Troutbitten

Nymphing has gotten a little tougher over the years, because the trout are a little more picky. I think that’s fair to say. And while the flies I used to find in the trees were mostly Wooley Buggers and Adams dry flies, these days, everything looks like some version of a Perdigon. More anglers are nymphing than ever before. So trout see artificial nymphs in the drift more than ever, and they’re bound to be a little tougher to convince. Surely, the most common advice for fooling more selective...

My friends and I have spent decades chasing trout all over the wooded valleys of our home waters and on some fun destination trips. I always say that if you spend enough time on the water, you’ll find everything you need out there. Jokingly, I say that about fishing gear. You’ll find nets, tippet posts loaded with tippet, hemostats, nippers and even full fly boxes . . . just by fishing a lot. You’ll also find all the techniques necessary, with time on the water, a willingness to solve the my...

This podcast is all about about your waders — wader care and wader repair. You might think that if you take care of your waders, they’ll last forever, but that's surely not true. My son Aiden asked to loan a pair of my old waders to a friend the other day for a fishing trip. And I said, "sure, but they all leak." Every pair of waders I’ve ever had has ended with leaks. Waders are like anything else. Nothing lasts forever, but you can absolutely lengthen a wader's lifespan by taking care of th...

This one is all about fishing nets. We cover net types and sizes, handle length, bag depth and hoop width. We also discuss how each of us carries the net and how we access it quickly. Because if all of this is not well thought out, problems are sure to follow. The truth is, the net is one of the heaviest and most cumbersome pieces of gear we have out there. So for the frequent angler, these decisions about where to carry that weight and how to have the net ready for a quick draw and an easy r...

My friends are here with me to begin season twenty-one with a conversation about doing the opposite. Because if you’re struggling out there on the water, if the net hasn’t been wet in a while and the trout seem to disagree with everything you suggest, then maybe you should do the opposite. To quote Jerry Seinfeld’s advice to George . . . “If every instinct you have is wrong, the opposite would have to be right.” My friends Austin Dando, Bill Dell, Josh Darling and Trevor Smith join me for a f...

For this season finale of our skills series on fighting fish we take questions and comments from the podcast audience. We cover the following: -- Fighting and landing big trout in small streams. -- Fighting trout in shallow water, and keeping them down. -- Drag settings. -- Strip sets. -- Landing two fish at the same time. -- How location and water type affects decisions. -- Cranking the reel vs pumping the rod. -- More on rod choice. My friends Matt Grobe and Bill Dell to wrap up this seas...

This podcast is all about the the end of the fight. Everything we’ve walked through in the previous episodes gets you to the point where the fish is within range and just about ready for the scoop. A lot can go wrong at the end of a fight, so there’s a lot that needs to be done right. We cover body, fish, net and rod positioning, all in relation to the river currents. We talk about when we get the net ready and what to do with it. We cover trapping the line with your trigger finger and ...

Side pressure puts real leverage on a fish. It's where control begins and power originates. All the other skills before this one set us up to maximize side pressure, with the right angles and a great plan for landing the trout of a lifetime. I think the opposite of side pressure is upward pressure, or pulling up with the rod tip, and we don't want to fight the fish at the surface. So while side pressure can keep the fish lower in the water column, upward pressure brings a trout to the top, of...

Landing a good trout is more about planning, quick thinking and good technique than luck. And in this episode, we talk about being ready for a big fish. With a little forethought and preparation, with even slight adjustments to body positioning, we put ourselves in the best position to show a picture of a lifetime rather than tell the story of another trout that got away. A few months ago I published a video to the Troutbitten YouTube channel with the title: The Casting, Drifting and Fighting...

This third part of our Troutbitten Skills Series is all about the guiding principle of fighting fish fast. We talk about how this mindset guides our decisions and our movements for all the other skills. Because we want to fight trout fast we use side pressure and we position ourselves for maximum leverage. We thing about current direction and fighting zones, all in an effort to fight a trout fast. Because the longer a trout is on the line, the more chance it has to get off. We also cover thes...

Fighting trout in a river, creek or stream is all about the currents. So for this episode of our seven part skills series on fighting big fish, we talk about fighting fish upstream, downstream or across. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each angle? And what about current depth? Should we aim to fight the fish in the lower, middle or top part of the water column? And finally, we talk about the fighting zones in a river, meaning, what types of water are a safe choice for fighting th...

For Season 20 of the Troutbitten Podcast, we have seven episodes lined up for a Skills Series that's all about how to land the biggest fish of your life. Because, when you do hook the big one — that one you’ve been waiting for — a Whiskey, a Namer or the best fish of your life, you want the skills for fighting big fish with confidence. You want these habits to be engrained into your muscle memory, because you don't have time to think about this stuff when the biggest fish of your life shows u...

In this Season 19 finale of the Troutbitten Podcast, we tackle a grab bag of topics. We call these episodes the Freewheelin' Troutbitten. This one was unintentional. We had plans to cover a topic of fishing with friends vs fishing solo, but once we opened up some of the leftover topics surrounding the Grievances episode from last week, we just kinda got things rolling and let it go. The last half hour is dedicated to our most important conservation message -- stop stocking over wild tr...

We’re here for our fifth annual Airing of Grievances episode. We do this every June, at the end of the spring seasons of the podcast. We do it to have some fun, and we do it because it’s helpful to call out the bad things and try to make them better. We also do this because Frank Costanza from Seinfeld once said . . . “I gotta lotta problems with you people, and now . . . you’re gonna here about it.” So we’re here to complain about things, to clear the air and to get things off our chests abo...

Here's a good talk about other styles and other species, and how using a spinning rod or baitcaster can open up your fishing world to a more complete set of skills and a better understanding of . . . fishing. Most fly anglers can pick up and cast a spinning rod or baitcaster, but if you spend some real time to develop an intimate understanding of the strengths and the possibilities, you gain another base of knowledge. The same can be said for chasing other species: bass, carp, musky, redfis...

Over the last few decades, fishing apparel has undergone a dramatic evolution. Today, we expect more than ever from our boots, waders, jackets, and shirts because we've grown accustomed to the advantages of purpose-built gear that's ready to deliver. Comfort, support and durability are the hallmarks of great fishing gear. So I sat down with Kevin Sloan, the founder of Skwala fishing, for a look at where the industry stands now, a look back at where we were and a forward look at where we're g...

We’re here to talk about fishing angles. Are you wading upstream or down? And are you casting upstream or down? What’s your preference? Why do you make that decision? When, if ever does it change? And does your casting direction always follow your wading direction? Sometimes, these preferences seem regional, while other times it’s specifically about the tactic -- meaning that swinging wet flies, for example, suits a downstream approach best. But sometimes, angle choice seems more like traditi...

What’s the nymph really doing under there? How is it affected by the currents? And is the attached tippet dragging the fly unnaturally across, over, up or out of the natural, one-seam drift that our picky trout are waiting for? The challenge of nymphing is mercifully balanced by the frequency at which trout feed on these bottom dwelling food forms. So even if we get one in ten drifts just right, the rate at which we might fool fish makes this maddening quest for perfection more than worth it....

For our Season 19 Intermission, my wife, Becky, joins me to check in on what's going on in the Troutbitten world. We talk about the upcoming leader sale in the Troutbitten Shop (May 24th), the Troutbitten Film Festival, guide season, changes to the Troutbitten Beer with New Trail Brewing Company and the Mono Rig book status. Then my son, Aiden, joins me for a short conversation about spring fishing. Resources VIDEOS: Troutbitten | Fish and Film | Category SHOP: Troutbitten | Category | Leader...

There’s something about fishing that leads us to believe that we can figure out what the fish want to eat that day — at that moment. Really, we want to believe that. And maybe it’s true often enough that trying to figure ‘em out . . . is a smart strategy. But I’m sure you’ve also had the experience of getting back to camp and every one of your friends all caught fish — but they all caught them on different flies and different water types. And you’ve definitely met the guy in the parking lot ...