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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.
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 improves by using the right moves with the rod, reel and line. 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 ever lost
- Forming good habits with smaller trout
- Fight fish upstream
- Working with a trout and not against it
- Where in the water column to fight a trout
- Know the strength of your tools
- Side pressure
- Closing the distance, and the last ten feet
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Resources
READ: Troutbitten | Category | Fighting Fish
READ: Troutbitten | Category | Big Trout
READ: Troutbitten | Fighting Fish — The Last Ten Feed
READ: Troutbitten | Fighting Fish — Work With a Trout and Not Against It
You can find the dedicated Troutbitten Podcast page at . . .
Season Three of the Troutbitten podcast continues with Episode 5: Exploring Water Types — Where Trout Feed In a River
So look for that one in your Troutbitten podcast feed.
Fish hard, friends.
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Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com
Great topic and an interesting discussion by the TB crew! One that is often overlooked in most other resources. The skill set required to net a large energetic wild trout is so much more complex than it seems. Line control, hook set technique, stripping v. on the reel, drag settings, rod angles, tippet and knot strength, and netting all factor in, yet the average, weekend fly angler may get only a small handful of opportunities per season to work on these skills. Watching how experts do it is the next best thing. There are none better than Dave and Amelia Jensen who have revolutionized fighting tactics with thousands of 22+” wild trout in Alberta, CA, New Zealand, and Patagonia.
This was a great combination of tips, personal experiences that inform the audience by relevancy, and good natured stories about what could have gone better if only…. I took notes to replay on my way on the next trip where I might encounter big fish. Thanks for sharing gentlemen!
That’s kind. Thanks, Tom.
Nice
I enjoy the podcast immensely.
But I’m not sure “tiddler” is a term Grobe made up. I recently read this:
“The water was too thin at the edges, in my estimation, to hold any but tiddler trout.”
— Reading Trout Water by Dave Hughes
Thanks for everything Dom! Quick suggestion: At the start of your podcasts, or maybe as a para on the Podcasts launch page, I’d like to learn more about your TB guests, their favorite fish, favorite water, home water, favorite techniques, fishy attitudes, pet peeves, off-beat caddis tendencies, whatever. Maybe something a little more interesting and real than the typical bios you might on fishing websites. Best, Toney
Hi Toney,
Thanks for the suggestion. Listen to Season One, and you’ll get a lot of that. I purposely asked questions of each of the guys all season long. Lot’s of the kinds of questions you mentioned, except the home waters stuff, because that’s spot burning.
So, we just don’t have the time to do that in every season. These podcasts are pretty full. It’s a much different format than anyone else is running. So we’re not trying to fill time, that’s for sure. In fact, we never really have enough time to cover the whole topic as it is. But anyway, I feel like you’re still getting some of that in these podcasts. In Ep 6, Trevor tells a story about catching a fish with his son.
We’ll do another Freewheelin’ episode this season, so maybe we’ll get a few more questions in there.
Anyway, my overall suggestion is to go back to season one to learn more about the guys.
Thanks again for listening.
Cheers.
Dom
Enjoying your podcasts! Love the panel approach. I’m working on the little skills you guys pointed out. One I need to work on is netting the fish a little more underwater with head upstream. Often with a 10 ft rod I’ve found I reeled in too much line. Do you have any tips to help?
Yes! Try this article:
https://troutbitten.com/2021/07/14/fighting-big-fish-the-last-ten-feet/
Also, all the articles in that Fighting Big Fish category will help you dial things in. I think it’s a pretty good resource.
Great podcast. Just lost a big fish last evening, and even though I have a lot of experience with steelhead and salmon, a good brown beat me up and the hook pullled. Some of these tips will help a lot with 17-18″ fish as well, so I will be practicing them ….waiting for another big one. Thanks.