** NOTE ** This is the eighth featured skill in the Troutbitten series, Nine Essential Skills for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing. You can find the overview, along with dedicated articles for each chapter and skill as they publish HERE. -- -- -- -- -- -- In this series...
** Note ** This article is a full re-write of a previous article titled, The Backing Barrel. Now, many years later, new ideas and new materials deserve a fresh look. -- -- -- -- -- -- A simple piece of Dacron, tied in a barrel, is a visible and sensitive addition to...
Nymphing is usually the best way to meet trout on their own terms. And throughout the seasons, simple nymph patterns catch the most fish. That’s especially true here in the fertile limestone spring creeks of Central Pennsylvania, but no matter where I’ve fished...
** NOTE ** This is the seventh featured skill in the Troutbitten series, Nine Essential Skills for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing. You can find the overview, along with dedicated articles for each chapter and skill as they publish HERE. -- -- -- -- -- -- Many anglers...
Locate the strike zone, and unlock the mysteries of what’s happening underneath. Know where your nymph is, and stop guessing.
This is everything . . .
Nervous sighters and the line dip. Learn to better read the sighter for contact, then back off. But remember, until you are in touch, you can’t reliably and purposefully slip out of touch . . .
We can recover slack in three ways: by stripping, by raising the rod tip and by leading the rod tip downstream. And while these are basic skills, the heart of advanced nymphing is in the critical ability to recover slack in all three ways . . .
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 goal is to stick the landing on the sighter — to end in the final position perfectly, rather than struggling to find it after the landing. The best anglers learn to adjust the amount of slack — and therefore, time to contact — within the cast. That’s the art of a good tuck cast. So we tuck and then stick the landing on the sighter at an angle and depth where we expect to catch that contact . . .
The tuck cast is a fly first entry. And it is the basic skill of tight lining. If you’re still lobbing, then stop it. And learn to cast. Because doing so opens up a world of new opportunities. And because a fly first entry sets up every necessary skill that follows . . .