Fly distance restrictions unnecessarily limit the common angler from taking full advantage of tight line systems. If you choose to fish under FIPS rules, do so by choice, with your eyes wide open and for good reason. Take a fresh look at why you are choosing your flies, your leaders, your fly rods and your tactics. And be sure that you’ve thought through both the benefits and the consequences inherent.

Continue reading Fly Distance — What You’re Missing by Following FIPS Competition Rules — Part Three at Troutbitten.

Leader length restrictions unnecessarily limit the common angler from taking full advantage of tight line systems. Such rules force the angler to compensate with different lines, rods and tactics. And none of it is as efficient as a long, pure Mono Rig that's attached to a standard fly line on the reel. Here's a deep dive on the limitations of using shorter leaders and comp or euro lines.

Continue reading Part Two: What you’re missing by following FIPS competition rules — Leader Restrictions at Troutbitten.

Using competition fishing standards for the average angler is extremely limiting. And following FIPS Mouche rules makes little sense for most dedicated fly fishers. (FIPS is the governing body for international competition.) Comp rules strip away too much of the versatility and efficiency offered by long leader systems in the first place . . .

Continue reading Euro Nymphing: What you’re missing by following FIPS competition rules — Part One at Troutbitten.

A steady and balanced sighter is important from the beginning, because effective tight line drifts are short. But there’s one overlooked way to stabilize the sighter immediately — tuck the rod butt into the forearm.

Here's how and why . . .

Continue reading Stabilize the Fly Rod and the Sighter with Your Forearm at Troutbitten.

Regardless of the leader choice, angle of delivery, or distance in the cast, every tight liner must choose whether to lead, track or guide the flies downstream. So the question here is how do you fish these rigs, not how they are put together.

Good tracking is about letting the flies be more affected by the current than our tippet. Instead of bossing the flies around and leading them downstream, we simply track their progress in the water.

Tracking is the counterpoint to leading. Instead of controlling the speed and position of the nymphs through the drift, we let the flies find their own way . . .

Continue reading Tight Line and Euro Nymphing: Tracking the Flies at Troutbitten.

One of the joys of fly fishing is problem solving. There are so many tools available, with seemingly infinite tactics to discover, it seems like any difficult situation on the water can be solved. Perhaps it can. For those anglers who search for answers in tough moments, the prospect of solving a puzzle builds lasting hope into every cast. And after seasons on the water, the game becomes not how many trout we can catch, but how many ways those trout can be caught. Then, when presented with conditions that chase fair-weather fishers off the water, we rise to the moment with a tested solution, perfectly adapted and suited for the variables at hand.

There is not one way. There are a hundred ways. And the best anglers are prepared with all of them.

One of them is the slidable foam pinch on indy . . .

Continue reading A Simple Slidable Foam Pinch-On Indy at Troutbitten.

Leading does not mean we are dragging the flies downstream. In fact, no matter what method we choose (leading, tracking or guiding), our job is to simply recover the slack that is given to us. We tuck the flies upstream and the river sends them back. It may seem like there is just one way to recover that slack. But there are at least two distinct methods — leading and tracking.

Let's talk more about leading . . .

Continue reading Tight Line and Euro Nymphing: How to Lead the Flies at Troutbitten.

Eventually, after decades of drifting things for trout, I discovered other ways of fishing dead drifts.

And now, I try to be out of contact as much as in contact. I ride the line between leading the flies and tracking them — choosing sometimes one and sometimes the other. And I’ve come to think of that mix of both styles as guiding the flies.

Think about these concepts the next time you are on the water with a pair of nymphs in hand. What is your standard approach? What are the strengths of leading the flies? What are the deficiencies? When does tracking the flies stand out as the best tactic? And when does it fail?

Continue reading Tight Line and Euro Nymphing: Leading vs Tracking vs Guiding at Troutbitten.