Side pressure puts real leverage on a fish. It’s where control begins and power originates. All the other skills before this one set us up to maximize side pressure, with the right angles and a great plan for landing the trout of a lifetime . . .

Fighting trout in a river, creek or stream is all about the currents. So for this episode of our seven part skills series on fighting big fish, we talk about fighting fish upstream, downstream or across. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each angle? And what about current depth? Should we aim to fight the fish in the lower, middle or top part of the water column? And finally, we talk about the fighting zones in a river, meaning, what types of water are a safe choice for fighting the biggest trout of your life?

For Season 20 of the Troutbitten Podcast, we have seven episodes lined up for a Skills Series that’s all about how to land the biggest fish of your life.

Because, when you do hook the big one — that one you’ve been waiting for — a Whiskey, a Namer or the best fish of your life, you want the skills for fighting big fish with confidence. You want these habits to be engrained into your muscle memory, because you don’t have time to think about this stuff when the biggest fish of your life shows up . . .