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Season twelve begins. It’s a seven-part skills series dedicated to dry fly fishing. My friend, Matt Grobe, joins me to build the framework — a method and a system — for presenting dry flies to trout.
In this first episode, we ask when and why we fish dry flies. What’s the reason we might choose to fish dries over streamers, wets or nymphs?
We argue that dry flies are the heart and soul of fly fishing. The visual aspect is fun and exciting. And the pleasures of topwater fishing should not be missed.
Also, presenting dry flies is what makes fly fishing unique. And learning the skills to cast a dry teaches you everything about what a fly rod can do.
Resources
READ: Troutbitten | Category | Dry Fly Fishing
READ: Troutbitten | If You Can’t Fish Dry Flies, You’re Missing the Point
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Season Twelve of the Troutbitten Podcast continues next week with episode two. So look for that in your Troutbitten podcast feed.
Fish hard, friends.
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Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com
Let’s Go! Fired up the cast is back. I grew up in PA and had access for good hatches . Fished drys a lot on small streams early on. Unfortunately where I live now, and with my time on the water, I only get maybe 10-15 times a year that a dry fly makes sense. I suck but if I keep it simple and stay close to the fish I can have a lot of fun. I need to work on my aerial mends. I never fully learned that skill.
Looking forward to the rest of the season. Thanks!
On a very popular and maybe the most pressured limestone stream in my area I approached the stream at a run I know well. I had my nymphing set up on with the bugs that should work. I fished the run hard and well and watched the trout on the other side consistently rise. I had no luck nymphing, unusual for this run, and made the assessment that the trout were looking up. I tied on a Perfect Parachute Ant, thank you Dom, and a dropper.
The first cast was right to a rising trout that slammed the ant. I missed him but fired it back in. He nailed it again and in a few minutes I had a whiskey in the net. Like you said in this podcast, you need to meet the fish on their terms. When you do, things can be magical.
Nice addition to your series!
Could you address some of the challenges dry fly fishing small creeks where brookies live?
I actually have most of my dry fly opportunities there. Particularly challenging is the cast to avoid a false cast. Of course I use bow and arrow some of the time
Hi Mike..I didn’t think we’ll get super specific on small stream casting in this series. No room. But we gage a small stream skills series lined up for next summer. In the meantime, tie up the order I wrote about in the latest article, get a rod no longer than 8.5 feet. Make it a 4 or 5 weight. And get out there to challenge yourself with some tough spots. That’s the only way. Also, v the bow and arrow cast is (oh boy, I will take some heat for this) kind of a gimmick. YES, it works. But it’s impractical.. You get one cast in, you have nowhere to set the hook, and then you hand to line it all up again. I would recommended casting in those places where you might think you cannot.
Thanks Dom! Yes I’ll tie up your small stream leader and give it a try. By the way my favorite small stream is about 4-6 feet wide. Tight quarters indeed. Lots of fun trying to catch NJ brookies.
Thank you for paying homage to the dry fly, which for many, still represents the pinnacle of the sport. Looking forward to the rest of the series. Hopefully it will put to rest the “presentation” v. “fly pattern” debate. As all serious DFO anglers know, they have become equally important, especially in pressured fisheries like the UD where wild browns and rainbows are pounded relentlessly from above.
We don’t plan on putting anything to rest. Fishing is too dynamic for that. But most times, presentation trumps pattern by a mile. You can catch a trout on the wrong pattern with a great presentation. But you can hardly catch a trout on the perfect pattern with a lousy presentation. Lastly, even in the watershed you speak of, the best angler I know uses just ONE dry pattern in many different sizes. F Fly.
Dry fly action is great when it is available to you but one must keep in mind Nymphing wins world championships. Great podcast guys. Keep up the good work.
Sure thing
Great work guys! I love that you all keep expanding the skill series and that it keeps pushing me to stop being myopic about my fishing.
Another great podcast, I’m really excited for the skills series to come! This podcast has really resonated with my fly fishing experience so far.
I started my fly fishing journey two years ago throwing dry flies for stocked trout and then shifted into throwing dry flies for wild trout in small creeks around west Michigan. It has forced me to address issues in fly casting stroke and start throwing tighter loops and learn how to place slack. Look forward to improving my dry fly game through the coming episodes!
Nice. Glad to hear that. I agree with you too, how small stream casting forces you to make corrections.
Great start to season 12.
Agree learning dry flies opens the whole world of fly fishing