Today's article is a favorite from the archives. You can find it here: VIDEO: The Perfect Parachute Ant — Troutbitten Fly Box Enjoy the day. Domenick Swentosky T R O U T B I T T E N domenick@troutbitten.com
Articles With the Tag . . . fly patterns
Q&A: Barbless Hooks or Barbed? Does It Matter?
This Q&A series is an effort to answer some of the most common questions I receive. Here's the latest . . . Question This one comes from Mike Roberts, in North Carolina Hello Domenick, Thanks for all that you guys do with Troutbitten. We follow your stuff...
Troutbitten Fly Box — The Harvey Pusher Night Fly (with VIDEO)
** NOTE** Video for the Harvey Pusher appears below. What I know of the Harvey Pusher Night Fly comes from a few good sources. Steve Sywensky owned Fly Fisher’s Paradise, the legendary fly shop of central Pennsylvania. Twenty years ago he was the only fisherman I...
VIDEO: The Perfect Parachute Ant — Troutbitten Fly Box
** NOTE** Video for the Perfect Parachute Ant appears below. Terrestrial season has been my favorite time to throw dry flies for as long as I can remember. Because once the major mayfly hatches are over, trout are looking for the next easy meal. They want something...
EVENT: Troutbitten Fly Tying Night with New Trail Brewing
On March 11, join the Troutbitten crew from 5:00 to 8:00 pm at New Trail Brewing Company in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
We’re proud to announce a collaboration we’ve been working on for a while. This is a fly tying event and general hangout with the guys from the Troutbitten Podcast. Included in your ticket price is the New Trail X Troutbitten Collaboration T-shirt ahead of its public release. And your first beer is on the house at New Trail.
Troutbitten Fly Box — The Craft Fur Jig and The Craft Fur Streamer (with VIDEO)
Some flies do one thing really well. Other flies are your workhorse on the water, lending solutions to river problems by being adaptable. These are the flies we reach for over and over. These are the flies we tie first and keep well stocked. This is the Craft Fur . . .
Troutbitten Fly Box — The Blue Collar Worker (with VIDEO)
Show up on time, do your job and have a little fun while you’re at it. Then go home and do it all over again tomorrow. That’s a blue collar worker. It’s a Pheasant Tail with a CDC collar. It has a little disco for the rib and a hot spot collar. It’s simple, reliable and effective . . .
Troutbitten Confidence Flies: Seventeen Nymphs
All long term anglers find a set of files to believe in. We attach a confidence to these patterns that carries over from the moment we form the knot to the hook eye. We fish better with these flies. We make them work. With more focus, we refine each drift with our best patterns. But there’s also something special about a great fly to begin with . . .
The set of flies below are built and carried as a system. There is very little overlap. Each fly does a specific job or offers the trout a certain look. I could tie a Hare’s Ear in five different colors, but I don’t. Instead, I see the flies in my box as pieces of a puzzle that lock together and fill out a whole . . .
Troutbitten Fly Box — The Jig Streamers
With the jig tied in, I quickly learned that nothing rides the bottom of the river like a ball jig. It bounces, canters, pivots and tap dances around rocks and gravel like nothing else. The ball itself is the key. It allows for some very unique presentations and movements. And when you really want to hug the bottom, you can set up your rig to feel those taps, as the jig glides and scratches along the river bed.
That’s not to suggest that I constantly present a jig deep down and glued to the rocks. Not at all. But when I do want to touch the bottom, to feel the rocks, hold a position or reach into the depths with precision, a jig is the perfect vehicle. That is the key. That’s the special sauce of the jig . . .
Troutbitten Fly Box — The Full Pint Streamer (with VIDEO)
The Full Pint is one of the only permanent additions to my streamer box in the last few years. I test a lot of patterns against my confidence lineup, and very few flies make the cut. My box of long flies covers all the bases, really. And because I’m (mostly) a minimalist, I don’t add anything that is similar to other flies that I already carry.
But the Full Pint dazzled trout at the first dance. It had a big night the first time out. Then, day after day when I set the hook on a swirl or felt the jolting stop of a large trout slam the fly in mid-strip, I marveled at the Pint’s effectiveness . . .