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ALL ARTICLES
PODCAST: Fighting Big Fish #6 – The Last Ten Feet, and In the Net – S20, Ep6 (VIDEO and AUDIO)
This podcast is all about the the end of the fight, where the fish is within range and just about ready for the scoop. A lot can go wrong at the end of a fight, so there’s a lot that needs to be done right . . .
Fifty Fly Fishing Tips: #8 — Use the Davy Knot — Here’s why
I hesitate to include the Davy Knot as a tip in this series. There are a bunch of good fishing knots out there. They all work. Everyone has their favorite, and no one wants to be told what to do.
So I won’t tell you to change to the Davy Knot. I’ll just show you why I use it and why I switched to the Davy after I first saw it tied.
I use the Davy Knot because it’s super quick to tie, it wastes no material, and it has a small profile that allows for more movement of the fly . . .
Nymphs On the Drop (VIDEO)
Sometimes, trout eat nymphs on the drop — as the fly is falling or fluttering to the bottom. And when we recognize that, it’s time to make some adjustments to our rig, the presentation and even the water we choose to fish.
This video shows how I fish for trout when their focus for nymphs is out of the strike zone and above them. I cover tracking the flies, floating the sighter, longer casts, power curves, tuck casts, slack to the nymph, strike detection and more. And I walk through all of this while fishing through a favorite section of river.
STORIES
Writings and Rhythms
I’ve replaced fishing hours with writing hours. In truth, I could be back out there wading, casting and catching again, but I’ve fallen into a daily cycle of coffee at the keyboard all morning. Sure, family stuff and other commitments have broken the spell on occasion, but I’m working fast on the book project that I’ve been looking toward for so many years. And once I start a big project, I don’t like to stop.
Fishing With A Fever
I was there to target some of the deeper parts that offered trout adequate protection against predators, like . . . me.
The sickness kept my motions slow. My stubbornness kept the process methodical. Stay behind the fish. Target the A water. Keep moving, but do it slowly. And stay off the bottom . . .
Introducing . . . The Riverside Video Series
Riverside is a new video series from Troutbitten. It’s a place for sharing some of the latest articles from Troutbitten and streamside thoughts . . .
TACTICS
Fly Casting Curves (VIDEO)
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.
Can You Force-Feed Trout Big Dries? I Want to Believe
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?
Dry Flies In Fast Water – Fly Fishing Tips (with VIDEO)
Here’s a look at fishing dry flies in faster water — in more complex currents — because there’s a unique set of skills to get true dead drifts in the fast water and pocket water. The drifts are shorter and harder to achieve. But some of the best fish hang out in faster stuff, and if you give them a great presentation you have a really good chance.
In this video, I cover three main skills that help meet the particulars of fishing dry flies in fast water. Those skills are also detailed below the video, in the article, with links to further Troutbitten resources.
NYMPHING
Troutbitten Shop Spring Sale ’26 — All Leaders, Hats, Stickers and Apparel In Stock
The Troutbitten Shop Spring Sale ’26 is here, with all leaders, hats and stickers back in the Troutbitten Shop.
Fish and Film – Micro vs Standard Leader (VIDEO)
Fishing is a story . . . On a spring morning, I took advantage of some good nymphing action to test a Micro Mono Rig against the Standard. Varying conditions provided different challenges, but the good action remained until the end.
PODCAST: The Big Lie of Dry Dropper, S19 – Ep3 (VIDEO and AUDIO)
Dry dropper is great. Just put a nymph under that dry fly and get the best of both worlds. Right? Not so fast . . . The idea that you can have your cake and eat it too — that you’ll get perfect drifts on the dry fly and the nymph — and that you somehow double your chances by dropping a nymph under the dry is not true. This is the big lie of dry dropper fishing.
Here’s the problem: In most cases, neither fly ends up with a great drift. Instead, both flies are compromised and their natural drift is altered.
STREAMERS
Troutbitten Shop Spring Sale ’25 — All Leaders, Hats, Stickers and Apparel In Stock
The Troutbitten Shop Spring Sale ’25 is here, with all leaders, hats, stickers and apparel back in stock.
The HV Thin Crossover Leader
This leader is perfectly built for subtle streamer presentations, at longer distances, with less leader sag and more feel. I’ve been working on the Crossover technique for half a decade or more. But in the last year, after the addition of the Super Pause and the slight downsizing of flies, a different leader build has made all the difference.
PODCAST: Streamer Presentations #10 — Strategies, Tips and Scenarios (S14, Ep10)
This season has been all about options for moving the streamer. Our focus has been on the animations available to attract and then sell the trout on the streamer presentation. In this season finale, we talk about river scenarios and share some tips and strategies that help tie all of the previous episodes together.
ANGLER TYPES IN PROFILE
Angler Types in Profile: The Rookie
I’m consistently surprised by the lack of river sense that’s missing in so many anglers. I mean that literally and not condescendingly. Just as a city kid marvels at the sight of deep darkness on a moonless night, fifty miles deep into a state forest, the country boy doesn’t give it a second thought. It’s experience. And that’s all it is.
People who are new to fishing just don’t know much about rivers. And I never really get used to that. Because so much of what a river does, and what fish do in response, is organic to me. I grew up fishing and playing in small streams. As a kid, I was drawn to every runoff ditch within walking or biking distance. I couldn’t stay away. And like anything else, you grow into your surroundings. I don’t think that can be changed, whether we’d like it to be or not.
Anyway, those without that same history with rivers see the water differently, and sometimes I have trouble remembering it.
On a cool April morning, Sam and I hit the water with all his new gear . . .
Angler Types in Profile: The Numbers Guy
I could barely make out the shape of a man fishing through the fog. A dense cloud hung over the water that morning, wrapping everything in a white shroud, and I felt water enter my lungs with every breath. Eventually, the rising sun punched holes through the white sheet, further decreasing visibility with mirrored reflections. Then within the next half hour, solar warmth provided enough heat to turn the big cloud into vapor. And as the fog dissipated over the river, Mike’s thin form came into view.
He moved like a machine in rhythm. He zigged and zagged across the pocket water, casting and catching, netting and releasing one trout after another. The machine paused to catch its breath only when Mike spent thirty seconds tying a knot. From my perspective downstream, it was perfection . . .
BIG TROUT
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 . . .
Fighting Big Fish With Side Pressure — What It Is, How To Use It
The art of a good trout fight is in taking them to the point where we have more control over their body than they do. Side pressure pulls the trout from its lane. While the fish faces the current and tries to hold a seam, side pressure moves that trout from its comfort zone and forces it to work against the force of our bent fly rod — all while keeping the trout low. And while we never want to play a trout to exhaustion, the art of a good trout fight is in taking them to the point where we have more control over their body than they do.
Night Fishing for Trout — Location, Location, Location
It took me seasons of trial and error to understand this truth: On some rivers — especially those with larger trout — much of the water after dark is a dead zone. Nothing happens, no matter what flies or tactics you throw at them. Drift or swing big flies or small ones. Hit the banks with a mouse or swing the flats with Harvey Pushers. It doesn’t matter. On most rivers that I night fish, there are long stretches of water that simply won’t produce.
But in these same waters, there are sweet spots to be found — places where the action is almost predictable (by night-fishing standards), where two, three or four fish may hit in the same spot. And then just twenty yards downstream . . . nothing . . .
NIGHT FISHING
Night Fishing for Trout — Fight or Flight
I finally have an honest understanding about what draws me into night fishing. Yes, it’s the fear. And of the serious night anglers I’ve known, it’s the same for all of us. Fear is the crackling spark plug . . .
Tight Line Nymphing — Contact Can Be Felt at the Rod Tip
. . . But Smith had also drawn out of me one thing that I’d never fully put into words before explaining it to him. Namely, that contact is felt as much as it’s seen. While tight line nymphing, I’d told Smith, an advanced angler can feel contact with the nymph on the rod tip. Essentially, you could very well fish with your eyes closed. And because Smith was skeptical, I’d suggested some after-dark tight line nymphing as a way to prove to my friend that he could feel that contact just as well as anyone . . .
Night Fishing for Trout: Know your water, and make a plan
You have no business night fishing an area that you can’t visualize.
Close your eyes. Now imagine the spot you plan to night fish. Think about the first cast. Where are the rocks, tree limbs and logs? How much of the gravel bar is exposed at this water level? How swift does the current break around the undercut bank? If you guessed at any of these things, if you were uncertain at any pass, then you will struggle at night.
Questions and uncertainties are amplified after dark. So I go into my night fishing hours with a plan — much more than any day trip. The program might change if the light, water or feeding conditions suggest a new strategy. But having an outline holds me together on a dark river . . .
MORE
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