PODCAST: Is There Really Anything to Figure Out? S19-Ep5 (VIDEO and AUDIO)

by | May 19, 2026 | 0 comments

 The Troutbitten Podcast is now available on YouTube as a video podcast, along with the audio podcast platforms.

** Note **  The YouTube video is embedded below, followed by the the podcast player and links to your favorite podcast platforms.

Trout are rising. You know they’re eating, and you’ve been covering water.  And now with a closer look, you see other bugs in the air too. Craneflies are around, along with a few small black Caddis. Then you see the Olives.

Mixed in with all the bright, easy-to-see Sulfurs are tiny olive mayflies. Once you change the tippet and tie on a good match, you’re immediately into trout. In fact, you catch most of the rising fishyou can find in the next two hours before that action wears out and the whole playing board is reset.

So you figured them out, right?

That’s a good feeling. And it’s easy to see that your efforts — your changes — made a big difference . . . at least, in that section, over those fish.

But what if you’d been around the next bend or even a few miles upstream? Would a Blue Winged Olive still have been the answer?

There’s something about fishing that leads us to believe that we can figure out what the fish want to eat that day — at that moment. Really, we want to believe that. And maybe it’s true often enough that trying to figure ‘em out . . . is a smart strategy.

But I’m sure you’ve also had the experience of getting back to camp and every one of your friends all caught fish — but they all caught them on different flies and different water types. And you’ve definitely met the guy in the parking lot who’s positive that he has the answer for catching fish that evening. And maybe he’s so sure of it that he’ll make it work, just because he’ll fish it so hard.

Is there really anything to figure out?

That’s our topic for this episode. We work around the ins and outs of when, why, where and how chasing that goal of figuring things out makes any sense.

My good friends Matt Grobe, Josh Darling and Bill Dell join me for a great discussion.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Pattern vs Presentation – Trout Eat Anything, But Sometimes They Eat Another Thing Better
READ: Troutbitten | It’s Not Luck
READ: Troutbitten | Asking the Best Questions to Catch More Trout

Here’s the video . . .

(Please select 4K or for best video quality)

 

If you enjoy this video, the best way to support the effort is to like the video, leave a comment and subscribe on YouTube.

Here’s the Audio Podcast . . .

Listen with the player above, or . . .

Find the Troutbitten podcast on any of these services:

— Apple Podcasts
— Spotify
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. . . and everywhere else where you listen to podcasts.

You can find the dedicated Troutbitten Podcast page at . . .

podcast.troutbitten.com

Season 19 continues next week. So look for that in your Troutbitten podcast feed.

Fish hard, friends.

 

** Donate ** If you enjoy this podcast, please consider a donation. Your support is what keeps this Troutbitten project funded. Scroll below to find the Donate Button. And thank you.

 

Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com

 

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Domenick Swentosky

Central Pennsylvania

Hi. I’m a father of two young boys, a husband, author, fly fishing guide and a musician. I fish for wild brown trout in the cool limestone waters of Central Pennsylvania year round. This is my home, and I love it. Friends. Family. And the river.

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Domenick Swentosky

Central Pennsylvania

Hi. I’m a father of two young boys, a husband, author, fly fishing guide and a musician. I fish for wild brown trout in the cool limestone waters of Central Pennsylvania year round. This is my home, and I love it. Friends. Family. And the river.

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