Articles in the Category Tactics

Q&A: Split Shot Tangling Issues?

Split shot doesn’t create tangles. Bad casting and bad rigging does. Don’t blame the shot. Have a plan and learn the system.

Troutbitten Shop Fall Sale ’23 — Leaders, Hats, New Trail Merch, Stickers and More

The Troutbitten Fall Sale ’23 is here, with all leaders, hats and stickers back in the Troutbitten Shop. With this round, we have a few special items to offer, from the Troutbitten and New Trail Brewing company collaboration. There’s a Fish Hard / Drink Beer hat, sticker and t-shirt. The Troutbitten Shop is fully stocked. Hats, leaders, stickers, shirts, hoodies and more are ready to go.

How We Cover Water (with VIDEO)

Here are a few ideas and guiding principles that work for me every day on my rivers. I don’t try to cover everything. I don’t make grids, but I do make plans. I like to stay creative and follow the signs that trout give me. And for my wading approach, I break things down into three simple strategies: the typewriter, the zig zag and following up one lane . . .

Streamer Presentations — Let Them Eat It

“Let them eat it. Don’t take it away from them.” I’ve burned that simple message in my brain. For many years, I focused obsessively on the motion I would give to a streamer, I now focus equally on where and when I will pause it.

Attract them with motion. Then let them eat it. Streamer fishing for trout really is that simple. But the variations within the framework are where artistry arises . . .

Fifty Fly Fishing Tips: #18 — Imagine a Target — Fish to the Fish

Nov 26, 2017 | Fifty Tips, Fly Casting, Tactics

You can roam the river, mending, drifting and stripping, casting into every corner pocket and straight channel. You have the skills to present the fly, the consummate awareness of currents and flows and the stamina to wade rough water for hours on end. But can you imagine a target? Can you picture a trout feeding in the hydraulic swirl behind an unseen chunk of bedrock on the river bottom? Can you believe the trout is there? . . .

The capacity to imagine a trout in the river is a next-level skill that’s only earned by thoughtful time on the water . . .

The Big Rig: The Two Plus One — Two Nymphs and a Streamer

Nov 21, 2017 | Big Trout, Streamers, Tactics, The Mono Rig

Multi-fly rigs are nothing new. We pair one nymph with another all the time. Many of us fish two streamers, and most of us cast a dry fly with a nymph for the dropper once in awhile. But the pairing of a streamer and a nymph is less common. And maybe that’s because the typical presentations for each fly type are quite different — we tend to think we’re either streamer fishing or nymph fishing, but rarely both at the same time.

The Big Rig combines two nymphs and a streamer. With some minor leader adjustments and some outside-the-box thinking on tactics, you can kinda have it all . . .

Fifty Fly Fishing Tips: #16 — You don’t need big flies to catch big trout

Nov 13, 2017 | Big Trout, Fifty Tips, Tactics

I’ll get right to the point: Your best bet for catching trophy trout is with medium to small flies. More specifically, large nymphs or small streamers are the perfect size.

I’ve written about making the choice between going for big fish or for a bunch of fish, arguing that you can’t have both. I’ve also pushed the point on these Troutbitten pages that catching big fish does not require fishing big flies.

Talking with my buddy, Matt Grobe, the other day, he summed it up like this: “Fishing large streamers is the most overrated thing out there for catching the big ones.” Nice. And this is coming from a guy who fishes the heart of Montana, around Bozeman and beyond, all year round.

All of this goes seems to go against currently prevailing wisdom, but it wasn’t always that way . . .

Fifty Fly Fishing Tips: #15 — Tie custom leaders — Here’s why

Nov 5, 2017 | Fifty Tips, Tactics

I started tying my own leaders when the small streams I fished required something different than what I could find in the fly shop. I needed a short, punchy leader to carry a #12 Royal Wulff back into the brush and yet somehow land with enough slack for a short dead...

Beads are the Best

Oct 31, 2017 | Tactics

Hatch Magazine published my article, "Beads are the Best," with some candid thoughts on when, why and how beadhead flies work. Here's an excerpt . . . -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- . . . I’m not trying to catch all the fish on all the days anymore. More often,...

Efficiency: Part 2 – Leader/Tippet Changes

Jul 28, 2015 | Tactics | 11 Comments

My best days on the water are usually full of changes. The morning fog burns off, and I switch from streamers to nymphs; a half hour later, a swirling back eddy looks like the home of the next nameable brown trout (two footer), and I go back to...

Efficiency: Part 1 – Knots

Mar 6, 2015 | Tactics | 10 Comments

"You can't catch a fish without your fly in the water." Efficiency has become a game for me; it's something I enjoy; it's something I think about when I'm not fishing, and I'm constantly trying to improve on a system that keeps my flies in the water and the downtime...

DIY – Bar Boots

Feb 13, 2015 | Tactics | 26 Comments

I burn through boot soles fast. And cheap boots with poor foot support are a bad idea when you're wading heavy runs and putting full days on the water with lots of hiking, so I was spending about $150 every ten months on a new pair of boots. I used to resole my own...

A Better Streamer Box

Jan 21, 2015 | Tactics | 0 Comments

After many years of carrying a select group of my favorite streamers in a fairly small box, I now find myself in an experimental phase with the big bugs again. I'm generally in the camp that believes presentation is far more important than pattern, but trying new...

The Backing Barrel

Nov 5, 2014 | Tactics, The Mono Rig | 50 Comments

A decade ago I learned about euro-nymphing, and I was impressed with the rig. I gradually made the switch from a Joe Humphreys nymphing style, worked my way through the short line tactics, then lengthened the leader and learned to fish at distance. I believe...