. . . When the act of fishing becomes something I can really put my finger on to say “Here’s how they’re eating,” I can take that experience into the future, pulling it out to solve a mystery a decade later. The trout hit where they should and how they should, until it became nearly predictable. The casting felt effortless . . . and it felt like home. Anyone who thinks nymphing is inelegant or clunky has not fished this way.
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 . . .
“Your first job is to find some accuracy. You’ll see the fly every time, once you can hit your targets.” I nodded at the fly again. “There’s enough visibility built into that fly that you can find it quickly, as long as the fly lands where you’re looking . . .”
Every summer I fish dry flies more than anything else. This year, without really planning on it, that’s all I’ve fished. I haven’t touched a nymph or a streamer for about two months now. It’s been dry fly or die.
Summers are my off season from guiding, but life gets complicated. There’s all the branches of the Troutbitten Project to keep up with, and rest of life creeps in too. It all gets mixed together. It get’s too cluttered. And maybe simplifying my flies and tactics is a response to all that.
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?
There are two types of fly casting curves: a power curve, and the one no one seems to mention, the lagging curve. Understanding both leads to a complete set of skills to match any situation with a fly rod. Mastering these concepts — and these casts — can change everything on the water for you.
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?
I’ve spent the better part of my summer testing a theory. Will the wild brown trout in my home waters eat a big dry fly? More specifically, will they eat it regularly? And for the trout that do fall for an extra-large fly, is their average size large to match?
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?