEN10 for 10% off your order athttps://skwalafishing.com/

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 FollowingTrout selectivityFeeding patternsMigrationGrowth ratesTrout conditioningGrouping up or spreading outMortality rates. . . and moreResourcesREAD: 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 ItPODCAST: Troutbitten | Rude On the River -- Front Ended and the Golden RuleVisitTroutbitten WebsiteTroutbitten InstagramTroutbitten YouTubeTroutbitten FacebookThanks to TroutRoutes:Use the code TROUTBITTEN for 20% off your membership athttps://maps.troutroutes.com Thanks to SkwalaUse the code, TROUTBITTEN10 for 10% off your order athttps://skwalafishing.com/