 The Troutbitten Podcast is available everywhere that you listen to your podcasts. ** Note ** The Podcast Player, along with links to your favorite players is below. What’s the best way to carry your gear? Should you use a vest, a chest pack, hip pack, sling pack or...
Covering water effectively, easily changing from dry flies to streamers and then methodically working across a fifty-foot wide riffle — this is how we find our fishing pace. It’s the way we transition from one section of water to the next. It’s about how smoothly we...
Being a versatile angler comes down to changing things. And on the river, that means tying knots. Maybe the situation calls for a fly change, requiring just one knot. But maybe we need to change leaders and tie a few knots to rebuild a tippet section, modifying it to...
Control. Options. Precision. These are the most attractive aspects of fishing a tight line system. This is also why euro nymphing and the Mono Rig continue to gain so much support. Because every angler wants to know where the fly is and choose where it’s going next....
I don’t like using a rig that forces me into a water haul as my only option. I’m happy to use the water haul as the occasional problem solver, but for day-to-day casting, no thanks.
Transporting a fly rod is not as straightforward as it may seem. But it can be. For many of us, our preference to keep the fly rod rigged and ready to fish presents some challenges.
For years now, the Smith Creek Rod Rack has been my perfect solution. The Rock Rack stores up to seven rods inside the vehicle, keeping them secure and away from passengers — from kids, dogs or mishaps. Attachment is easy, the design is smart and the Smith Creek build is solid.
Presenting natural, convincing or looks-like-real-food drifts is the responsibility of every angler. Whether the flies are light or heavy, whether we’re drifting weighted flies, drop shot or split shot, it’s our ability to adjust, to refine and endlessly improve that keeps us wading into a river anew with each trip.
It’s why we love the nymphing game . . .
Part of what distinguishes fly fishing from other styles of fishing is retrieving line by hand. But then we need to get the line back out there. When should we shoot the line back through the rod guides? No one ever seems to talk about these options. But there are four of them.
We can shoot line on the pickup, on the backcast, on the forward cast and on the forward cast following the power stroke . . .
Fishing a full Mono Rig system allows for abundant versatility — but not without the line hand. You have two hands, so use them both. Get that second hand off your hip, and use it for slack recovery, opening up a range of options, adjustments and efficiencies.
You need the right tools, the right shot and the right methods for using all of it. None of this is complicated, but simplicity in fishing is often elusive, until time on the water eventually reveals what is best. Honestly, I believe there’s no better way to carry and use split shot than what is shown here . . .