ARTICLES
Enjoy the Day
TROUTBITTEN
Troutbitten is built on words. These ideas, these stories, tips and tactics are the roots of a tree that has grown branches.
Troutbitten reads more like a book than a blog. So settle in and find something to read.
Find the category links at the top of every article and the tags at the bottom, because those lead to the archive pages for the topic.
Also within these articles, all text in orange leads to supporting content. Finally, use the search page to find what interests you most.
Thank you for your support through the years.
ALL ARTICLES
PODCAST: Vest, Pack or Something Else? Carrying Your Gear — S7, Ep8
What’s the best way to carry your gear? Should you use a vest, a chest pack, hip pack, sling pack or something else? 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 . . .
(VIDEO) The Fly Rod Dip and Swish — A Useful Trick You Might Have Missed
What do you do when the fly line to leader connection comes back through your rod guides? How do you get to fly line back out there? And if you’re using a long leader system or a tight line nymphing system, and the butt section of your leader wraps around your rod tip, how do you get it unwrapped?
The fly rod dip and swish. That’s the answer you do. It’s a really useful tool that solves a lot of problems . . .
PODCAST: Talking About Tippet — Size, Strength, Length and Rigging — S7, Ep7
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 . . .
STORIES
PODCAST: Fish It Anyway — A Story
I watched Smith walk toward the access, toward home, toward the rest of life — into the lights, into the warmth, into the friendships. I stayed with the river and remained alone — pensive in the rain, resolute in the wind . . .
Wavering Confidence
I was resigned to the plan but having a hard time watching it fail.
Why was my confidence so easily shaken? Because a river that was once the most predictable of any that I fish has now become the opposite. It’s a confounding mystery that I keep coming back to, wishing to solve. And I know that with enough time, with an open mind and by running the right experiments, I’ll find the answers . . .
Podcast: Freewheelin’ Two — Stories and Experiences — S5, Ep7
It’s the things that happen while we’re out there that make fly fishing for trout the all-consuming, never ending pursuit that it is for us. And, in truth, all of us need to LET that happen. It’s in the choices that we make regarding where we’ll fish, when we’ll fish and who we’ll fish with. Those elements, the locations, the woods, the water and the friendships make all of this special . . .
TACTICS
Slipping Contact — Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
Slipping contact is the intermixing of influence and autonomy. Take the fly somewhere — help it glide along. Then surrender it to the current, and let the river make the decisions. Slip in and out, and find the balance between influence and independence to the fly . . .
Q&A: Active Drifting vs Dead Drifting
Do we ever animate the fly during the drift? Sure, but at that point it’s no longer a dead drift. Activating the fly out of a dead drift often turns the trick . . .
Leaders, Hats, Stickers Back in the Troutbitten Shop (Spring Sale ’23)
Troutbitten leaders are back in the Shop. There are some unique features to Troutbitten leaders that make a big difference. These are hand tied leaders in four varieties: Harvey Dry Leader, Standard Mono Rig, Thin Mono Rig, and Micro-Thin Mono Rig. Standard Sighters are also available, and they include a Backing Barrel. The Full Mono Rig Kit contains each of the three Mono Rig leaders, three foam spools and a twenty-inch Rio Bi-Color extension.
All Troutbitten leaders come on a three-inch spool, making long leader changes a breeze . . .
NYMPHING
Slipping Contact — Tight Line and Euro Nymphing
Slipping contact is the intermixing of influence and autonomy. Take the fly somewhere — help it glide along. Then surrender it to the current, and let the river make the decisions. Slip in and out, and find the balance between influence and independence to the fly . . .
Leaders, Hats, Stickers Back in the Troutbitten Shop (Spring Sale ’23)
Troutbitten leaders are back in the Shop. There are some unique features to Troutbitten leaders that make a big difference. These are hand tied leaders in four varieties: Harvey Dry Leader, Standard Mono Rig, Thin Mono Rig, and Micro-Thin Mono Rig. Standard Sighters are also available, and they include a Backing Barrel. The Full Mono Rig Kit contains each of the three Mono Rig leaders, three foam spools and a twenty-inch Rio Bi-Color extension.
All Troutbitten leaders come on a three-inch spool, making long leader changes a breeze . . .
Q&A: Blind Striking
I don’t guess, because I might ruin my best chance. I also do everything I can to be in contact or just slightly out of contact with the nymph, whether that’s on a tight line to my rod tip or under an indicator. And I trust my skills this way, more than I trust my instinct to set on nothing . . .
STREAMERS
Leaders, Hats, Stickers Back in the Troutbitten Shop (Spring Sale ’23)
Troutbitten leaders are back in the Shop. There are some unique features to Troutbitten leaders that make a big difference. These are hand tied leaders in four varieties: Harvey Dry Leader, Standard Mono Rig, Thin Mono Rig, and Micro-Thin Mono Rig. Standard Sighters are also available, and they include a Backing Barrel. The Full Mono Rig Kit contains each of the three Mono Rig leaders, three foam spools and a twenty-inch Rio Bi-Color extension.
All Troutbitten leaders come on a three-inch spool, making long leader changes a breeze . . .
The Streamer Head Flip VIDEO
My favorite streamer presentation and my best trick for convincing trout to eat a streamer now has a companion video.
The head flip helps seal the deal on tough trout that won’t commit, and it’s a great look for almost any streamer — big, small, heavy or light. It’s a presentation that I use every day, because it works in so many situations.
Streamer Anglers — Be Like the Drift Boat
Keep moving. That’s the key to streamer fishing. And moving downstream with the currents makes it possible for hours at a time. Wade down and fish up . . .
ANGLER TYPES IN PROFILE
Angler Types in Profile — The Fast Guy
The bad fast guy is hard to watch, because he blows up the river ahead of you. But the best fast guy makes you pause for a while, just to watch an artist at work . . .
Angler Types in Profile — The Fly Tying Artist
It’s easy to understand how tying flies makes you a better angler. And many fly fishermen take their passion for the river directly over to the vise. With that passion follows artistry. And for that kind of artist, what is wound around wire and bound to a hook comes with beauty . . . or there is no point.
One of the best tyers I’ve ever known would tie a dozen of the same fly and keep only two or three, stripping the rest with a razor blade to the bare hook. Why? He said he only fished the ones that had a soul . . .
Angler Types in Profile: The New Expert
. . . Most often, a reckoning comes for the New Expert, as failure eventually catches up with every angler who wets a line. So, humility is either accepted with a broader perspective gained and a fresh look at the future, or the New Expert gives up, falling on the pile of anglers who’ve come and gone, learning that the mountain of unknowns is a lifelong climb . . .
BIG TROUT
Podcast: How to Fight Bigger Trout — S3-Ep4
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.
Thirty-Inch Liars
Every fisherman in the parking lot seems to have a thirty-inch fish story, don’t they?
You know what I hear when someone says a fish was “about two feet long?” I hear: “I didn’t measure the fish.”
Bass guys don’t put up with this stuff. My friend, Sawyer (a dedicated bass and musky guy), is dumbfounded by the cavalier way trout fishermen throw estimates around. In his world, if you didn’t measure it, you don’t put a number on it. They take it seriously. We trout fishermen embarrass ourselves with estimates.
Fighting Big Fish — The Last Ten Feet
The last ten feet can be the hardest. So, get the fish upstream, lift on a direction change, keep the head up, and spread your wings. When it’s close enough for the net, those are the keys to landing the biggest trout of your life . . .
NIGHT FISHING
Podcast: An Introduction to Night Fishing for Trout — S3-Ep14
Ambition is the fundamental characteristic of every good night fisher. We wade into the darkness for the experience. And we quickly realize that the night game is an unwritten book, with just a few clues and an infinite room for learning new things. Each exhilarating hit and every trout in the net is a unique reward, because night fishing requires that you assemble the puzzle yourself.
In this episode, I’m joined by my friends, Trevor Smith and Josh Darling, for an overview on night fishing for trout . . .
Podcast — Ep. 4: Wild Trout vs Stocked — The Hierarchy of River Trout
My friends join me for an honest discussion about the trout we pursue. All of us fish for every kind of trout on the list: wild trout, stocked trout, holdovers, fingerlings and club trout. And all of these trout hold value — but not equally. There are major differences in the types of trout we catch, and stocked fish are often nothing like their wild counterparts . . .
Podcast — Ep. 3: Night Fishing, and the Mouse Emerger Concept
My night fishing friends, Josh and Trevor join me for a fun and detailed discussion about mouse emergers. This style is about taking the benefits of a top water pattern at night and making it a little harder for the trout to resist. Then, sometimes, we fish similar patterns that remain in the first 3-12 inches of the water column. My friends and I also trade night fishing stories about the scariest and most unusual things that happen while fly fishing after dark.
MORE
With over 900 articles on Troubitten, there’s much more to explore than what you see above.
Use the site menu to navigate through articles collected in series. Click the categories and tags to find the archives pages for each topic.
Everything in orange, sitewide, is a link to more supporting content.
And use the search page to find what you’re looking for.
Also Subscribe to Troutbitten and follow along. (Yes, it’s free.)
Cheers, friends.