I’ve been fishing with Smith for over a decade now. And when we first met, he was an inexperienced but eager angler with a pile of questions. Much of what he knew about fly fishing at the time had been learned intuitively, from time spent on the water answering his...
As a fly fisher, if you have any experience with a spinning rod or baitcaster, then you understand the tight line advantage. When I was young, my uncle taught me to hold extra line off the water by keeping the rod tip up. That made sense, because I could feel the...
In many ways and for many fly fishing systems, the leader is the most critical component to success. And since 2014, I’ve spilled a lot of words on Troutbitten over the intricacies of nylon and fluorocarbon tied together. I’m a leader junkie. And I’m not the only one....
**NOTE** This is Part Four in a Troutbitten Short Series about weights and measures. This will all read a little better if you back up and read Parts 1-3 first. However, the information in this article also stands alone. READ: Troutbitten | Category | Know Your...
At the heart of every good leader design is an intentional balance between turnover and drag. Nothing is more important than the leader.
Material diameter and material stiffness. That’s what matters. And these two qualities determine a leader’s turnover power and the amount of potential drag . . .
Making adjustments is the key to consistent fly fishing. It’s what long-term anglers love about this game. It’s how we solve the daily puzzles. And many of those adjustments are based on our thought processes around weights and measures.
It matters. And the easiest place to start is to know your distances. Tackle that first . . .
Consider your fly size and weight. Know your tippet diameter. Understand the length, thickness and weight of your leader’s butt section. And learn to accurately judge the distance you are casting. All of these elements are intertwined. And advanced angling starts by being aware of the stats. Know your weights and measures . . .
Learning to use the natural curve that’s present in every cast produces better drag free drifts than does a straight line.
It takes proficiency on both the forehand and backhand.
I’ve seen some anglers resist casting backhand, just because it’s uncomfortable at first. But, by avoiding the backhand, half of the delivery options are gone. So, open up the angles, understand the natural curve and get better drag free drifts on the dry fly . . .
Never underestimate how far away a trout can see upstream. And never underestimate how far away a trout will refuse a fly. It might drift perfectly, right past the trout. But the decision — the refusal, may have already been made with the fly twenty feet upstream.
Here’s more . . .
. . .The flow of the fly line through the air is finesse and freedom. Contrasted with nymphing, streamer fishing, or any other method that adds weight to the system, casting the weightless dry fly with a fly line is poetry.
The cast is unaffected because the small soft hackle on a twelve-inch tether simply isn’t heavy enough to steal any provided slack from the dry. It’s an elegant addition that keeps the art of dry fly fishing intact . . .