** Note ** Links for buying the Smith Creek Rod Rack are after the video and at the end of this article. (Your support is appreciated.) Transporting a fly rod is not as straightforward as it may seem. But it can be. For many of us, our preference to keep the fly rod...
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...
You might think it would be intuitive. And I guess I did. How to hold a fly rod never seemed like an important point to make, until recently. But the more I guide good anglers, the more I pick apart the intricacies of their game. I learn, and I teach. We all know that...
The fly fishing industry changes and grows. Advancing techniques and angler trends encourage companies to adapt and build new gear that suits those needs. Improvements in materials, like high modulus graphite, allow for the building of fly rods that were not possible...
This winter I’ll begin writing a book about the Mono Rig, compiling much of the material written here on Troutbitten, organizing it into a cohesive presentation and filling in the gaps. As I look ahead to that writing, I’ve been reading back through all the questions I’ve received about the Mono Rig. Many of the same queries pop up time and again.
This short series of articles separates those common questions into groups. All of these questions and answers will eventually make their way to a full FAQ section on the Mono Rig page.
This first article is about lines, rigging and skeptics: What lines? How long? How to change? And what should all this really be called anyway? . . .
The fly fly rod quick dip is a problem-solving essential. Some things in fly fishing are obvious right away. The concepts of casting and drifting a fly are intuitive for most anglers after just a bit of instruction and a few trips of experience. And a lot of what we take for granted or think is obvious has become second nature only after fishing for a long, long time.
Specialized rods are exactly that — special rods for particular circumstances. Such rods make sense when I’m in a boat, where I can easily switch from one rod to another, or if I’m planning a short one-hour trip where I’ll fish only one tactic. However, my day to day...
Leave it to Devin Olsen of Tactical Fly Fisher to make a physics equation out of the length of a fly rod vs the actual reach of the fly rod. No, really. Leave it to Devin. I’ve often wondered and commented to friends that the 10 foot rod seems to reach a lot further...
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...