. . . Let’s call it natural if the fly is doing something the trout are used to seeing. If the fly looks like what a trout watches day after day and hour after hour — if the fly is doing something expected — that’s a natural presentation.

By contrast, let’s call it attractive if the fly deviates from the expected norm. Like any other animal in the wild, trout know their environment. They understand what the aquatic insects and the baitfish around them are capable of. They know the habits of mayflies and midges, of caddis, stones, black nosed dace and sculpins. And just as an eagle realizes that a woodland rabbit will never fly, a trout knows that a sculpin cannot hover near the top of the water column with its nose into heavy current . . .

Continue reading Natural vs Attractive Presentations at Troutbitten.

Night fishing with a fly rod isn’t for beginners. Rather, it’s for the well-seasoned angler who doesn’t mind feeling like he’s green again. Enough is different about the night game that your whole system seems turned upside down. Trout hold in peculiar places and behave in strange ways. Flies that you’d never consider in the daylight become your new confidence patterns after dark. And your tippet isn’t really tippet anymore — it’s a chunk of thick, stiff monofilament, designed for setting the hook hard and holding on.

Continue reading Night Fishing for Trout — Drifting and Swinging Flies at Troutbitten.

For all the varied methods of casting a line and showing something interesting to a trout, presenting a fly always comes down to this: Are you drifting or swinging?

Daylight or night bite, we’re delivering our flies either with the current or against it — drifting or swinging. And while their are hundreds of variations on each approach, it helps to recognize the root of every tactic that we employ with a fly rod. When I talk shop with my night fishing friends, when I sit down to share a beer and swap a few tales about how last night’s fishing shook out, my first question is usually, “Were you drifting or swinging.”

Continue reading Night Fishing for Trout — Backstory: Drifting and Swinging at Troutbitten.

Good things happen by thinking outside the box. Norms are for normal people, and in the strange world of fishing, there aren’t many of those. At some point, every type of fly has been used against its intended purpose, because fly fishers are a creative bunch -- not so normal, really -- and the penchant for experimentation is urged on by the trout themselves. Everything works sometimes.

So here’s a list of flies and techniques that do double (or triple) duty.

Continue reading Fifty Fly Fishing Tips: #34 — Outside the Box at Troutbitten.

Multi-fly rigs allow for more chances to screw things up, and that’s undeniable. In an early article, I brushed off the tangles problem like it’s not a big deal. With experience (and some resignation to the inevitable errors), it really isn't a big deal. Here are some ideas to keep the tandem rig tangles to an acceptable minimum.

Keep in mind, that I've grown into these strategies. I’ve done a lot of fiddling and wiggling with rats’ nests out there. And remember, the thing they don’t tell you about trial and error is how much the errors suck the life out of your will to keep trying . . .

Continue reading Fly Fishing Strategies: Tangle-Free Tandem Rigs at Troutbitten.

** Note: This January 2015 post is rewritten and revisited here. So many of our favorite waters are accompanied by railroad tracks, and walking the familiar but odd stride required by the spacing of the wooden ties has become instinctive to me.  The tracks are a welcome companion and a clear route away from tangled streamside brush and briers. […]

Continue reading Night Shift — Tracks at Troutbitten.

Night fishing requires some sacrifice. High catch rates are exchanged for a couple fish large enough to fill out the net — a hopeful bargain. Visual excitement is traded for an adrenaline rush, sustained by roaming among the unseen. And sleeping hours are swapped for calm, reclusive minutes apart from the otherwise resting world. River […]

Continue reading Back in Black — The Night Shift at Troutbitten.

I decided to fish close to home and in a section that rolls through a small neighborhood.  No, it’s more like a series of cabins.  It was an odd choice.  A great choice during the day, but at night I always try to stay away from light sources because I’ve learned that a even a dim […]

Continue reading Night Shift – Christmas Lights at Troutbitten.