You can fish tight line to the indicator style with a Micro Mono Rig instead of a Standard, but here’s what you’ll be giving up. Here’s what you’re losing . . . Last week, I published a Fish and Film video that highlighted the remarkable effectiveness of a tight line...
For underwater presentations, I cast so my flies land first, always. I cannot think of a circumstance where this is not true. The weighted fly or added split shot hits the water first, and the tippet follows. The leader, maybe an indy, and then the fly line lay on the...
** This Troutbitten article was originally published to Hatch magazine. ** Floating a couple of nymphs under an indicator is undeniably effective. In the right place and with the right conditions, flies under an indicator will outperform a tight line presentation all...
Mending is a skill unique to fly fishing. And good mending seems to elude all but the best anglers. Bad mending is hard to watch, because it does more harm than good — actually introducing drag and hurting the natural drift of a fly. But skillful mending extends...
When it’s the best tool for the job, then putting an indy on a tight line rig is a deadly variation to a contact nymphing system. I build my leader to be ready for it. The rod I carry is designed for it. Because tight line to the indicator is a problem solving approach that gets the job done when pure tight lining simply cannot . . .
Don’t be a bobber lobber. Bobbers are an amazing tool in certain situations. But learn to cast it with turnover first. Avoid the lob.
Instead of using the bobber as a shortcut to getting the line out there, first learn a good casting stroke — with speed, crisp stops and turnover. Then, attach the bobber and see the supreme advantage gained when the fly hits first and the bobber comes in downstream, with the fly and indy both in the same current seam. Oh, hello dead drift. Nice to see you . . .
After the nymph falls into position, we want it to spend some time there. But if we constantly set at the end of the fall, the nymph never has the chance to drift, and the trout don’t get an opportunity to eat on anything but the drop.
A good drift should follow the drop. The free fall and the drift are a successful pair. And they work best together . . .
Smith and I found ourselves on another late December, post-Christmas fishing trip. But Smith was fishing and coming up empty, while I was catching trout . . .
. . . “Alright, Dom. What the hell are you doing?” he demanded boldly. Smith takes pride in finding his own path and solving his own puzzles. But like every good angler I know, he’s humble enough to ask the right questions at the right times . . .
The predictability of the winter egg bite can be excellent — if you’re nymphing skills are tuned up. It also takes some extra refinement . . .
. . . So here’s what I told Smith . . .
The biggest misconception in nymphing is that our flies should bump along the bottom. Get it down where the trout are, they say. Bounce the nymph along the riverbed, because that’s the only way to catch trout. We’re told to feel the nymph tick, tick, tick across the rocks, and then set the hook when a trout eats. With apologies to all who have uttered these sentiments and given them useless ink, that is pure bullshit.
Here’s how and why to avoid the bottom, fish more effectively and catch more trout with a top down approach . . .
. . . Think of it like this: Tight line anglers should stick the landing at the end of the cast. Only the line that must enter the water should go under, while everything else remains above the surface and in the air. The leader should be tight, from the water’s surface to the rod tip, in a leading angle almost immediately. Stick the landing! Learn what angle the sighter eventually takes through the drift, and that’s the angle you should start with . . .